NYU will host a screening of “The Anderson Platoon,” an Oscar-winning documentary on a Vietnam War army unit led by Lt. Joseph B. Anderson, Jr., followed by a discussion featuring Anderson and NYU historians Marilyn Young and Jeffrey Sammons, on Mon., Feb. 23. Image courtesy of French Broadcasting System.

Photo: Joseph B. Anderson
NYU will host a screening of “The Anderson Platoon,” an Oscar-winning documentary on a Vietnam War army unit led by Lt. Joseph B. Anderson, Jr., followed by a discussion featuring Anderson, above, and NYU historians Marilyn Young and Jeffrey Sammons, on Mon., Feb. 23, 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. at NYU’s Global Center for Academic and Spiritual Life. Image courtesy of French Broadcasting System.

The event, which comes nearly 40 years after the end of the Vietnam War, is free and open to the public. An RSVP is required by emailing rw90@nyu.edu. For more information, call 212.998.8635.

“The Anderson Platoon” (54 mins.), directed by Pierre Schoendoerffer and winner of the 1967 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, chronicles an integrated combat unit led by Anderson, a black West Point graduate. It captures the tension, confusion, boredom, despair, travails, and pathos of combat in Vietnam.

Anderson is a native of Topeka, Kansas and a 1965 graduate of the United States Military Academy. During his military career, he served two tours of duty in Vietnam. His awards include two Silver Stars, five Bronze Stars, three Army Commendation, and 11 Air Medals. He resigned his commission after 13 years of service to enter the private sector with General Motors. Anderson is now chairman of TAG Holdings, LLC.

Young is the author of “The Vietnam Wars: 1945-1990” and Sammons is coauthor of “Harlem’s Rattlers and the Great War”, which recounts the history of an African-American combat unit that grew out of the 15th New York National Guard and eventually fought with the French army in WWI.

This event is sponsored by: NYU’s Department of History; the university’s Office of Student Affairs; Polytechnic Institute of NYU; the Veteran Resource Center at NYU’s School of Professional Studies; NYU’s Institute of African American Affairs; and NYU Milvets, part of the NYU Student Resource Center.

Subways: A, B, C, D, E, F, or M (West 4th Street).
 

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