Dear America Letters Home From Vietnam Summary

1. What is the purpose of the title? What connotations does this title hold? What do you expect to find in the letters that will follow?

In the movie Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam, there were a lot of gruesome scenes but the one that stood out to me the most was the scene where a man was brought in to identify a fellow soldier. At first, the man couldn’t tell who the disfigured soldier was afterwards they found his dog tag and the horrifying truth was revealed. The disfigured soldiers was actually a good friend of the man that helped in identifying him. In this scene, there’s a sense of pain and distraught for the soldiers. All of them fight knowing that there is a chance that they might not return home. In this scene, specifically the man experiences the brutal consequences of war as he watches his disfigured friend die in front him.

For countless of people today, the Vietnam war is just something from the past, but for Tim O’Brien, the Vietnam War will endlessly be with him. This one year in Vietnam changes the lives of this platoon from emotional pain, physical pain, as well as muscle pain will commence to cloud their vision. The weight of the things that they carried takes great effect on them that they have to continue to endure on this one year trip in Vietnam and remember these memories for the rest of their lives..

During the Vietnam War, these soldiers has shed their blood and sacrificed their future for their homeland, but their government, their society and their families alienates and forsakes them. Unlike any other wars happened throughout the history of America, the reason for United States to get involve in the Vietnam War is to stop the spread of communism, a very simple but also very unreasonable. Instead of volunteer, the majority of the soldiers in Vietnam War were drafted without any prior notice. Hence, before going to war, the soldiers find themselves having a difficult time of trying to seek for a reasonable purpose of going to war. Some people try to escape from the drafting process and stay home or continue their education. Other people, who actually go to war say “’I just want

Prisoners of War (POWs): In international law, term used to designate incarcerated members of the armed forces of an enemy, or noncombatants who render them direct service and who have been captured during wartime.1

The Viet Nam War has been the most reviled conflict in United States history for many reasons, but it has produced some great literature. For some reason the emotion and depredation of war kindle in some people the ability to express themselves in a way that they may not have been able to do otherwise. Movies of the time period are great, but they are not able to elicit, seeing the extremely limited time crunch, the same images and charge that a well-written book can. In writing of this war, Tim O'Brien put himself and his memories in the forefront of the experiences his characters go through, and his writing is better for it. He produced a great work of art not only because he experienced the war first hand, but because he is able to convey the lives around him in such vivid detail. He writes a group of fictional works that have a great deal of truth mixed in with them. This style of writing and certain aspects of the book are the topics of this reflective paper.

Edited by Bernard Edelman, “Dear America” is a collection of letters written by soldiers during the Vietnam War. Their letters are written to love ones back home such as parents, siblings, and spouses but they are a great depiction of the Vietnam War. The soldiers would write these letters to help keep hope alive and to keep sane. Throughout the book the letters are categorize into those who are barely arriving into the war to those who have been there a long time. The stress and anxiety grows more and more as the letters continue and the soldiers begin to contemplate their situation. I’ve learned a lot of factual things about the Vietnam War throughout my life such as how it began and what the outcome was but reading this book was the

This book is a collection of 67 first hand people of the Vietnam war by Americans who were involved. The book begins with an Oss mission to help Ho Chi Minh against the Japanese near the end of World War 2 and ends with the all of a sudden evacuation of Saigon in 1975. The range of people included is immense from grunts in the infantry to gung-ho generals, from anti-war activists visiting North Vietnam to the wives of State Department officials in Saigon. The outcome is a big sweeping sight of the United States ' involvement with Vietnam over thirty years, but at the same time one with the feeling of immediacy that only such personal accounts can offer.

Dear America is a book Edited by Bernard Edelman, who has served as a broadcast specialist correspondent in Vietnam. Bernard Edelman’s Non-fiction edits of Dear America was published in 2002 about what soldiers from the Vietnam War had to go through and deal with their time during and after the war in Vietnam. The book consists of letters from those very soldiers from the war and the graphical things they saw and felt. He is also the author of Centenarians: “The Story of the 20th Century by the Americans Who Lived It”.

On April 25, 1975, marked the end of an era for one country, but the cruel reality of a new beginning for many Vietnamese families. As the north communists were celebrating their victory, the south was in a panic to escape new order. Many families feared for their lives and were forced to make difficult decisions and sacrifices by leaving their whole life behind in hopes of starting a new life in another country. GB Tran is an American whose parents fled from Vietnam in order to escape communism. With no real knowledge of his family’s history pertaining to the Vietnam War, he finds himself unable to make a connection with his home country, and a deeper understanding of what sacrifices his parents made for their family. In this

If Philip Caputo’s memoir is meant to be the story of an American soldier, Trâm’s diary becomes the story of the Vietnamese people and their struggle. On May 7th 1970 Trâm recounts her feelings on the history of war in Vietnam, and how the people still remain undeterred. “Twenty-five years immersed in fire and bullets, we are still strong.” Not only after all this fighting and after all that Trâm herself has witnessed and endured she is still confident in her country. “We will persevere and be courageous and hold our heads high and take the offensive.” Trâm’s diary makes it clear that there was never any doubt in

In “Beyond Vietnam-A Time to Break Silence”, Martin Luther King jr. conveys a strong stance against America’s involvement in the Vietnam war. He believes America should not be involved in the war because freedom needs to be addressed in america before it is in a foreign country. King implores readers to protest against the war and against civil injustice in America. To bolster his argument, King deftly employs word choice, juxtaposition, and Forced teaming to sway his leaders.

During this time, United States’ President Eisenhower gave military and economic aid to South Vietnam to support the anti-Communist movement. At the beginning of the Vietnam War, American troops were sent to South Vietnam to protect the anti-Communist movement from North Vietnam. This was initially the reason the United States went to war in Vietnam. Not only was America repaying a favor that originated in World War II, but America wanted to support freedom in an otherwise Communist country.The reasons opponents of the Vietnam War gave in opposition to the war effort are as follows: the great loss of life, the destruction of a beautiful countryside, and American hypocrisy. George Skakel argues that the great loss of life on both sides of the war field, as well as the destruction of a once fruitful and beautiful countryside, are two valid reasons why the United States should not have been involved in the Vietnam War. Skakel witnessed first-hand the destruction of life and land that this war had seen. Another anti-war view, the view of Paul Potter, argues that the Vietnam War was hypocritical. Potter claims that there was no morality to America’s foreign policy; America gave the Vietnamese

The Vietnam War was a long and catastrophic war. Among the American people, it caused divisive conflict between the state and those who opposed. The main reason why The United States took action was: fear of communism spreading and loss of an ally if Soviet Russia took control of Vietnam. It pitted North Vietnam against South Vietnam and the United States, its ally. Regardless of U.S Military strength, the Americans lost the war and withdrew forces under the order of President Richard Nixon in 1973. Economic, social, and cultural reforms occurred due to the conflict in the United States. Many lives were lost as time went on in the war on either side of the conflict and people, no matter their standing felt for the fallen soldiers. The Vietnam War, in the minds of opposing Americans, has been a tragic mistake brought by an exaggerated approach to communism and an underestimated approach to nationalism. Seeing the combat from the perspective of veterans of the Vietnam War showcases the opinions of soldiers who were drafted into the foreign country. Many efforts to oppose the Vietnam War can be remembered when listening to resistance songs such as, “For What It’s Worth” by Buffalo Springfield or multiple other musical references to the war. The Things They Carried written by Tim O’Brien and “Better Late Than Never”, a poem by Del Abe Jones similarly travel back in time to the Vietnam war when they were drafted and became part of the U.S Army. Pieces of writing at this time

The Vietnam period was when my father’s World War 1 tales and dissections of World War 2 actions became most alive to me. The