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Main.Through Their Eyes
A Recognition of the Forgotten Soldiers of
the
Vietnam War
Crescent
Valley High School
From 1959 to 1975, American soldiers fought
and gave their lives for a cause that confused and frightened everyone involved
in the epoch that was the Vietnam War. Of the 2.6 million American men and
women who served in the War, over 58,000 did not return home to their families.
Contrary to popular belief, not all soldiers who fought in South Asia were
drafted. Over two thirds of these men enlisted in the military to dutifully
serve their country in a time of crisis. As the draft claimed fathers, sons,
husbands and brothers, some chose to leave the United States to avoid the
draft. Some acquired amnesty in Sweden, others fled to Canada. Our purpose in
this presentation is to honor those who went into battle against enemy military
forces in Vietnam, specifically a group of local veterans.
Our humanities class was given the assignment to interview a Vietnam veteran about his personal war experiences. The interviews provided us with a sobering understanding of how horrific, emotional and physically taxing the war was for these men. Despite the difficulties they had in sharing their memories with us, many veterans found the interviews to be therapeutic as they passed their knowledge on to our generation. The following pieces are the combined narrative accounts of each interview we conducted. With these interviews, we present the Vietnam War through their eyes.
" What is a hero? My heroes are the young
men who faced the issues of war and possible death, and then weighed those
concerns against obligations to their country. Citizen-soldiers who interrupted
their personal and professional lives at their most formative stage, in the
timeless phrase of the Confederate Memorial in Arlington National Cemetery,
'not for fame or reward, not for place or for rank, but in simple obedience to
duty, as they understood it.' Who suffered loneliness, disease, and wounds with
an often-contagious élan, and who deserve a far better place in history...."
---James Webb, Vietnam Veteran
and former Secretary of the Navy
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