We’ve all seen our share of
Vietnam movies. Once the war was finally over, Hollywood released a flood of
them. There were ambitious ones that dropped us into the middle of the
fighting—The Deer Hunter, Apocalypse Now,
Platoon—and tried to convey the
physical and emotional realities of that faraway war. There were films like Born on the Fourth of July (based on the
true story of Sgt. Ron Kovic) that highlighted
revolts against the war by young men furious at what their own government was
asking of them. The poignant Coming Home
focused on the home front, where the wife of a Marine captain evolved during
his tour of duty into a more independent woman. In finding her own path, she fell
in love with a young vet who’d left Vietnam a paraplegic. This heartfelt 1978
drama won Oscars for stars Jane Fonda and Jon Voigt.
The physical and emotional
costs of Vietnam are also underscored in a new book by my friend and colleague,
Heath Hardage Lee. She’s currently rocking the media with The League of Wives, a well-researched history of the loyal
military spouses who waited—as much as six years—for their husbands to come
marching home from captivity by the Viet Cong. Here’s the book’s subtitle: The Untold Story of the Women Who Took on
the U.S. Government to Bring Their Husbands Home from Vietnam. As this
suggests, these women (over a hundred in all) turned to activism as a way to
alert the world to their husbands’ plight. Their men, most of them Navy and Air
Force pilots, had been shot down and incarcerated, often in the notorious Hanoi
Hilton, where torture was rampant, medical services were few, and (in violation
of the Geneva Convention) oversight by the International Red Cross was not
allowed. Even a basic accounting of prisoners’ whereabouts was denied the
worried wives and family members back home.
What makes The League of Wives so striking is that
it’s about women well accustomed to following the rules. Politically and
socially conservative, they had been carefully taught that the best way to
support their spouses was to dress nicely, respect military rank, and steer
clear of politics. Once their husbands were shot out of the sky, these
women—still unclear as to whether they were wives or widows—were instructed by
the top brass to remain tight-lipped and allow politicians to sort out the
problem. But, as months and years passed, staying quiet seemed like the wrong
strategy. Presidential administrations largely paid lip-service to their
concerns, and the military actually toyed with the idea of denying them access
to their husbands’ accumulating paychecks. That’s when the women, many of whom
had young children to raise, banded together and began making noise.
The wives quickly discovered
the value of the mass media in putting their husbands’ plight before the world.
Soon they were sending delegations overseas to make their case to diplomats
meeting in Paris and Stockholm. And, much as they shrank from affiliating with
the anti-war movement, they took advantage of its connections with Hanoi in
order to ensure a flow of mail to and from their captive spouses. When the men
finally returned in 1973, they found their wives had developed strong new
capabilities. Even the once-shyest was now comfortable in the corridors of
power.
The evolution of these women
would make, of course, for a fascinating movie. That’s why the very
enterprising Reese Witherspoon has just optioned Heath’s book for a cinematic
adaptation. Which should make for a “hidden figures” type movie I look forward
to seeing.
On Memorial Day—Monday, May 27—Heath Hardage Lee will
be speaking at the Richard Nixon Library as part of a program honoring the
wives and mothers of American POWs. Here’s more info: https://mailchi.mp/nixonfoundation/b860feer3l-1299905?e=f5e67dc507
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