My name's Ron Kovic.

I'm a Vietnam veteran.

I'm here to say this war is wrong,

that this society lied to me and my brothers...

Why don't you shut up?

It deceived the people in this country.

It tricked them into going 1 3,000 miles

to fight a war against a poor peasant people

who have a proud history of resistance,

who have been struggling for their own independence

for 1,000 years-- the Vietnamese people.

I can't--I can't find the words to express

how the leadership of this government sickens me.

Now, people say...

people say if you don't love America,

then get the hell out.

Well, I love America,

but when it comes to the government,

it stops right there.

The government is a bunch of corrupt thieves.

They are rapists and robbers.

We are here to say

we don't have to take it anymore.

We are here to tell the truth.

They're killing our brothers in Vietnam.

We want them to hear the truth.

Traitor!

What are you, a Communist?

Is this what we get,

spit in the face?

Is this what we get?

Is this what we get, spit in the face?

We're never going to let the people

forget that war!

Four more years!

You're not sweeping it under the rug

because you didn't like the ratings.

This wheelchair,

our wheelchairs,

this steel, our steel

is your Memorial Day on wheels.

We're your Yankee-Doodle Dandy come home.

We're your Yankee-Doodle Dandy.

Let's reject any philosophy

that would make us a divided people of America.

Stop the bombing! Stop the war!

Stop the bombing! Stop the war!

Stop the bombing! Stop the war!

Some sort of scuffle

has broken out on the convention floor,

disabled veterans protesting the Vietnam War.

We'll try to get down there.

Why are they gassing us in the parking lot?

Why are they fighting us?

Because it's a lie.

The truth is they've killed a generation of young men.

They have sacrificed

a whole generation of young men.

Stop the bombing!

Stop the bombing!

Communists!

Communists!

Stop the bombing!

Stop the war!

Stop the bombing! Stop the war!

Traitor! Go home!

I say to you tonight...

in these times,

when there is so much of a tendency

to run down those who have served America

in the past and today,

let's give those who have served in Vietnam

the honor and the respect

that they deserve and that they've earned.

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