In military matters this morning, the
Vietnam War is remembered for many things,
most people think of the anti war
protests that gained national attention,
but what is often left out of the
history books is that some soldiers
were also opposed to the war,
calling it unjust and criminal.
And then there's the little
known story of the Fort Hood.
43 There are a group of black guys
who risked everything and said
no to being used as riot control.
Against their own people Texas
today's Barry Roy has spent a year
looking into this story and Barry,
you've talked to people who say
this group of men are heroes
who need to be remembered.
Yeah, that is the story of the Fort Hood 43.
Takes place during a time of a lot
of civil unrest in this country
and in the shadow of the death of
Martin Luther King Junior as well.
So in the midst of all this
political anger and this anti
war anger that was happening,
there was the opportunity for
them to be deployed to Chicago to
fight against their own Americans.
They refused to do that and they refused
to do that even in the face of some abuse.
What happened to that other picture?
They say an image is worth 1000 words
back to Fort Hood in the March for
Vietnam veteran Alan Pogue,
the soldiers and their supporters are still
on the sidewalk and there are the police.
I was on the staff of the
oleo strut during that time
and for David Zeiger,
those images still resonate.
In television history, they
both say is largely forgotten.
You must understand it.
I like being a Greenbrae Zeiger
who wrote and directed the documentary,
Sir. No, Sir witnessed the growing
soldier opposition to the Vietnam War.
This was not a war to be proud of.
This was not a righteous war.
This was a war in which the United
States was was essentially trying to
spread its empire at the cost of the
Vietnamese people while they were
offering the band aids of helping
to cure a few cases of impetigo.
They were bombing the hell
out of the villages. Here
I am in front of one of these what
we call Huey helicopters. There I am
Poag deployed to Vietnam, both as a
chaplain's assistant, and as a medic. A
lot of the soldiers didn't
support this war either.
And so it wasn't clear cut. It wasn't.
This way or that way it was very.
There's lots of Shades of Grey and.
Lots of other opinions there weren't.
Weren't always being accepted.
It was obvious
that I was going to be court
martialed and few days later I
got the court martial notice and
while connected, this isn't a story
about what happened in Vietnam.
Irving use the old fashioned methods
of interrogation force, torture.
That was pretty common practice,
or a country spiraling in turmoil and unrest
in the summer of 1968.
Army and National Guard troops were
sent into American cities as thousands
of black people rioted following the
assassination of Martin Luther King.
That spring troops were used against
anti war demonstrators at the Pentagon.
Hey, we just come back from
fighting the Vietnamese.
Now they want us to fight the Americans.
It's a lesser known story.
About 43 black men at Fort
Hood who were put in jail. What
are we making it clear that it was
a genocidal thing is going to go on.
And how can I go and commit genocide
on my people? Shoot my people
for refusing to be weaponized against their
own people as ride control in Chicago
it came at us with Bareness.
I got cut, you know I got hit
right here with a baronet.
I mean every every now and
then he opened his formation
up and Hoover MP's come in and
grab a brother and take him back
in the back and beat that up.
Him screaming in the bag, you know?
At Fort Hood, the political and
anti war anger continued, so
thousand GIS March the first year
right outside the base and they
told people was off limits and
they told people that if you went
there you wouldn't get arrested.
Let's see if I can find it.
More than five decades later.
History frozen in black and white.
So many pictures which
Pope believes should be at the
forefront of every Texas history book.
I definitely think people should
know about the Fort Hood 43.
I see them as as heroes.
You know people who risked everything.
For a moral principle.
They they should be held up.
Are to be respected?
And not suppressed.
I think, really looking at the
real history of the Vietnam War
and of what went on inside the
military at that time is crucial.
Tiger knows there are lessons
still to be learned from 50
plus years ago.
This man you do mean nothing can
hurt me. No type of way here.
Now my black people know my family,
so why should I shoot him?
And he believes the Fort Hood 43
is a hero story worth telling.
The actions that they took.
Uhm? Still hold
a tremendous amount of pride and.
Sense that they had done the right
thing at a time when it was extremely
difficult and in a situation where
it was extremely difficult to
do the right thing, they did it,
and that's a that's a very powerful thing
to to carry with you all your life.
Patient not all 43 men because of
their actions were sent to Chicago
because they were considered to
be subversives or those that were
going to undermine the mission.
Those that were sent to Chicago
were not allowed on the streets.
Again, the military in the army
did not trust which side of
this fight that they stood on.
Reporting live from Fort Hood.
Barry Roy. Six years alright
barrier story.
Not many people know about.
We appreciate the insight.
Thank you very much.