The Nazi swastika flag at the end of Platoon

Question

As Platoon is an anti-war film, America is pictured as brutal conquerors. Is the Nazi swastika flag at the end of Platoon supposed to compare German occupation of the world during WWII to American occupation of Vietnam during the Vietnam War?

Answer 1

Apparently not.

This was director Oliver Stone allegedly trying to portray some "realism" into the admittedly Anti-War movie.

Per TV Tropes

According to Stone^*, APC soldiers during the war were notorious for displaying Nazi paraphernalia on their vehicles.

^{* Apparently from the DVD Special Edition Commentary}

Stone did serve in Vietnam and apparently won the Purple Heart and Bronze Star but the accuracy of his depictions is often called in to question.

Answer 2

Is the Nazi swastika flag at the end of Platoon supposed to compare German occupation of the world during WWII to American occupation of Vietnam during the Vietnam War?

Movie: A reflection of reality. Stone could choose to ignore it, or keep it in.

Real life: (1965-66) Kilo Company, Third Battalion, Seventh Marine Regiment, United States Marine Corps

(Note that the crew in both pictures are mixed, that may mean nothing though)

Wasn't comparing anything, and yes, it was realism, for some quarters.

It still exists now.

There isn't very much to read into it, especially in a movie like Platoon.

Stone must have seen it, registered it, and thought he should have it in there, or, as in the case of Apocalypse Now (as an example), certain scenes were captured at the time and were recreated for the film. How the audience reacts to it is very much left to them.

A lot of times you have to remember the way you look back now, is very different to the perspective at the time, and a lot of the people doing the fighting were very young. Graffiti, icons, phrases, messages, all those things can look 'cool', look 'hard', look like you would strike fear into your enemies, or just look cool amongst comrades in the same sh*t hole as yourself.

Some people knew they just had to turn off that 'moral' compass or they wouldn't be getting along with their buddy in their fox hole.

For me, I was not surprised in the least by it.

Military advisor Dale Dye, also in the film, was asked about it:

Atlantic: Toward the end of Platoon, there's this bizarre scene where an American tank has a Nazi flag flying above it...Why would American soldiers in Vietnam have a Nazi flag above the tank?

Dye: For the same reason that soldiers had flags with the skull-and-cross bones image on it. We carried state flags as well.

Atlantic: Did you see that when you were there?

Dye: Sure. But all that didn't mean that much to us at 19. We were young, rebellious kids. We weren't making political statements. We were making a military statement: We're Stormtroopers, we'll tear your ass apart. We also put horrible graffiti on our helmets and flak jackets.

https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2010/08/the-man-who-brought-war-to-hollywood/62070/

Heres an eye-popping one from not so long ago:

Note the one shown in Platoon was an army Wermacht (war and naval ensign) flag, the one flown here is a Nazi Party Swastika flag.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-06-14/photo-shows-nazi-flag-flown-over-australian-army-vehicle/9859618

Chief of Army Angus Campbell earlier this year (2018) appeared to take steps toward culture change, ordering a ban on soldiers' use of "death-style" imagery, such as Spartan warriors, the grim reaper, skull and crossbones and the "Punisher" vigilante character.

Other variations:

1968, recon by fire, Tay Ninh to Katum.

Remember: Context is important, and your perspective now is very different from others, then.

pictorial reference:

http://www.dvrbs.com/People/CamdenPeople-CharlesWCahillyII.htm

Answer 3

To me it symbolizes America's attempt to quell communism, although they were half-heartedly picking up where the Nazis left off (in the fight against the spread of the Karl Marx's Jewish influenced doctrine). You cannot obtain any more of an anti-Communist visual effect, than by condoning national socialism, especially by flying the Nazi Imperial battle flag. Being that Nazism and Communism are violently polar opposite philosophies, the use of this battle flag in "Platoon" achieves an extreme visual effect for watchers. It very obviously symbolizes the "new" American struggle to "smash communism" in Indo-China.