Voices From Vietnam Book Report
Voices from Vietnam
Voices from Vietnam, a book by Barry Denenberg to some it can be comforting, some gruesome, and to some informative. This book is not just a group of facts with the main events of the war, it talks with many different people that had very important jobs during the war. To me this book was very informative because I knew very little about the war. A few well known people have writings in this book such as President Dwight D. Eisenhower. It is very interesting to see the very diverse experience of the war. Although, they are all different people and played different roles in the war, the stories all relate in some way.
My grandfather signed up for the war when he was only eighteen years old! He did not want to go to Vietnam but if he did not sign up for the war he was going to be drafted. Thankfully, he was not involved in much of the shooting. He loaded and unloaded ships. He does not like to talk about the war but he will if you ask. I am very proud to know such a brave …show more content…
person.
Voices from Vietnam is not written like your typical book. It is a plethora of letters binded together. This book is nonfiction because it takes exact events that impacted individuals that were involved in the war. For some people the war was the worst event of their life. For others, the war wasn’t that bad.
There are many different stories within this book. There are some leaders that have stories to tell about their experiences like the President of the United States. There are also people like nurses who tell their stories. In many cases the nurses in the war were just as important as the President of the United States. There were a great plenty of important jobs during the war and some of them I feel were not recognized like they should have been.
Many times during this book people are impressed with what the United States and Vietnamese are doing. Abbot Low Moffat was part of the United States Department of State. The book starts out with a quote from him I wanted to go see the people as I went around, I was impressed with the basic hatred for the French. This quote pertains to the Vietnam War because the French enslaved the Vietnamese. This is just the American side of this story.
During this time Vietnam was split into the North and the South. Le Thanh was a North Vietnamese civilian. Le Thanh explains how surprised he was with the French. We learned...about the struggle against the French...We were taught how brutal the French had been, how they enslaved Vietnam. We looked at pictures of what the French had done - rows of Vietnamese shackled in stocks, heads of murdered Vietnamese patriots displayed by French soldiers. We read biographies and memoirs of militants who had died under French torture or had spent years in jail... For this man the war was very gruesome. One thing that he states is how the Vietnamese patriots heads were displayed by the French. He did not like the site and felt it was disrespectful to the patriots and their country.
I feel that when we are being taught about different wars in school, movies, television etc. we often only look at the American side. I like the way this book tells both sides of the story. In most cases the Vietnamese story is different from the American experience. The book also breaks up the different battles within the major Vietnam War. Within the binding of all of these pages there are many similar and different occurrences.
This war did not just up and start one day. It was because of the sum of events from over 400 years that lead to the terrible war. In 111 B.C. citizens of what is present day Vietnam had records of living under the Chinese rules. It was not until 1883 that the divided Vietnam was taken under French control. In 1944 the Vietminh army was forced to fight the French. The reason for this attack was Independence from France. However, 1944 was not the only time the Vietnamese attacked the French. Only two years later in the 1946 the French bombard Haiphong. In turn, the Vietnamese are very unhappy.
1954 was a big year for the Vietnamese, the Vietminh defeated the French in Dienbienphu. Ngo Dinh Diem is called the new Prime Minister of South Vietnam. There is a large conference called the Geneva Conference ends and cease-fire is declared. Vietnam is temporally divided into the north and the south. Only a year later, the United States send help to South Vietnam’s government. Little did many of the the United States citizens know this would end up changing their lives.
At this time in the United States history, Dwight David Eisenhower was the President. In 1959, two American military advisors are killed. That did not make America happy. One year later, President John Fitzgerald Kennedy is elected 35th president of the United States. Only three years after being elected into office, President Kennedy is assassinated and Lyndon Johnson became the new president. Lyndon Johnson feels that we need to get this war under control he sends the first American combat troops to Vietnam. The troops consisted of 3,500 Marines.
In 1968, Johnson announces American forces will discontinue bombing North Vietnam for the time being. The reason for this is America is having some of their own problems. Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated, Senator Robert Kennedy is assassinated, and Richard Milhous Nixon is elected the 37th President. Each one of these events are very important events in American history. Each of these events shape America into the place it is today. The discontinuation of bombing did not last long, however. Less than a year later, Nixon organized the secret bombing of Cambodia. Nixon also announces the first U.S. troop withdrawals. At the same time, the United States and South Vietnamese forces invaded Cambodia. Four Kent State University students are killed by the national guardsmen. As a result, 400 college campuses are shut down.
President Nixon was all for fighting and bombing but at the same time, he used the least amount of troops to do it. Right around Christmas of 1972, President Nixon orders “The Bombing of Christmas” to North Vietnam. One year later, a peace treaty is signed is Paris and the last United States combat troops leave Vietnam.
Although the American troops are gone, the fighting between North and South Vietnam continued. In 1975 the last battles of the war are in progress. North Vietnam begins their final act, and the South Vietnamese army retreats. At this time all United States personnel evacuate Saigon. The communist forces enter Saigon and the war ends. Just because the war is over in Vietnam the hardships continued for many in the United States. Hundreds of thousand of the soldiers suffered from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Many others looked to drugs and became addicts to marijuana, cocaine, heroin, and alcohol. Many others took what I think is the worst way out: suicide. Suicide rates raised through the roof and depression was becoming more and more common.
James Hebron of the United States Marines says the people who had been my closest friends really knew nothing about Vietnam.
They were only interested in what the war was like in terms of their preconceptions of what war was about: “How many people did you kill?” That kind of thing. Not really interested in the intense experiences we’d undergone, and how they might affect somebody... For this man the war was a horrific event. Sadly, this man was not the only man who went through problems like this. Woody Wanamaker of the United States Army describes After I got out of the military... And I was angry all the time. I don’t even know why I was so angry... I carried around that anger like a fifty-pound bag of poop on my back. I used it as a reason for drinking, as a reason for my marriage breaking up... I was getting thoughts like, “I’d be better off dead.” I never got violent or anything, but it was there. I knew it was only a matter of time before it came
out.
I cannot imagine what life would have been like in Vietnam or coming back home. Employers of the United States would not even hire a man who fought in the war because they thought the war was the American's fault. Many soldiers were offended by this action. They just risked their lives for all of the people back home and they would not ever give them a job.
One thing that my grandpa says about the war is they were not welcomed when they came back. They were shunned and hated. That would always make him upset because the other soldiers of World War I, World War II, and any other war they were celebrated. All except the Vietnam War. In my opinion and I would think many others this is horrible.
In conclusion, I believe that all American’s should recognise and thank all of the military forces who fought in the war. I think that more people are starting to realize what we did was unacceptable. However, there are still some citizens that still look at the Vietnam Veterans with hatred and disgrace. I think that those people should put themselves in the soldier's shoes for a while and then see if they still have that attitude. I am very thankful for all soldiers not just the ones in Vietnam, but all of the soldiers who have spend many hours away from their friends and families to fight for our freedom especially, some of the soldiers like my grandpa who did not have a choice.
Voices from Vietnam, a book by Barry Denenberg to some it can be comforting, some gruesome, and to some informative. This book is not just a group of facts with the main events of the war, it talks with many different people that had very important jobs during the war. To me this book was very informative because I knew very little about the war. A few well known people have writings in this book such as President Dwight D. Eisenhower. It is very interesting to see the very diverse experience of the war. Although, they are all different people and played different roles in the war, the stories all relate in some way.
My grandfather signed up for the war when he was only eighteen years old! He did not want to go to Vietnam but if he did not sign up for the war he was going to be drafted. Thankfully, he was not involved in much of the shooting. He loaded and unloaded ships. He does not like to talk about the war but he will if you ask. I am very proud to know such a brave …show more content…
person.
Voices from Vietnam is not written like your typical book. It is a plethora of letters binded together. This book is nonfiction because it takes exact events that impacted individuals that were involved in the war. For some people the war was the worst event of their life. For others, the war wasn’t that bad.
There are many different stories within this book. There are some leaders that have stories to tell about their experiences like the President of the United States. There are also people like nurses who tell their stories. In many cases the nurses in the war were just as important as the President of the United States. There were a great plenty of important jobs during the war and some of them I feel were not recognized like they should have been.
Many times during this book people are impressed with what the United States and Vietnamese are doing. Abbot Low Moffat was part of the United States Department of State. The book starts out with a quote from him I wanted to go see the people as I went around, I was impressed with the basic hatred for the French. This quote pertains to the Vietnam War because the French enslaved the Vietnamese. This is just the American side of this story.
During this time Vietnam was split into the North and the South. Le Thanh was a North Vietnamese civilian. Le Thanh explains how surprised he was with the French. We learned...about the struggle against the French...We were taught how brutal the French had been, how they enslaved Vietnam. We looked at pictures of what the French had done - rows of Vietnamese shackled in stocks, heads of murdered Vietnamese patriots displayed by French soldiers. We read biographies and memoirs of militants who had died under French torture or had spent years in jail... For this man the war was very gruesome. One thing that he states is how the Vietnamese patriots heads were displayed by the French. He did not like the site and felt it was disrespectful to the patriots and their country.
I feel that when we are being taught about different wars in school, movies, television etc. we often only look at the American side. I like the way this book tells both sides of the story. In most cases the Vietnamese story is different from the American experience. The book also breaks up the different battles within the major Vietnam War. Within the binding of all of these pages there are many similar and different occurrences.
This war did not just up and start one day. It was because of the sum of events from over 400 years that lead to the terrible war. In 111 B.C. citizens of what is present day Vietnam had records of living under the Chinese rules. It was not until 1883 that the divided Vietnam was taken under French control. In 1944 the Vietminh army was forced to fight the French. The reason for this attack was Independence from France. However, 1944 was not the only time the Vietnamese attacked the French. Only two years later in the 1946 the French bombard Haiphong. In turn, the Vietnamese are very unhappy.
1954 was a big year for the Vietnamese, the Vietminh defeated the French in Dienbienphu. Ngo Dinh Diem is called the new Prime Minister of South Vietnam. There is a large conference called the Geneva Conference ends and cease-fire is declared. Vietnam is temporally divided into the north and the south. Only a year later, the United States send help to South Vietnam’s government. Little did many of the the United States citizens know this would end up changing their lives.
At this time in the United States history, Dwight David Eisenhower was the President. In 1959, two American military advisors are killed. That did not make America happy. One year later, President John Fitzgerald Kennedy is elected 35th president of the United States. Only three years after being elected into office, President Kennedy is assassinated and Lyndon Johnson became the new president. Lyndon Johnson feels that we need to get this war under control he sends the first American combat troops to Vietnam. The troops consisted of 3,500 Marines.
In 1968, Johnson announces American forces will discontinue bombing North Vietnam for the time being. The reason for this is America is having some of their own problems. Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated, Senator Robert Kennedy is assassinated, and Richard Milhous Nixon is elected the 37th President. Each one of these events are very important events in American history. Each of these events shape America into the place it is today. The discontinuation of bombing did not last long, however. Less than a year later, Nixon organized the secret bombing of Cambodia. Nixon also announces the first U.S. troop withdrawals. At the same time, the United States and South Vietnamese forces invaded Cambodia. Four Kent State University students are killed by the national guardsmen. As a result, 400 college campuses are shut down.
President Nixon was all for fighting and bombing but at the same time, he used the least amount of troops to do it. Right around Christmas of 1972, President Nixon orders “The Bombing of Christmas” to North Vietnam. One year later, a peace treaty is signed is Paris and the last United States combat troops leave Vietnam.
Although the American troops are gone, the fighting between North and South Vietnam continued. In 1975 the last battles of the war are in progress. North Vietnam begins their final act, and the South Vietnamese army retreats. At this time all United States personnel evacuate Saigon. The communist forces enter Saigon and the war ends. Just because the war is over in Vietnam the hardships continued for many in the United States. Hundreds of thousand of the soldiers suffered from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Many others looked to drugs and became addicts to marijuana, cocaine, heroin, and alcohol. Many others took what I think is the worst way out: suicide. Suicide rates raised through the roof and depression was becoming more and more common.
James Hebron of the United States Marines says the people who had been my closest friends really knew nothing about Vietnam.
They were only interested in what the war was like in terms of their preconceptions of what war was about: “How many people did you kill?” That kind of thing. Not really interested in the intense experiences we’d undergone, and how they might affect somebody... For this man the war was a horrific event. Sadly, this man was not the only man who went through problems like this. Woody Wanamaker of the United States Army describes After I got out of the military... And I was angry all the time. I don’t even know why I was so angry... I carried around that anger like a fifty-pound bag of poop on my back. I used it as a reason for drinking, as a reason for my marriage breaking up... I was getting thoughts like, “I’d be better off dead.” I never got violent or anything, but it was there. I knew it was only a matter of time before it came
out.
I cannot imagine what life would have been like in Vietnam or coming back home. Employers of the United States would not even hire a man who fought in the war because they thought the war was the American's fault. Many soldiers were offended by this action. They just risked their lives for all of the people back home and they would not ever give them a job.
One thing that my grandpa says about the war is they were not welcomed when they came back. They were shunned and hated. That would always make him upset because the other soldiers of World War I, World War II, and any other war they were celebrated. All except the Vietnam War. In my opinion and I would think many others this is horrible.
In conclusion, I believe that all American’s should recognise and thank all of the military forces who fought in the war. I think that more people are starting to realize what we did was unacceptable. However, there are still some citizens that still look at the Vietnam Veterans with hatred and disgrace. I think that those people should put themselves in the soldier's shoes for a while and then see if they still have that attitude. I am very thankful for all soldiers not just the ones in Vietnam, but all of the soldiers who have spend many hours away from their friends and families to fight for our freedom especially, some of the soldiers like my grandpa who did not have a choice.