Personal Narrative Essay: The Vietnam War

Bullets flying through the air right over me, my knees are shaking, and my feet are numb. I see familiar faces all around me dodging the explosives illuminating the air like lightning. Unfortunately, numerous familiar faces seem to disappear into the trenches. I try to run from the noise, but my mind keeps causing me to re-illustrate the painful memories left behind.

On the first day of battle, many soldiers were sent in to the area between our land and our enemy’s land, what we call “no man’s land”. It was muddy and the tanks were unable to make it through, leaving our men vulnerable. So many men died that I began to lose hope that I could ever return back home alive.

The air is cluttered from the blasting of cannons, and it is hard to see with the darkness all around us. Piercing sounds of gunshots and pain come from all angles, making France seem like the perfect setting for a nightmare. The ground beneath me shakes like an earthquake every time a cannon is blasted, and it is difficult to keep my balance. The fear that I feel at this moment must only be a portion of what the soldiers are feeling on the battlefield. Smells of dirt and dust linger in the air, and I can’t breathe quite right. There is nothing but terror on this battlefield, and lives are being lost at every moment. I can hear the soldiers yelling at the top of their lungs, “Fire! Fire! Charge!” The British and German soldiers are both yelling commands from all angles, and even horses are understanding. I see horses leaping over barbed wire, dodging bullets, and doing everything they can to keep their soldiers on their backs. Everyone involved in this war, whether German or British, is courageous. German soldiers are dragging their wounded soldiers through the thick mud to try to save their lives. Horses are taking bullets for their soldiers. This is a bloody battle, and the pouring rain is only making this battle harder to

All bullets were counted, beds made, uniforms cleaned, this occurred until suddenly 03:45 arrived. “Men, the time is nearly here,” my words choked as self-hatred flooded my body, “What we do here today will be remembered for generations to come, we fight today not only for ourselves, but all who we know. All our mates and family who live back home!” A faint cheer followed my speech as I steadied myself for what was to come. “We charge in 5 minutes. We charge not only for our freedom but for the freedom of our country. For the freedom of the world!” Spit filled the air from the cheer which erupted from my unit this time. A unity formed over the men, a cold malevolent sweat captured me. Who was I to send these boys to their death? A resolve set inside me, I would fight alongside my men, their lives are worth the same as mine. 04:00 “THIS IS IT MEN! WE FIGHT FOR THE WORLD!” I screamed as I led the charge. Vaulting out of the trench I saw no man’s land clearly for the first time. Death was everywhere, flies swarming the pools of blood. The land so barren of life no greenery was seen. A cold resolution set over me, it was the Germans fault, they caused

This is the end, i’m sorry I have to leave you. You have grown so much since the first time I had seen you. I will miss you. At that moment, I realized that I won’t get to see America grow even more than it already has... Ok, before I give away anything else, let’s go to this morning, before all of this happened. It was Friday, April 14, 1865, 7:08am when my wife Mary came into my bedroom and made me the usual breakfast in bed. She got me 1 egg and a cup of coffee. After I got out of bed I went to my office and worked for a while.

The sound of screaming and swords clashing outside jolted me awake. I found myself pressed against the wall, sword and shield both in hand. The thane shouted commands to destroy everything in sight. With that, the sound of death was on the other side of the wall. I heard my mother’s screams become instantly silent. An army man shouted, “One down! The other cannot be found, sir.” My stomach became knotted as I thought of my mother, lying on the ground with no hope of waking up. I should have burst through the wooden door, swinging my sword in every direction until I heard the last breath of each Rine there. Instead, I sank to my knees and wept as I listened to the Comitatus invading my home. I waited for the thanes to come here and kill me as they did my mother. My father had managed to escape, but there is no way he could save me. However, I knew he did not care to anyways. The sound of men approaching the door took my breath away. My sobbing became uncontrollable. I heard the wooden door creek open, as I sank deeper and deeper into the dirt beneath me. A feeling of helplessness over took me. My life was over. The Rines had a mission to kill everything they saw, and I knew they saw me. One officer yelled,

My teeth chatter, and my heart races as I step onto the battlefield. I finally take a deep breath and muster up my courage. Not only this, but also when I kill a German, although it feels relieving at first, a sense of guilt dawns upon me. I wonder, if I met that person’s family, how sorrowful and infuriated they would feel to find out that I murdered their son.

Swords crashed against shields like a field of doors slamming shut in the wind. Arrows whistled through the air; a murder of tiny crows swarming above us vulnerable soldiers. The grunts of men impaled by hafts and sliced open by steel join the cacophony of a battle raging into dusk. Wet warmness would splash across me in response to the dying cries of my comrades as one after another of those we battle would push our shields apart and break the line. The ground was wet and sloppy, dried earth had been turned to slush by a rain that did not fall from the sky. The ground was rendered difficult to manoeuvre through, encumbered by the lifeless figures of soldiers now without the allegiance that lead them to a face in the dirt.

Blind to the truth of what really happens. It’s times like this where I am forever grateful for the experience I have already been faced with gruesome events. Yet that hateful feeling of dread continues to tower over me each and every day. It’s challenging to recall what it was like for me the first I set foot on the battle field, as it seems like a lifetime ago. I suppose that I have lived a lifetime in these trenches. I wish that with every enemy I shoot it shall not say with me. A constant reminder of our sacrifices, I’m on edge as it feels like a continuous want for death. Bewildered as to when it will strike again shaken by the fact that it could be me carried away, or left in the barbarous

So when he told me that the end of the war would be a peaceful and glorious time I believed him with all my heart. And so did everyone else. But as time has gone on I’ve learned that to only be halfway true.

In May of 2007 I was a recently promoted Specialist with 20 months in the Army and 11 months in Iraq. I was assigned to B Company, 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment; a member of the 2nd Infantry Divisions 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team. As part of President George W. Bush’s “Surge” our 12 month deployment was extended to 15 months. We had spent the previous months moving around Iraq to support multiple areas of operation (AO), but in March of 2007 had moved to the volatile city of Baqubah, where we had begun the long and arduous task of clearing the city of insurgent forces.

Oh great it’s the sergeant is chasing me great why can’t I get a break.i’m really tired. I’ve been running all day. Okay he is getting close perfect a bunch of bushes.know he’s stopping what is he doing at this point. Yeah yeah hover right over the bushes where I am okay I should stop. Why does he breath so heavy seriously who does that it’s like a he’s blowing a tornado.finally he’s leaving seriously I was going to get blown away from that guy i don’t even know why i’m still talking about this. That was weird.time to get back on track. Yay more walking to the armory seriously this all happened in one day.okay i’m finally at the armory. You're kidding me there is no ammo our guns. So now I have to get ammo from the bodies gross still in one day.now i’m at the raid site my legs are on fire i’m so tired okay back on track. Time to pull the gun from the body. okay pulling the bodies cold gripping flesh this is completely normal done did it never going to forget that.now I got new ammo and a gun one clean shot should do it. Oh I see him. Boom! Done it’s over. Perfect timing a time window time to really go home. Finally back at the lab. Time to go to bed. It feels good to be in my time

"Bang" Bang " Oh gosh this time I'm not dreaming I am in a war zone I've come close to death a few times. I have been in worse situations than this I can survive my techniques are to stay low and fast well this is my life changing my setting everyday. Well it's time to move. With out me knowing the bullets will be inches from hitting me as I run. When I escape all of this I'm gonna move far far from here where I can start fresh. Before I get to excited I need to escape I tuck and roll behind a barrel and plant right next

The stench of rotten urine fills my nostrils. I was meant to get leave days ago, but with no one to take our place we must stay in the narrow trenches. Some soldiers have gone adrift but I couldn’t see the sense in that. The trenches have been home for seven months and previously I was at the Dardanelles or Gallipoli as we now call it. The fight there was brutal; my lost mates now make up the land. Stories repeat themselves with, limbs hanging out the walls of the trenches; some privates walk past shaking the hands for luck. I survived with sheer luck as there were others who deserved to live more than me. Maybe Mother was watching over me. It was with luck I managed to pass my English major at Sydney University before this horrible conflict

I hate to say it, but i am actually quite scared. However, my parents assure me that it will be ok. During class today, we had the old, dusty radio playing. After the song titled “My Bird of Paradise” written by Irving Berlin finished playing, the radio host started talking. As John Scott said the dreaded, six words nobody wanted to hear, we all fell silent. Scott had said “It finally happened, Germany attacked Belgium”. We all knew what that meant, we were going to have a war. I have lived in Belgium my entire life (14 years). Scott said something, I didn’t quite hear it all but I did hear him say “Stay inside, or at least away from big establishments like Nathan's Home Goods. Nobody should panic, We are ready for this war, we can do it, we