In September 1966, the United States introduced “Agent Orange”, a very strong chemical defoliant (dioxin) that was supposed to destroy the jungle cover used by the VC guerillas. Despite continued use, the efficacy of Agent Orange was debatable. A U.S. civilian nurse serving in Vietnam wrote a letter home describing the effects of combat on South Vietnamese villagers who were “collateral damage.” She wrote: “They’ve been hit by napalm bombs, hand grenades, mortars (not all by VC either; many are hit by mistake by friendly forces)…wrinkled old men and women who appear to have aged with the earth itself; younger people, old before their time…children and tiny babies who lose limbs or become otherwise scarred before their lives have really begun.” (TFC, vol. 7, p. 220.) These conditions, the lack of measurable success and the growing number of American deaths, all of which were part of the evening news every day, led to ever-increasing public discontent with the Vietnam War.
“Agent Orange Song (Paul Reutershan),” written by Muriel Hogan, sung by Country Joe McDonald (1979). (https://youtu.be/fk8umoqfz14) This song looks at the effects of Agent Orange on an American soldier years after his service in Vietnam. It is based on the actual experience of Paul Reutershan, who was a helicopter pilot during the Vietnam War and who died of cancer in 1978 as a result of his exposure to Agent Orange.
I was 17, just the teenage kid, the year that I enlisted.
I can’t remember why I did, my mom said that I insisted.
I had some strange idea then, that Uncle Sam was right.
Oh momma cried, but she signed the card, And then I went off to fight.Got off the plane in Vietnam, it didn’t seem like war.
With all I saw I started to wonder what I have come there for.
Some officers got drunk at night, and cheated on their wives.
And the peasants on the other side, where just struggling for their lives.Oh the army tried some fancy stuff, to bring them to their knees.
Like Agent Orange defoliant, to kill the brush and trees.
We’d hike all day on jungle trails, through clouds of poison spray.
And they never told me then, that it would hurt my health today.But I got the news this morning, yea, the doctors told me so.
They killed me in Vietnam, and I didn’t even know.
I tried hard to forget the war like everybody did.
Settled down, got married, even had a of couple kids.Well my children both had birth defects, and the doctors had their doubts.
They never could understand it, but I think I figured it out.
Because I got the news this morning, yeah, the doctors told me so.
They killed me in Vietnam, and I didn’t even know.This Agent Orange from Vietnam, we carry it with us still.
It stays inside for years and years before it starts to kill.
You might get cancer of the liver; you might get cancer of the skin.
You can file for disability, but you might not live to win.Oh I got the news this morning yea, the doctors told me so.
They killed me in Vietnam, and I didn’t even know.
Oh the doctor said I got some time, trying to be kind.
I’ve never been a radical, but this has changed my mind.Oh I’d be so proud to hear my kids say hell no I won’t go,
Because you killed my dad in Vietnam, and he didn’t even know.
Yes I’d be so proud to hear my kid say hell no I won’t go,
Because you killed my dad and he didn’t even know.
One of the most well-known photos of the Vietnam War was that of a young Vietnamese girl, Phan Thi Kim Phuc, who was pictured running away from her village naked, her clothes having been burned off of her body by a South Vietnamese Air Force napalm attack. Napalm is flammable liquid. It is a mixture of a gelling agent and petroleum or a similar fuel. It was initially used as an incendiary device against buildings and later primarily as an anti-personnel weapon, as it sticks to skin and causes severe burns when on fire. The girl’s burns were so severe that it was thought she probably would not survive. However, after a 14-month hospital stay and 17 surgical procedures, she was able to return home. The photo of her being ‘napalmed’ later earned a Pulitzer Prize and was chosen as the World Press Photo of the Year for 1972. (A summary of Ms. Phan’s life can be found at www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phan_Thi_Kim_Phuc )
“Napalm Sticks to Kids,” written and sung by Covered Wagon Musicians (https://youtu.be/9tUPO_fPyNE), is a cynical, black humor song written by disenchanted members of the armed forces. “The record booklet [that accompanied the recording] credited the song to ‘Air Force and Army GIs attached to the 1st Air Cavalry in Vietnam.’ Recited by Sgt. John Boychuk…a group of GIs sat down one night in a hootch in Vietnam to write these words. Each person made a verse about an incident in which he had taken part and the poem expresses their collective bitterness toward the military that had turned them into murderers.” (An alternative rendition can be found at https://youtu.be/yOTsMHTwshg) In his compilation of Vietnam era Air Force war songs, a book titled Singing the Vietnam Blues, former Air Force major Joseph Tuso lists a half a dozen other napalm related songs created by the “Ranch Hands” crews who took part in the defoliation operations. (Tuso, p. 46.)
We shoot the sick, the young, the lame,
We do our best to kill and maim,
Because the kills all count the same,
Napalm sticks to kids.Flying low across the trees,
Pilots doing what they please,
Dropping frags on refugees,
Napalm sticks to kids.Flying low and looking mean
See that family by the stream
Drop some “nape” and hear them scream
Napalm sticks to kids.A group of gooks in the grass
But all the fighting has long since passed
Crispy youngsters in a mass
Napalm sticks to kids.Drop some napalm on the barn,
It won’t do much harm,
Just burn off a leg or an arm,
Napalm sticks to kids.Gather kids as you fly over town,
By tossing candy on the ground,
Then grease ’em when they gather ’round,
Napalm sticks to kids.Ox cart rolling down the road
Peasants with a heavy load
They’re all VC when the bombs explode,
Napalm sticks to kids.Cobras flying in the sun,
Killing gooks is macho fun,
If one’s pregnant and it’s two for one,
Napalm sticks to kids.There’s a gook down on her knees
Launching flechettes* into the breeze.
Her arms are nailed to the trees
Napalm sticks to kids.Blues on a road recon
See some children with their mom
What the hell…let’s drop the bomb
Napalm sticks to kids.They’re in good shape for the shape they’re in
But, God, how I wonder how they can win
With napalm running down their skin,
Napalm sticks to kids.CIA with guns for hire,
Montagnards around a fire,
Napalm makes the fire higher,
Napalm sticks to kids.A baby sucking on a mother’s tit,
Children cowering in a pit,
Dow Chemical doesn’t give a shit,
Napalm sticks to kids.18 kids in a no fire zone
Books on their arms as the go home
The last in line goes home alone
Napalm sticks to kids.
*Flechettes were small arrow-like projectiles (also called “nails”) contained in the warheads of 2.75 inch rockets delivered by rotary and fixed-wing aircraft. These flechettes would be delivered at high velocity and dispersed over a large area when the warhead opened in its flight to the target. They were effective against soft targets not protected by heavy vegetation.
Malvina Reynold’s song “Napalm,” (1965) describes some of the physical effects produced by napalm. (looking for audio)
Lucy Baines, did you ever see that napalm?
Did you ever see a baby hit with napalm?
When they try to pull it loose why the flesh comes too,
And that’s the way they do with that napalm.
That’s the way they do with that napalm.They have lots of fancy names for that napalm,
Like “escalation games,” but it’s napalm.
And they drop it from the sky,
And the people burn and die,
And the world wonders why we use napalm.Well, your school is too refined to speak of napalm,
And the White House has no time to talk of napalm,
And the war is far away,
But it goes on night and day,
And it’s your hand and mine that drops the napalm.Lucy Baines, did you ever see that napalm?
Did you ever see a baby hit with napalm?
When they try to pull it loose why the flesh comes too.
And that’s the way they do with that napalm.
That’s the way they do with that napalm
“Stop the Fires of Napalm,” written by Jimmy Collier (1968), sung by Jimmy Collier and Rev. Frederick Douglas Kirkpatrick (https://youtu.be/c3W_YqQqyEc) is very critical of the war effort generally and the use of napalm specifically.
You know we’re wrong
You know we’re wrong
We’re in the war
And we don’t belong
Pack up our forked tongues
And come on home
And stop the fires of napalm
Stop the fires of napalmRivers running the color of red
Rice paddies full of the other dead
It’s for freedom of the Vietnamese, we claim
The same freedom that the Indian gained.You know we’re wrong
You know we’re wrong
We’re in the war
And we don’t belong
Pack up our smallpox blankets
And come on home
And stop the fires of napalm
Stop the fires of napalmWe are the children, God is the father
We and the Vietnamese Vietcong are brothers
Their children are our nephews and nieces like the others
And our sisters are those Vietnamese childrens’ mothers.You know we’re wrong
You know we’re wrong
We’re in the war
And we don’t belong
Pack up our guns
And come on home
And stop the fires of napalm
Stop the fires of napalmYou wonder how you can be affected
Your schools and hospitals so neglected
You can’t fight for the good you need
If it’s in the national interest to make children bleed.You know we’re wrong
You know we’re wrong
We’re in the war
And we don’t belong
Pack up our boy soldiers
And come on home
And stop the fires of napalm
Stop the fires of napalm