Dear America: Letters Home From Vietnam Essay Sample

to make their occupations and acquire place from this useless war” wrote one soldier. and another.

“I pray that none of you will of all time hold to set on a uniform for hostile grounds. ”The writer. himself a veteran of Vietnam. forewords each chapter by depicting facts of the war. and how many of the work forces may hold felt at that phase of their circuit.

but it is the letters themselves that tell the true narrative of what really happened during the war and let the reader to sympathize with and associate to these work forces and male childs. The work forces wrote about everything. from homesickness to going accustomed to killing and the resulting shame. and from disbursement hebdomads in the field without a shower or a bed to seeing blood and decease.

many times of close friends. on a day-to-day footing. These letters are as near to a real-life experience of Vietnam as one could of all time acquire.The letters besides show intense fluctuation among the sentiments of those in Vietnam.

and so a struggle of sentiment within persons themselves. One soldier wrote. “I frequently wonder if what we’re contending for is worth a human life. ” while another wrote. “I am contending to protect and keep what I believe in and what I want to populate in-a democratic society.

If I am killed while transporting out this mission. I want to one to shout or mourn for me. . . I want people to be proud of me for the occupation I did.

” Some wrote about the beauty of the state and the civilization. and others wrote in disgust

of its crud and the retardation of its people. All the letters had one thing in common. though. and that was how they affected the author. “I’ve seen some things happen here recently that have moved me so much that I’ve alter my whole mentality on life.

” wrote one. “Some of the things you see here can truly alter a adult male or turn a male child into a adult male. Any combat GI that comes here doesn’t leave the same. ” These letters are a testament to how intensely the Vietnam War affected an full coevals.

particularly those who were in Vietnam and experienced its horrors.Dear America besides chronicles some of the historical events of the war from the vantage of the work forces really involved in them. In most instances when this occurred. Edleman provided a brief account of the conflict or struggle being described. Reading about these historical events in the letters.

such as the Siege of Khe Sanh. was most interesting. since I have merely read about them from text editions. When these work forces write about them their words bring the struggle to life. doing the conflict and the war more reliable alternatively of merely a historical history of facts and figures. casualties.

victors and also-rans. This contrast. between reading text edition histories of the war and reading letters from mean soldiers. influenced my position of the Vietnam War merely by doing it more existent to me.Since the war ended old ages before I was even born.

it did non straight impact me. and as a consequence I ever viewed it as merely another historical event that shaped America.

Reading these letters. though. do me recognize that the war was non so long ago. and that I myself have a batch in common with many of the work forces who were involved.

including my age. Most of the writers of the letters were non more than 23 or so old ages old. and reading their dramatic and life-altering experiences made me so much more appreciative of their forfeit and of my good luck in being born American.Upon their return place to “The World” . as they called the United States. many veterans were received with ill will by those opposed to the war.

Many felt angry and thankless by this. “It fusss me to believe of these alleged Americans who shirk their duty to our state. ” wrote one Marine. “If I even get near plenty to a peace lookout.

he will see portion of the Vietnam War in my eyes. ” The lone docket Edelman had in roll uping this book was to rectify this fact by honouring the veterans of the Vietnam War ratting and educating the American people of their bravery and forfeit. In this enterprise he succeeded greatly. While it may non alter one’s sentiment of the morality of the war or America’s topographic point in it.

Dear America is bound to demand regard for the veterans of Vietnam from even those who yelled “baby slayers! ” so many old ages ago.The Vietnam War. in add-on to impacting an full coevals of Americans. continues to impact America even today. America’s experience in Vietnam influences American policy in respect to the Middle East. as no 1 wants the Iraq War to

turn into “another Vietnam.

” The Vietnam War besides marked the terminal of the bill of exchange. which is a great benefit to America and the American military. While the emotional cicatrixs of Vietnam are mending with clip. there is much cicatrix tissue that still remains.

The flowers and letters left at the Vietnam Memorial in Washington D. C. is testament to the fact that there still unrecorded 1000s of married womans without hubbies. female parents without boies.

and kids without male parents as a consequence of Vietnam. and no sum of clip can alter this fact. Dear America is priceless as a beginning of recollection so that forfeits made were non in vain and that America can larn and turn from Vietnam. “Maybe the war will stop shortly.

” one Navy Lieutenant wrote to his married woman. “Wishful thought? Yes. The Vietnam War will ne'er stop. ”