I'm sure this has been asked before, but I can't remember if there was ever a clear answer. After the final battle, we see an American APC approaching and flying what appears to be the war ensign of Germany during the Nazi era. Has Oliver Stone or anyone ever stated the reason for this? Were they displaying it as some kind of trophy? Was there any basis for this in reality?
shareI was curious about that myself and found this:
Corrected entry: At the end after Charlie sheen has shot Barnes an APC comes to them and administers help. When that APC starts to come out of the jungle you can see it is flying a flag. This flag is not the US flag however, it is the Nazi flag.
Correction: Character decision, not a movie mistake. As we can see in the movie, and many others, soldiers in a warzone where discipline is not enforced rigorously, can decorate their equipment and themselves with loads of weird stuff (like writing on helmets, headbands, cigarettes stuck into sleeves or helmets, pin-up photos, etc).
The APCs engine was probably made by ford. So for gives away free nazi flags with every purchase . Just like on the old days back in Germany when good old ford used to make truck engines for the nazi army. They even sued the US govt when they bombed their German plants... and won!
shareSo did Henry invest in Germany during the interwar period or after the war started?
Why can't you wretched prey creatures understand that the Universe doesn't owe you anything!?
Some kind of trophy? No. What? But in the milieu of mid 60's Bikers through mid 70's Punk Rockers, it fits the FTW rebel ethos of that era. Check out "Slap Shot" and hear Walt the Hockey Bus Driver's line as he sports the Reich nasty fashion: "Makin' it look MEAN!"
shareYeah, you got it right, St-Mihiel. Back then it held no political message, it's more of a badass biker type thing: "We're as bad as your worst Nazi nightmare death machine, etc." And being out in the bush, with the median age of the average 'nam soldier at 19, pulling off this kind of goofy stuff was about the daily norm. I can almost say with certainty, the Nazi flag would have not be tolerated once the unit returned to base camp with more strict officers around.
By the way, along those same lines; Some of the 1960's Annette Funicello Beach movies show the inside of Von Zipper's motorcycle gang (The Ratz?) clubhouse with pictures of Adolf Hitler adorning their walls as their hero. (They're such badasses). Again, it means nothing; but I often wonder in this day of political correctness how the PC crowd must become light-headed and faint when they see those scenes.
Its a Kriegsmarine flag (German Navy) it could of come from a weapons/equipment cache from WW2 or from former German veteran who joined the French Foreign Legion and captured by the vietnamese and then captured by the US troops.
Its like the M1911A1 used by Ken Watanabe's character used in Letters From Iwo Jima, it has a backstory but none is given.
When life gives you lemons? Don't make lemonade. Make life take the lemons back!
US soldiers in Iraq were sometimes photographed with Nazi flags and regalia, and it has been claimed that active neo-Nazis in the American forces were at least tolerated there.
"Chicken soup - with a *beep* straw."