Only the Beginning (Newsreel #59)

In April 1971, thousands of G.I.'s came to Washington, D.C., to protest the Vietnam War. They stood in front of the U.S. Capitol and threw away their medals. Told from the veterans' point of view, the film examines some of the conditions that led many decorated but disillusioned veterans to such dramatic displays of non-collaboration. As one former G.I. explained, "A guy goes to 'Nam and finds out that a communist is an 18 year old kid or a woman with children.”