I would like to say a special thanks to everyone who helped me turn this documentary into a reality, from the people who graciously shared their stories, pictures, and poetry; to the friends who helped me translate. The building at 727 Tran Hung Dao in Ho Chi Minh City – also known as Saigon – was a building that housed American service members for much of the Vietnam War. Referred to as Biêt-Dông-Quân or BDQ, a significant number of Ranger-qualified officers and NCOs served as advisors to the Army of the Republic of Vietnam Ranger units throughout the duration of the war…nearly in 2,000 total. “The World War II movies I’d watched weren’t horrific, and it was clear who was the good guy and who was the bad guy,” said Nguyen, Aerol Arnold Chair of English and associate professor of English and American studies and ethnicity. Nguyen and Gustafson think that while these images of children caught in war can still have an impact, the possibility of them moving us to take action has been reduced. They were young, half a world away from home, and at war. Well, that's one side of the story. Vietnam Stories. Yet, in movies and the media, they weren’t positively portrayed.” Luong feels the suggestion that somehow they didn’t do their part or were a bunch of cowards who didn’t defend their homeland, is very painful to his father’s generation. Follow Us We asked viewers how they experienced the events of the Vietnam era. I along with about 30 other 19-yr- old males had to gather at the armory in Kalamazoo, … This year will go down as one of the most troubled — and inspirational — in history. It happened in the early morning hours of December 27, 1966, Near T hôn Xuân Sơn, Vietnam. Around 300,000 troops joined American forces in 1964. Iraq like Vietnam was a war of so many contradictions… “a war with no boundaries or indications of friend or foe. Vietnam… “They made me feel absolutely torn and very committed to the cause in South Vietnam,” he said. Here's another: They were a bunch of scared (mostly) young kids fighting in a massive conflict for very personal reasons. But the Kurdi photograph, although equally heartbreaking, is more complicated. We try to get students to listen to those voices, even when it’s challenging.”. The Vietnamese refugee success stories are plentiful, but let’s never forget about those who were not so fortunate. In fact, he added, according to a secret CIA memo, 70 percent of America’s reason for fighting the Vietnam War was a face-saving exercise to avoid a humiliating defeat to the U.S. reputation as a guarantor. “So it’s very hard to recast it as a noble struggle between people with different ideologies because there was nothing noble about that war.”. The Golden dragons also fought in the Iraqi war, a war of similar consequences of Vietnam. Nov 4, 2020. In one single battle in Quang Tri – the border between North and South Vietnam and the most attacked city during the war – the bombs used had the destructive power of 7 nuclear bombs in Hiroshima. For many, the horrors of the Vietnam War were — and still are — unforgettably distilled in one unbearable image: that of Phan Thi Kim Phuc, the 9-year-old Vietnamese girl running naked in the collective eternity of our imaginations down a road, wailing in agony. “Bill” Ehrhart joined the U.S. Marines when he was 17. The Golden dragons also fought in the Iraqi war, a war of similar consequences of Vietnam. For the young Vietnamese-American boy, watching Apocalypse Now opened the door onto a very different view of a very different war, one that was to have major personal and professional repercussions. “What is really horrific about the Vietnam War is that it wasn’t unique,” Nguyen said. Nguyen, however, believes that the scars left by Vietnam, both in America’s psyche and on its soul, have yet to heal. He fought as a Viet Cong from the late 1950s to the end of the war in the mid-'70s. ... 1964 in a bloody battle along with three other brave American advisors serving with the Vietnamese … War Stories on DVD as told at the 2006 VHPA Reunion. As the first hypnotic notes of The Doors’ “The End” played over a lush, idyllic Vietnamese jungle, 10-year-old Viet Thanh Nguyen’s eyes widened as the peaceful green palm trees erupted into a fiery, orange inferno. The deaths of 3 million Vietnamese and 3 million Cambodians and Laotians during and after the Vietnam War represent horror on a grand scale. Please explore selected contributions on this page. Pham Thi Phuc married Tran Huu Naghi, a decorated North Vietnamese soldier who was shot through the neck and sprayed with Agent Orange during the Tet offensive. The following is an account of the battle at LZ Bird. Art Jacobs in Vietnam 1967-1970 video. “Here that wasn’t clear to me, and what was worse, people like me were the ones being killed. But that’s what we do in the humanities. Luong was 9 years old when he escaped the ravages of war-torn Vietnam with his family, just a day before Saigon fell to the North Vietnamese on April 30, 1975. “Images of children resonate very deeply with us. Vietnam veterans from the northland share their personal stories, in their own words. My father... Jack V Sturiano describes his ‘Forrest Gump moment’:. “Bill” Ehrhart joined the U.S. Marines when he was 17. Ross agrees, noting that footage similar to that showing military coffins being unloaded from troop ships, which appeared on the nightly news during the Vietnam War and helped sway public opinion against the war, was banned by President George H. W. Bush — a ban that endured for 18 years during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Podcast: Mother Nature and the Infantry Soldier. Read stories from diverse points-of-view about how the Vietnam War era has affected our sense of self and our place in the world. The rift Gustafson felt within himself that day was an echo, he realized, of the division he now knew existed within his country. See the Jet Age’s lasting influence. My grandmother was a war photographer in Quang Tri. A Vietnam War Story. In 1982 the Vietnam Veterans Memorial was dedicated in Washington, D.C., inscribed with the names of 57,939 members of U.S. armed forces who had died or were missing as a result of the war. War Stories on DVD as told at the 2006 VHPA Reunion. faculty research, alumni, usc dornsife magazine, general interest, topics: One gets the impression that Nguyen wrote this book primarily to commemorate and memorialise her interviewees, and the RVNAF more broadly. Well, that's one side of the story. She is naked because she tore off her burning clothes after a South Vietnamese napalm bomb attack on her village on June 8, 1972. 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