Winter Soldier Investigation

Winter Soldier Investigation

The "Winter Soldier Investigation" was a media event sponsored by the Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW) from January 31, 1971 – February 2, 1971. It was intended to publicize war crimes and atrocities by the United States Armed Forces and their allies in the Vietnam War. The VVAW challenged the morality and conduct of the war by showing the direct relationship between military policies and war crimes in Vietnam. The three-day gathering of 109 veterans and 16 civilians took place in Detroit, Michigan. Discharged servicemen from each branch of military service, as well as civilian contractors, medical personnel and academics, all gave testimony about war crimes they had committed or witnessed during the years of 1963–1970.

With the exception of Pacifica Radio, the event was not covered extensively outside Detroit. However, several journalists and a film crew recorded the event, and a documentary film called Winter Soldier was released in 1972. A complete transcript was later entered into the Congressional Record by Senator Mark Hatfield, and discussed in the Fulbright Hearings in April and May 1971, convened by Senator J. William Fulbright, chair of the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.

Read more about Winter Soldier Investigation:  Background, Credibility of The Veterans and Their Testimony, Winter Soldier Panels, Winter Soldier Results, Winter Soldier: Iraq & Afghanistan

Famous quotes containing the words winter and/or soldier:

    “All men hesitate
    Separately, always, seeing another year gone
    Frockcoated gentleman, farmer at his gate,
    Villein with mattock, soldiers on their shields,
    All silent, watching the winter coming on.”
    —Philip Larkin (1922–1986)

    “The soldier here, as everywhere in Canada, appeared to be put forward, and by his best foot. They were in the proportion of the soldiers to the laborers in an African ant-hill.... On every prominent ledge you could see England’s hands holding the Canadas, and I judged from the redness of her knuckles that she would soon have to let go.”
    —Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)