Mar 28, 1996 by gmoore3501@msn.com Wilfred Burchett (was: Recent Mater In article <603215722@panix3.panix.com>, Ralph McGehee wrote: RMG> Recent Material on CIA -snip- RMG> Burchett, Wilfred. (1981). AT THE BARRICADES: FORTY YEARS RMG> ON THE CUTTING EDGE OF HISTORY. NY: Times Books. This book RMG> outlines the career of this prolific journalist who met most RMG> all important leaders of the world of his time, both Communist and RMG> non-Communist. His adventures are mind-boggling as he trains his RMG> rather heavy body to travel with Viet Cong guerrillas though the RMG> jungles of South Vietnam and Cambodia. He visits the Tunnels RMG> of Cu Chi, on the outskirts of Saigon, when they were being bombarded. RMG> He gets stuck and is pushed and pulled through the narrow passageways. RMG> His casual recounting of his talks with Ho Chi Minh, Henry Kissinger, RMG> de Gaulle, and various Chinese and Russian leaders makes this a RMG> fascinating history. Early on, Burchett reported on the strength RMG> of the resolute Viet Cong and their millions of organized RMG> members, only to have his observations ignored by Westerners. Burchett RMG> had also visited Hiroshima and Nagasaki shortly after nuclear attack, RMG> the first independent reporter to visit the bombed cities. His reports RMG> about the devastation were ignored just as completely as his RMG> observations about Vietnam. Thank you Sir for still another very relevant reading list. If only there were more time to read... I note too that you share my fascination with Wilfred Burchett's books. How many lives did that guy have, anyway? He and a couple buddies could have taken the easy way out of Burma (by ship) in front of the Japanese Army in 1942, but they instead choose to WALK out via the Naga Hills into Assam. A little adventure, you know. His description of the tribesmen they met on a jungle trail one day... The situation could have gone in any direction at all. Next up, after an "uneventful" journalistic tour with the British Army in India, was an island hopping tour with the US Navy in the South Pacific. If I recall, he wrote that this was a luxury cruise and that he got bored with it because he was not permitted to get onto the landing craft and into the trenches with the first Marines. He had nothing better to do every day except watch Japanese dive bombers and the distant Marine assault with his binocular... Ho hum. To get revenge on the US Navy, he walked off this ship the moment it arrived into the Tokyo harbor in August of 1945. Most journalists covered the capitulation ceremony, but not Burchett. He got onto a train for a visit to Hiroshima, which had just recently been bombed into oblivion with a new weapon. His description of the Japanese officers he met on that train are very informative. They fingered their swords as they eyed the fat foreigner who was responsible for their defeat... Easy prey. Burchett lived to write about it, and about what he saw in Hiroshima. There are undoubtedly other descriptions about what Hiroshima looked like just after the bombing, and Burchett's collegues did indeed take pictures. One can see these pictures in any public library, but Burchett's descriptions of his train trip remain for me the most descriptive of the atmosphere in Japan at the time. Those Imperial Japanese Officers fingering their swords as they stared with hate filled eyes at the fat foreigner who would dare to get on such a train... Indeed! I can see the sparkle on their broken swords. I don't remember what Burchett did between Hiroshima and his walk down the Ho Chi Minh Trail, but it was all bad. He had big problems renewing his Australian passport because of his subversion of the official Australian line. He told a story about the situation in Vietnam which the then Australian government did not like. Consequently, despite something of a mini pro Burchett campaign locally in Australia, permission to renew his passport was denied. Burchett moved permanently to Hanoi. Maybe some of the Australian followers of this newsgroup can update this story? It would be interesting to read something about the anti-war movement in Australia. Was Wilfred Burchett not it's most emminent spokesperson? America's Jane Fonda remains a naive gym instructor in comparison. She married a rich guy later, of course... Welcome to America! Ah yes, Wilfred Burchett was a card carrying member of some Communist Party somewhere, wasn't he? It makes me laugh. A guy who can write publically that NVA cadre had to carry his fat ass between two poles to escape from an air attack... Wilfred Burchett's books merit attention. He raves on frequently about this and that, but there are some true gems to be found in his books. For example, the meeting he had with some local NLF commissar around Chu Chi... Burchett could see the lights of Saigon off in the distance. Could that really be true? Was the NLF really that close even then? America's soldiers and journalists have many informative stories to tell. Australia's Wilfred Burchett has a few stories himself. How many lives did that guy have?! Another war junkie... He went on later to write about Angola and I don't know what else. George Moore gmoore3501@msn.com