Debt of Honor: Hanoi Jane

Guest Phaseolus (BeanMan)

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Guest Phaseolus (BeanMan)

Guest Phaseolus (BeanMan)

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. - A man spit tobacco juice into the face of actress Jane Fonda after waiting in line to have her sign her new book, police said.

AP Photo

The man ran off but was quickly caught by police Tuesday night and charged with disorderly conduct.

Fonda has been on tour and doing interviews to promote her just-published memoir, "My Life So Far." The thrice-married, two-time Academy Award winner covers a wide array of topics, including her 1972 visit to Hanoi to protest the Vietnam War, during which she was photographed on a North Vietnamese anti-aircraft gun. She has apologized for that photo, but not for opposing the war.

Capt. Rich Lockhart of the Kansas City Police Department said that although Fonda did not want to press charges against Michael A. Smith, 54, of Kansas City, he was arrested on a municipal charge of disorderly conduct after off-duty officers caught him just outside Unity Temple, where Fonda was signing books.

Lockhart said Smith was released on bond late Tuesday night and is due to appear in municipal court on May 27.

Smith, a Vietnam veteran, told The Kansas City Star on Wednesday that Fonda was a "traitor" and that her protests against the war were unforgivable. He said he normally does not chew tobacco but did so Tuesday solely to spit juice on the actress.

"I consider it a debt of honor," he told The Star for a story on its Web site, www.kansascity.com. "She spit in our faces for 37 years. It was absolutely worth it. There are a lot of veterans who would love to do what I did."

Fonda drew a crowd of about 900 for her appearance, said Vivian Jennings, whose Rainy Day Books of suburban Fairway, Kan., sponsored the event at Unity Temple in Kansas City. Fonda, 67, spoke for about 15 minutes, answered questions for another 15, then began signing copies of her book.

Jennings said Fonda received a standing ovation when she came out and when she finished speaking. Alan Tilson, one of those who had his book signed but left before the incident, said the crowd was very "warm and supportive" to Fonda and he was surprised to learn what had happened.

Jennings said the actress never got up from her seat and continued autographing books after the tobacco juice was wiped off.

"The important thing is that she was so calm and so gracious about it," Jennings said of Fonda. "She was wonderful."

Jennings said that the man had a book to which the name "Jody" had been affixed as he approached to have it autographed. She said that when Fonda got the book, she looked up and said, "You're not Jody."

"At that moment, he turned his head quickly and spit a trail of tobacco juice," Jennings said. "He immediately jumped off the stage and started running down the aisle."

Fonda, who flew to Minneapolis Wednesday for another appearance on the book tour she began April 5, issued a statement through Jynne Martin of Random House, which published her book.

"In spite of the incident, my experience in Kansas City was wonderful and I thank all the warm and supportive people, including so many veterans, who came to welcome me last night," Fonda said.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - A man spit tobacco juice into the face of actress Jane Fonda after waiting in line to have her sign her new book, police said.

AP Photo

The man ran off but was quickly caught by police Tuesday night and charged with disorderly conduct.

Fonda has been on tour and doing interviews to promote her just-published memoir, "My Life So Far." The thrice-married, two-time Academy Award winner covers a wide array of topics, including her 1972 visit to Hanoi to protest the Vietnam War, during which she was photographed on a North Vietnamese anti-aircraft gun. She has apologized for that photo, but not for opposing the war.

Capt. Rich Lockhart of the Kansas City Police Department said that although Fonda did not want to press charges against Michael A. Smith, 54, of Kansas City, he was arrested on a municipal charge of disorderly conduct after off-duty officers caught him just outside Unity Temple, where Fonda was signing books.

Lockhart said Smith was released on bond late Tuesday night and is due to appear in municipal court on May 27.

Smith, a Vietnam veteran, told The Kansas City Star on Wednesday that Fonda was a "traitor" and that her protests against the war were unforgivable. He said he normally does not chew tobacco but did so Tuesday solely to spit juice on the actress.

"I consider it a debt of honor," he told The Star for a story on its Web site, www.kansascity.com. "She spit in our faces for 37 years. It was absolutely worth it. There are a lot of veterans who would love to do what I did."

Fonda drew a crowd of about 900 for her appearance, said Vivian Jennings, whose Rainy Day Books of suburban Fairway, Kan., sponsored the event at Unity Temple in Kansas City. Fonda, 67, spoke for about 15 minutes, answered questions for another 15, then began signing copies of her book.

Jennings said Fonda received a standing ovation when she came out and when she finished speaking. Alan Tilson, one of those who had his book signed but left before the incident, said the crowd was very "warm and supportive" to Fonda and he was surprised to learn what had happened.

Jennings said the actress never got up from her seat and continued autographing books after the tobacco juice was wiped off.

"The important thing is that she was so calm and so gracious about it," Jennings said of Fonda. "She was wonderful."

Jennings said that the man had a book to which the name "Jody" had been affixed as he approached to have it autographed. She said that when Fonda got the book, she looked up and said, "You're not Jody."

"At that moment, he turned his head quickly and spit a trail of tobacco juice," Jennings said. "He immediately jumped off the stage and started running down the aisle."

Fonda, who flew to Minneapolis Wednesday for another appearance on the book tour she began April 5, issued a statement through Jynne Martin of Random House, which published her book.

"In spite of the incident, my experience in Kansas City was wonderful and I thank all the warm and supportive people, including so many veterans, who came to welcome me last night," Fonda said.

BeanMan

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TreeStandBowHunter Monster Buck

TreeStandBowHunter

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Re: Debt of Honor: Hanoi Jane

Your right Norm, I could of thought of 20 other things to do instead of that grin.gif

I am telling you people, rent Hanoi Hilton. It is not a fake movie. It is told by the men who were part of that. She ratted out one guy who tried to slip her a note during a media stunt at the prison. The note had on it about how bad they were being treated...needless to say the punishment that guy got afterward frown.gif

I have no heart for people like that. Rather spitting tobbacco on a human being is professional or not, she deserves much more than that. I don't care what the statue of liberty stands for or any other ammendment or whatever you call them stand for, people like that, need to be deported to another country and never let back in. If I had my way, the statue of liberty would say "An Eye for an Eye". Just how I feel.

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7th 6-Pointer

7th

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Re: Debt of Honor: Hanoi Jane

The sad thing is that so many have forgot what she did or don't think that it was that bad. My wife got a movie she was in just after we got marred and I told her that "the movie or I go!" I knew Maj. Nick Rouw before he was killed in the '80s and to hear his story just kills me that she could do things like she did to him and stoll be free to walk the streets here at home. Get the book "Five years to freedom" and it will tell of the life he lived and how close he come to getting killed do to what she did.

I have allways said that I would send as much money to the exspence of the man that killed her as I could. I am sorry that I feel that bad about anyone and do not wish to see her dead but I will say this: for what she did to the men in Nam, God will take from her what she took from them. I know that they will be standing by his side when they cast her out.

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slugshooter Monster Buck

slugshooter

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Re: Debt of Honor: Hanoi Jane

You guys act like she actively targeted soldiers with an AK-47. I believe she has expressed regret for what she did by posing on that anti-aircraft gun. How do you know that God will stand in judgement for what she did, how can you speak for God in his approval of the Vietnam War when you have no idea what God did or did not think about that particular war. Posing on the gun was wrong, she knows it, she regrets it, at least if God thought it was wrong, he is more forgiving than those on here.

And what 7th said about paying the expenses to the man who kills her, that was about as ignorant a statement as the man who sent out an e-mail saying he would pay top dollar to the one who killed Michael Schiavo and his lawyer. Not very smart to post that on a public forum that anyone can read.

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TreeStandBowHunter Monster Buck

TreeStandBowHunter

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Re: Debt of Honor: Hanoi Jane

I don't think it is ignorant. You say God is more forgiving than us, your right...that's why God is God and I am me. Eye for an Eye. Doesn't really matter what God thinks about the Vietnam War. Troops don't have an option...at least back then. Alot of them were drafted. So do we hurt the troops who had no choice to go over and fight LIKE SHE DID just because we don't know if God approved the war or not.

She can say sorry everyday but that isin't going to fix the pain them guys went through because of her. I am no God, therefore I don't forgive and forget. That's why I go to church and pray....to ask God to forgive me for all the wrong doing I do like...not forgiving and forgetting.

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oldksnarc 8-Pointer

oldksnarc

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Re: Debt of Honor: Hanoi Jane

She apologized for posing on the anti-aircraft gun, but not for all the other transgressions she committed against the POWs or the fighting soldiers.

It would have been more humane for the POWs had she targeted them with an AK-47. What she did by turning over notes to the North Vietnamese that were passed to her by the POWs caused them to get more beatings - some crippling.

From your way of thinking saying "I'm sorry' and "I regret" rectifies all ills - therefore murderers and rapists should beforgiven their transgressions as long as they say I'm sorry.

She's a horror - by both meanings of the word.

It's easy to forgive someone when you weren't the one to harmed.

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OJR Monster Buck

OJR

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Re: Debt of Honor: Hanoi Jane

I don't remember the name of the book that gave the details of when she went to N. Vietnam and also was escorted into a POW camp by the VC and all the photo-ops that happened.

As a result POW's were beaten worse than normal and a whole lot of other things!

Now she is sorry!! What rubbish! Send her to N. Korea where she belongs!

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markyj987 10-Pointer

markyj987

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Re: Debt of Honor: Hanoi Jane

Should the guy have spit on her? Probably not.

Do I feel bad for Jane Fonda? Not at all. Our POW's in Vietnam would've given anything JUST to have gotten spit on...and what she did caused them much more suffering.

Can't say I'm not surprised she didn't file charges. It'd be hard to find a jury in Colorado that would convict. But moreso, she's so full of herself, she probably thinks she's too good for that...so far elevated above the average American that she thinks being the "bigger person" will get her some good press.

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oldksnarc 8-Pointer

oldksnarc

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Re: Debt of Honor: Hanoi Jane

Not sure what book this is an excerpt from, but I received it as an e-mail. It goes around every once in a while.

--------------------------

A TRAITOR IS ABOUT TO BE HONORED

This is for all the kids born in the 70's who do not remember, and didn't have to bear the

burden that our fathers, mothers and older brothers and sisters had to bear.

Jane Fonda is being honored as one of the "100 Women of the Century."

Unfortunately, many have forgotten and still countless others have never known how Ms. Fonda betrayed not only the idea of our country, but specific men who served and sacrificed during Vietnam.

The first part of this is from an F-4E pilot.

The pilot's name is Jerry Driscoll, a River Rat.

In 1968, the former Commandant of the USAF Survival School was a POW in Ho Lo Prison

the "Hanoi Hilton."

Dragged from a stinking cesspit of a cell, cleaned, fed, and dressed in clean PJ's, he was ordered to describe for a visiting American "Peace Activist" the "lenient and humane treatment" he'd received.

He spat at Ms. Fonda, was clubbed, and was dragged away. During the subsequent beating, he fell forward on to the camp Commandant's feet, which sent that officer berserk.

In 1978, the Air Force Colonel still suffered from double vision (which permanently ended his

flying career) from the Commandant's frenzied application of a wooden baton.

From 1963-65, Col. Larry Carrigan was in the 47FW/DO (F-4E's). He spent 6 years in the

"Hanoi Hilton",,, the first three of which his family only knew he was "missing in action".

His wife lived on faith that he was still alive. His group, too, got the cleaned-up, fed and

clothed routine in preparation for a "peace delegation" visit. They, however, had time and devised a plan to get word to the world that they were alive and still survived. Each man secreted a tiny piece of paper, with his Social Security Number on it, in the palm of his hand.

When paraded before Ms. Fonda and a cameraman, she walked the line, shaking each man's hand and asking little encouraging snippets like: "Aren't you sorry you bombed babies?" and "Are you grateful for the humane treatment from your benevolent captors?" Believing this HAD to be an act, they each palmed her their sliver of paper. She took them all without missing a beat. At the

end of the line and once the camera stopped rolling, to the shocked disbelief of the POWs,

she turned to the officer in charge and handed him all the little pieces of paper.

Three men died from the subsequent beatings. Colonel Carrigan was almost number four

but he survived, which is the only reason we know of her actions that day.

I was a civilian economic development advisor in Vietnam, and was captured by the North

Vietnamese communists in South Vietnam in 1968, and held prisoner for over 5 years.

I spent 27 months in solitary confinement; one year in a cage in Cambodia; and one year

in a "black box" in Hanoi. My North Vietnamese captors deliberately poisoned and murdered a female missionary, a nurse in a leprosarium in Ban me Thuot, South Vietnam, whom I buried in the jungle near the Cambodian border. At one time, I weighed only about 90 lbs. (My normal weight is 170 lbs.)

We were Jane Fonda's "war criminals."

When Jane Fonda was in Hanoi, I was asked by the camp communist political officer if I would

be willing to meet with her.

I said yes, for I wanted to tell her about the real treatment we POWs received... and how

different it was from the treatment purported by the North Vietnamese, and parroted by her as

"humane and lenient."

Because of this, I spent three days on a rocky floor on my knees, with my arms outstretched

with a large steel weights placed on my hands, and beaten with a bamboo cane.

I had the opportunity to meet with Jane Fonda soon after I was released. I asked her if she would be willing to debate me on TV. She never did answer me.

These first-hand experiences do not exemplify someone who should be honored as part

of "100 Years of Great Women." Lest we forget..." 100 Years of Great Women"

should never include a traitor whose hands are covered with the blood of so many patriots.

There are few things I have strong visceral reactions to, but Hanoi Jane's participation in

blatant treason, is one of them. Please take the time to forward to as many people as you possibly can.

It will eventually end up on her computer and she needs to know that we will never forget.

RONALD D. SAMPSON, CMSgt, USAF

716 Maintenance Squadron, Chief of

Maintenance

DSN: 875-6431

COMM: 883-6343

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