we will hear from ron dellums pat schroeder, tom hayden and wayne smith who served as a combat medic during vietnam. >> we wanted to get home. we just wanted to survive. and yet there is an enormous guilt that stays with me and many my brothers and sisters today that we should have known better. we should have been sitting where you are. that we should have been more active, more informed, and more in opposition to that war. amy: all of that and more coming up. this is democracy now! democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. as the nation celebrates memorial day, we look back at the vietnam war. fifty years ago, on march 7, 1965, 3500 u.s. marines landed in south vietnam, marking the start of the u.s. ground war in vietnam. that same day, in alabama, state troopers beat back civil rights protesters in selma trying to walk over the edmund pettus bridge. weeks later, the first teach-in against the vietnam war was held at the university of michigan. by 1968, the u.s. had half a million troops in vietnam. the war continued until april 1975. some scholars estimate as ma

wayne smith also part of that broadcast. he is an army medic that went into south vietnam as we talk about the meaning of memorial day. these are the kinds of programs you get on a regular basis. you will see edward snowden, tom drake, who was persecuted by the obama administration. these are top-level nsa employees who were deeply concerned about what the nsa was doing, spying on americans. we will bring you a documentary called "the war on whistleblowers. we are in the chelsea manhattan. you can come in and drink in fair trade organic coffee, you bring a guest, watch the broadcast live. we tour you through democracy now, you meet the team that makes it happen. today you would have been hanging at buffy savery. a few days ago it was known chomsky a few weeks ago. we urge you to call in. who knows, it may be rondell of. it may be jeremy's cahill. 866-359-4334. i do this every week. i find it incredibly moving to get to know you and your guest. father's day is coming up. maybe you want to give someone a wonderful father's day

oakland commerce member, former oakland congress member, has shored or pat shorter tom hayden, wayne smithtnam medic. it is the 40th anniversary of the end of the war, 50th anniversary of the was invading south vietnam. when you were singing about it, what happened? why was it difficult to hear your songs? >> i did not know the time, but i found out 20 years later apparently administration johnson and dixon administration's, apparently, they drown my career, the career of her thicket, taj mahal had problems him and i was told irate over broadcast or live on the air at the beginning of an interview -- this was in the 1980's. richard nixon was gone. the democratic administration and republican administration apparently had downed a lot of careers for being outspoken. i don't think was just that i had written "universal soldier" and "now that the buffalo is gone." i think it is because i got famous and oh shooting my mouth off on "the tonight show." it was because i had maxing covers. billboard magazine had named me best new artist on the year the beatles came to america. i had a lot going on

the conviction, the five of them wasn't. >> in the end, all the justices except smith agreed to uphold the conviction. wayneas bullied into making its u-turn. >> i think the pressure came from as high as the white house. and we'll leave it at that. >> not so, said george smith, now retired from the court but still practicing law in his 90s. >> i can't imagine that would have happened in a case like this. i can't imagine having any case but certainly this case. it didn't reach to the white house. >> smith did write a dissenting opinion. he said the fiber evidence fell short of scientific certainty and the prosecution should not have been allowed to use the so-called pattern evidence on ten other murders. >> i said only similarity in the crimes in this case is the fact that all of them were dead. >> smith was denounced on the floor of the georgia legislature. >> i was an n-lover. you know what "n" stands for. >> mary welcome agreed. when justice smith wrote the defense attorneys were ineffective. >> we were rendered ineffective. we were rendered incompetent because of the lack of funds, the lack of time and t

. >> the legendary aero smith front man was headed to the farm operated by wayne saturday, or so he wasdenly told, after getting a phonecall last night from a fan of the bad boys from bean town. >> i said steven tyler ain't coming here that i know of. if he is, it would be incredible but i don't think so. she said oh, ya, it is on the internet. >> on solo tour doug country music. we found show postings, an eventful. com, all nor saturday may 30th concertment wayne said no one ever approached him for a show, so gave the caller the bad news, and called west windsor township police. >> even his agent was a little concerned why that was out there. please don't come out. there is no concert this weekend. >> police posted this message on line to draw the line telling fans to dream on, shooting down the rumor while making a play on some aerosmith classics, saying, quote, please pass this along so people don't walk this way and end up a crying. >> we hit our social media and all of our public media that we have to let everybody know. now all i'm doing is singing steven tyler songs because every

wayne is in mill valley. >> at mill valley united methodist church senior pastor tim smith has no shortage of words for hern come sunday. >> not short now. >> here's why. active vandalism on the church marquis earlier this week. you can't read the word because that vandal didn't want you to. >> they say jeez had 2 dd and he turned out just fine. >> that from the pastor pushing reconciliation in the church since the late 1980's. >> everything is political. everything is social. the sign has a lot of implication is. >> and the paint over caused plenty of red face and well to do mill valley wherefore many residents the only daily stress might involve what blend of coffee they want with the latte coffee they want with the latte. agree of embarrass pwment this. >> the fact that they deface a sign says something about them not about the city. >> church members and church workers agree. >> we are a microcosm of everywhere. there will be 1 or 2 people who object to what you do no matter where you are. >> but enough about the negative. let's talk positive because the one act of vandalism caused more than 100 people