(Soundtrack is important on this video,
use headphones if possible for higher quality sound)

Memorial Day Sentiments

Created in part from video footage filmed at the Mobilization Ceremony for the 162nd Infantry of the 2nd Battalion on May 4, 2009 at the Lane Country Fairgrounds in Eugene. The 5 minute video which was previously released under a different title (Farewell, 162nd Infantry) has been updated here with more specific information regarding the images and music used, below. There may be additional text updates.

Catalog and descriptions of elements used  in this video:

(time) 0:18
Mike Hastie Photo, Vietnam War Memorial in Washington D.C. taken in early morning during rain.

0:31
Mike Hastie Photo, personal casualties of the Vietnam War, one dead, one attempted suicide, whereabouts unknown.

0:43
Mike Hastie Photo, "Brothers In Arms--A Return to Vietnam"
I came back as I said I would.
To face the pain that I should.
Only this time the tears will flow.
Like I couldn't do years ago.
Mike Hastie
U.S. Army Medic
Vietnam 1970-71

0:47
Mike Hastie Photo, "Touching the Wall"
As an infant child reaches out
to touch its mother's breast,
I just want to touch the Wall.
For a chosen few,
the Wall will become flesh.
Mike Hastie
U.S. Army Medic
Vietnam 1970-71

1:01
Mike Hastie Photo, "From the senior prom to Vietnam"
High School football team superimposed over
the names on the Wall in Washington, D.C.

58,000 American soldiers were killed in Vietnam.
Their average age was 19.
From the senior prom to Vietnam.
Mike Hastie
U.S. Army Medic
Vietnam 1970-71

1:05
Mike Hastie Photo, "Blown up A-frame chapel, Vietnam 1971"

1:09
Mike Hastie Photo, "Why Helicopter, An Khe, Vietnam"

1:22
Mike Hastie Photo, "Vietnamese Children"

1:25
Mike Hastie Photo, "Vietnamese teenager"

1:30
Mike Hastie Photo, "Young Montagnard girl"

1:35
Gordon Sturrock Photo, "American boy at D.C. Wall Memorial with slingshot"

1:48
Mike Hastie Photo, "Old Vietnamese woman in grief"

1:54
Mike Hastie Photo, "Slaugher at Mai Lai"
This is a picture of a painting at the war crimes museum at My Lai.

1:59
Mike Hastie Photo, "The ditch at Mai Lai"
Somewhere between 437 to 504 innocent and unarmed Vietnamese civilians were murdered in or near this ditch by American troops.
more info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mai_Lai_Massacre

2:06
Mike Hastie Photo, "Terrorism begins at home"
In response to the Virginia Tech Massacre

2:21
Mike Hastie Photo, "Boy with Gun"
Every time you buy a boy a violent toy,
you trample his soul.
Mike Hastie
U.S. Army Medic
Vietnam 1970-71

2:24
Mike Hastie Photo, "Devil Mask"
This mask was left at the Moving Wall in Salem, Oregon in 1989

2:30
Mike Hastie Photo, "Homeless Vietnam Veteran in San Francisco, 2004"
The day after I took this picture, I had a long talk with him about his struggle to survive on the streets.

2:40
Foreign Press via internet, (injured Iraqi boy)

2:44
Foreign Press via internet, (grieving Iraqi mother)

2:49
Foreign Press via internet, (injured Iraqi girl in hospital)

3:00
Foreign Press via internet, (elderly Iraqi men and children)

3:08
Foreign Press via internet, (Palestinian girl bloodied during Gaza Hanukah slaughter, 2008-9)
more info: http://palestinian.ning.com/forum/topics/the-other-side-of-the-story

3:15
Foreign Press via internet, (Iraqi dad holding severely injured baby)

3:33
Mike Hastie Photo, "Easter baskets with war toys"

3:36
Mike Hastie Photo, "KillZone2"
http://www.squadron13.com/MikeHastieGallery/KILLZONE2.htm

3:40
Foreign Press via internet, (grieving Iraqi woman)

3:44
Foreign Press via internet, (dead Palestinian girl)

3:47
Chris Hondros photo, Getty News via BBC, (emotionally devastated Iraqi girl)
One of the five Hassan children in Tal Far, Iraq who were orphaned just minutes prior to this picture being taken. The innocent parents had failed to understand the confusing signals of the American servicemembers.
more info: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/picture_gallery/05/middle_east_shooting_in_tal_afar/html/1.stm

3:56
Mike Hastie Photo, "Take In A Deep Breath America"
http://www.squadron13.com/MikeHastieGallery/TakeADeepBreath.htm

As far as suicides among active duty soldiers
and veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan
are concerned,
we in America have just seen the tip of the iceberg.
Two tours will be twice the chance of suicide.
Three tours will be triple the chance of suicide.
Four tours will be four times the chance of suicide.
These soldiers will be deleted by this country like
unwanted e-mails.
Why?
Because the American people do not support the troops.
Nobody wants to do the math.
Take in a deep breath America,
the wars are coming home to the stuffed closets of your
mind.
When you fall asleep at the wheel,
people die in your neighborhood.
Eventually,
they may die in your own home.
When I was in Vietnam toward the end of the war,
this is what I saw.
Blood on my hands,
brains in my lap.
Mike Hastie
U.S. Army Medic
Vietnam 1970-71
February 9, 2009

4:01
Foreign Press via internet, (injured Iraqi boy)

4:08
Army Veteran arrested on Federal charges by Homeland Security for demanding an end to illegal war funding along with 17 others in Eugene, Oregon in March of 2006.
more info: http://www.squadron13.com/CivilResistance/3rdAnniversaryProtest/default.htm

4:11
(police pepper spraying protester)

4:16
Mike Hastie Photo, "Welcome Home"
http://www.squadron13.com/MikeHastieGallery/WelcomeHome.htm

The police from Minneapolis-St. Paul welcome home IVAW  ( Iraq Veterans Against the War ) at the RNC in August 2008.
Protecting Americans from enemies,
both foreign and domestic.
You get shot at in Iraq,
and arrested at home.
Multiple Tours.
Mike Hastie
U.S. Army Medic
Vietnam 1970-71
February 23, 2009

4:21
Bill Perry Photo, "Trampled and beaten Iraq Vets silenced at Hofstra Debate"
more info: http://www.squadron13.com/BillPerry/HofstraDebate/

4:26
Mike Hastie Photo, "Arrested at the White House"
Text on arrestees shirt reads:
"Peace and friendship with all mankind is our wisest policy, and I wish that we may be permitted to pursue it." - Thomas Jefferson quote

4:31
NASA photo, (view of Earth from Apollo spacecraft)

Sacred music,
"Sanctus" of Missa 'LAETATUS SUM', written by Spanish composer Thomas Luis de Victoria (1548-1611)
Performed by triple choir of Saint Clement's Choir, available from Saint Clement's Church in Philidelphia, http://www.s-clements.org/Music_PurchaseCDs.html

United States National Anthem,
Lyrics written by amatuer poet Francis Scott Key in 1814. The melody is from teenage songwriter John Stafford Smith. Smith wrote the song for a "mens social club" in London which ended up becoming a very popular British drinking song.

Brass Band,
Army issue, 234 Army Band
 


 

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