Essay on A Letter Home from Vimy Ridge

The Vietnam War that commenced on November 1, 1955, and ended on April 30, 1975, took the soldiers through a devastating experience. Many lost their lives while others maimed as the war unfolded into its full magnitude. The book Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam by Bernard Edelman presents a series of letters written by the soldiers to their loved ones and families narrating the ordeals and experiences in the Warfield. In the book, Edelman presents the narrations of over 200 letters reflecting the soldiers’ experiences on the battlefield. While the letters were written many decades ago, they hold great significance as they can mirror the periods and the contexts within which they were sent. This paper takes into account five letters from different timelines and analyzes them against the events that occurred in those periods vis a vis their significance. The conclusion will also have a personal opinion and observation regarding the book and its impacts.

On April 9, 1917, Canada sent out 100 000 fine men to serve and protect their country. To this day, the battle of Vimy Ridge is still known as the day Canada became a nation. Despite the cataclysm of the battle and the thousands of lost souls, Vimy Ridge is considered to be defining moments in Canadian History. The Germans were in complete control of Vimy Ridge for over two years prior to the Canadian onset. This enabled the Germans to strengthen their position, making them seem unvanquishable. The German forces were appeared to be impregnable. Nor the British armada or the French were able to vanquish the Germans. The French battled for over two years and suffered over one hundred and fifty thousand casualties. Despite the twenty divisions and three massive

Vimy Ridge was an important turning point in Canadian History. The soldiers were all men who had fought so proudly. Even though the men were frightened beyond belief, they were more worried about showing their own fear

In this, we are given the impression that the Canadian troops were provided with adequate boots; however they did not fit properly. The evident lack of organization caused unnecessary anguish for Canadian troops and their misconception of the war. Canadian soldiers endured much pointless suffering through the appalling conditions they encountered. The worst experience for Canadians was in the trenches.

Vimy ridge is a defining moment in Canadian history because it was a demonstration of Canada’s abilities in war as Canada was recognized as an independent nation from Britain. Essentially, Vimy Ridge was the first-time Canadian squadrons fought together in history. Canadians demonstrated their meaningfulness by capturing Vimy Ridge after the French and British could not. “The Germans considered the ridge to be impregnable. Over 160,000 French and British soldiers had died in attacks on Vimy Ridge since October of 1914. Now the task of capturing it fell to the Canadians. The troops once thought to be untrained, rowdy colonials, were now regarded as one of the most effective fighting forces on the Allied side. “(Brewster, 14). Canadians were

With the coming centennial of the Battle of Vimy Ridge, it is perhaps appropriate to revisit battle’s significance in Canadian military history. While renowned within Canada, Vimy Ridge is obscure internationally and simply known as a component of the Battle of Arras. The ridge was a prominent geographical feature that dominated the surrounding area, and securing it was the Canadian Corps’ objective for the Arras campaign. The battle for Vimy took place from 9-12 April 1917, and resulted in an allied victory. As of 2015, eight in ten Canadians feel that the commemoration of this victory at Vimy Ridge should be the key celebration for Canada’s sesquicentennial anniversary. Unequivocally, this highlights the salience of the event in the nation’s

The war has been dragging on for far longer than predicted. Life in the trenches is dreadful. The constant bombardment from the enemy causes many to run and hid, along with many getting what we are calling shellshocked. We use it to describe when one can’t move with no visible injury or when they mentally can’t fight. But the worst has to be the rats, the rats are over the size of our house cats, we call them corpse rats for the soul reason that the rats eat the dead that laid in no man's land. Some of us shoot them for sport. The lice and trench foot is minor. But the Storm Troopers that we’ve been hearing about are fighting, their lightning quick attacks that demolish the line is one thing I don’t want to see. I hope Erik is okay, and well.

The Battle of Vimy Ridge began at 5:30 am on April 9, 1917. The German troops had the advantage as they were on top of the ridge, and could see any advancing enemies. But the Canadian troops were led by Arthur Currie who had a strategy called the “creeping barrage”. This strategy required the soldiers to shoot their machine guns until a curtain of smoke appeared. This curtain of smoke covered the advancing troops and the Canadian soldiers were able to take over Vimy Ridge from the Germans in just a few hours. The Canadian soldiers were obedient and carried out their orders so well that it was recognized internationally, and the soldiers became known as tough soldiers and the Canadian troops as an independent military. Four Canadians were awarded

Hey honny im sending you this letter for valentines day cause i know you love to hear about what goes on out here on the frontlines of the war. Its been mostly good for now weve been winning as i've been told but almost everyday theres a new disease trying to get to us everyday, mainly because of the rats. These rats even eat all of our food and sometimes i've seen some that are the size of full grown cats its dusgusting and there eating everything and spreading more disease then ever right now. The day is now november 18th and my commander says that the battle we just fought was called the battle of Somme and that there has been at least 1.2 million casualties on either sides of the battle but it has for the most part ended. Most of these

The initial reaction I received from reading Soldier's Home, and my feelings about Soldier's Home now are not the same. Initially, I thought Harold Krebs is this soldier who fought for two years, returns home, and is disconnected from society because he is in a childlike state of mind, while everyone else has grown up. I felt that Krebs lost his immature years, late teens to early 20's, because he went from college to the military. I still see him as disconnected from society, because there isn't anyone or anything that can connect him to the simple life that his once before close friends and family are living. He has been through a traumatic experience for the past two years, and he does not

The Vietnam War began in December in 1956 and ended in April 1975. Initially the war was between North Vietnam and South Vietnam but they both formed allies. North Vietnam’s allies were the Soviet Union, China, and other communist allies, while South Vietnam’s allies were anti-communist countries like the United States. The United States entered the war and sought the help of the South Vietnamese army (ARVN). Despite the US collaborating with the ARVNs, the ARVNs were constantly belittled and were not recognized for their contributions. Therefore, because the U.S. failed to work effectively with the ARVNs, it may have cost the Americans the war. In other words, if the U.S. collaborated appropriately with the ARVNs and learned to trust

I volunteered to join the war because I had dreams of wanderlust, to see the world.. however, the only "world" I am seeing is the waterlogged trench system. It's not like the calming petrichor at home which I dearly miss, no, it's the scent of mice and rotting corpses. The black rats we can handle, but the brown ones are something unlike anything I'd ever wanted to see. Those noxious cat-sized creatures rely on enemy artillery to provide them with meals, stripping men of their fleshly image. Not to mention, they are extremely difficult to eradicate; gunfire and bayonets don't quite do the job. Some tommies joked that a Bangalore Torpedo would scare them off, though as tempting as it seems, we would get in trouble with the commanders for wasting

I am glad to say to you I have received your letter, mother is fine, she still doesn’t know that you’re in the Great War. I am sorry to hear about that solder that was next to you and I only hope that he has a proper burial as I heard about the mass graves. The imagery that follows that sentence is not pretty. The “Spanish Flu” seems to be getting hold of everyone around here, its nearing 500 cases here, let’s hope you boys won’t contract it over there. Are you learning any French? Can you speak to any yet? I would love to learn some from you when you get home from the war. If you need anything

The reason why I’m writing this letter is to not get out of the decision that I’ve made. Even though you warned me of the reality of what war really is, the main reason why I am writing this is to thank you for making me the kind of person I am today. I learned a lot of things being in war. In the type of conditions we face at the trenches require most of the crew to be alert and focused. At any given time our enemies could head on attack our fort, so in order to be focused the men and I, have little to sometimes no sleep for days.

I thought this would be a great adventure and now I actually know that seeing your mates get shot and seeing wounded die on the ground. I really want to come home but I have a mission