''Two Days in October'' is a 2005 documentary film about the

Battle of Ong Thanh The Battle of Ong Thanh was fought at the stream of that name (Ông Thành) on the morning of 17 October 1967, in Chơn Thành District, at the time part of Bình Dương Province, South Vietnam, today in Bình Phước Province. During the ...

and the protest at the

University of Wisconsin–Madison A university () is an educational institution, institution of higher education, higher (or Tertiary education, tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. Universities ty ...

during the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

. Both events occurred in October 1967. The film aired on the

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...

series ''

American Experience ''American Experience'' is a television program airing on the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) in the United States. The program airs documentaries, many of which have won awards, about important or interesting events and people in American his ...

'' during season 18. The film is based on the book, '' They Marched Into Sunlight'' written by

David Maraniss David Maraniss ( ; born 1949) is an American journalist and author, currently serving as an associate editor for ''The Washington Post''. Career ''The Washington Post'' assigned Maraniss the job of biographer for their coverage of 2008 president ...

. The film won a Peabody Award in 2005. The film consists of interviews with American soldiers, their families, Viet Cong soldiers, protesting students, police officers, and university faculty and administrators. Soldiers discuss the deadly jungle ambush of American troops by a much larger Viet Cong force, while those who were at the University of Wisconsin-Madison describe how a protest against

Dow Chemical The Dow Chemical Company, officially Dow Inc., is an American multinational chemical corporation headquartered in Midland, Michigan, United States. The company is among the three largest chemical producers in the world. Dow manufactures plastics ...

, the maker of

napalm Napalm is an incendiary mixture of a gelling agent and a volatile petrochemical (usually gasoline (petrol) or diesel fuel). The name is a portmanteau of two of the constituents of the original thickening and gelling agents: coprecipitated al ...

, turned violent when police began clubbing protesters. Both the soldiers and students were surprised to see news stories telling a very different version of events than what they had experienced.

References

American Experience Documentary films about the Vietnam War 2005 films University of Wisconsin–Madison {{Vietnam-war-documentary-film-stub

See also

References