How To Escape From Vietnam Essay

The Vietnam War, as many know it as the secret war, because the United States consider it an “Extended Military Engagement”. It is the thread that stitch me to Tim O’Brien’s, “The Things They Carried”. The alliance of the Hmong’s to the American troops brought about the deaths of many, including my grandfather. My grandfather help guide the American troops through the jungle and as word got to the Viet Cong’s, they came for the whole village. They came in the still of night and raid the huts. The Viet Cong were after my grandfather and our family to punish them for being traitors. My father, the oldest and at 16 years old was now in charge. My father took my mother, my older sister, his mom, seven siblings and ran. My grandfather stayed

Anything could have gone wrong. A Japanese soldier murdering my grandmother as they marched into her small village during the Rape of Nanking. The Communist forces dropping an aerial bomb on my mother’s home before the Fall of Saigon. My father’s old fishing boat capsizing in the South China Sea while escaping Vietnam before his miraculous landing in the Philippines. From time to time, I reflect upon my family’s fortuitous circumstances in the darkest periods of war and their tumultuous journey to America. Being the eldest child of second-generation war refugees has significantly impacted my life decisions and aspirations. Neither of my parents finished their education due the Vietnam War, so I have the privilege of being the first in 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.

When I first got put in the challenge program I was very scared. I only knew a handful of people and I didn’t know if it was the best fit for me. However, the past 4 years have proven me wrong. I would have been bored and in challenge when you have teachers like Mrs. Miller and Mrs. Hill, you wonder why you questioned yourself.

To this day, many Vietnam veterans suffer and feel forgotten, unappreciated, and even discriminated against. Combat experiences or physical disabilities have ruined some of their lives. For more, returning to normal life had not been easy. "Imagine if you had just graduated out of high school and were sent to a guerrilla warfare far away from your home. During the war, you were exposed to a lot of stress, confusion, anxiety, pain, and hatred. Then you were sent back home with no readjustment to the lifestyle in the states, no deprogramming of what you learned from the military, and no "welcome home" parades. You are portrayed to the public as a crazed psychopathic killer with no morals or control over your aggression. You find that there 's nobody you can talk to or who can understand what you 've been through, not even your family. As you re-emerge into civilization, you struggle to establish a personal identity or a place in society because you lack the proper education and job skills. In addition, there are no supportive groups to help you find your way, which makes you feel even more isolated, unappreciated, and exploited for serving your country" (Thompson 279). This situation is like what many Vietnam veterans had felt upon returning home from war.

The purpose of this source is to inform the audience of Vietnamese immigration to America from the Vietnam War, and shows the advancements of Vietnamese Americans from their refugee origins. This source is valuable as it gives

After war hit, virtually everything was deteriorated. In a four-mile radius from where I stand, not a single architecture except for the government buildings and makeshift shops are still structurally sound. Families are forced to survive, father's craft shelters for their families out of the detritus that remains. Children, including ages of even six years, sleep deprived due to labor, desperately attempt to rest on empty, dented, bed frames. The only people that have real, formal shelters are the aristocrats that pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to hire a room in a government shelter and the government families.

As I rose from bed, I could hear my wife starting to make breakfast. Today was going to be quite a day, mainly due to a fast coming winter and the need to harvest the squash and corn was increasing each day. I proceeded to change into my work attire and brown maroon felt hat I had bought myself last week. I walked out of my room and went into the main room where I had my breakfast every morning. I walked over to the table and sat in a hand carved chair made by the finest carpenter in Saybrook where my porridge awaited me. After sitting down at the table with my two sons and wife, I blessed our porridge and had my younger son read a Bible verse. Reading the Bible is a crucial part of being a Puritan since if one could not read the Bible they

I am so sorry that you have to go through all this. As I was reading your letter I saw that you did not want to show any of your “pain” and or shout to Margot, Van Daan, Dussel and dad, I do not think that is the best of your ideas I feel that they should know how you feel. And tell them everything that they caused for you. Even if they do scream all the more. You shouldn't just go by how they feel about you when your quiet or when you talk. Honestly, I think they are just jealous of you. But there's something I have never told anyone but since I feel all of your pain.I haven't told anyone Ever. I feel that I can finally tell you what happened when I “disappeared” last year. Well, I never disappeared I was on a trip to California, well I had just gotten a job at a

I was stricken down by a poisoned cow and left my family on October 5, 1818. I have chosen to roam as an apparition to watch over my son, Abraham, as a shadow he unaware of. All phantoms appear differently as each has a different reason to roam. Those that need to remind the living of the past will appear as how they died. I am only a spectator so I need not appear at all. I simply wanted to see what happened to my son after I died too young. However, my country is changing and my boy is at the front of war.

Reading through the letters written by soldiers in Vietnam is a heartbreaking experience. It not only helps one gain incredible insight regarding the sociology of the war, but also puts it on a personal level. Many of the letters featured in this book were by men who died soon after, especially those in the chapter of last letters. It is important to note, however, that there seems to be two very distinct experiences in the war: one by those in the field, in the jungle, or in the villages, and one by those who remained on base. Without meaning to render their time insignificant, the latter experienced a less traumatic time in the war, with their access to Western luxuries like television and movies. They

During the Vietnam War, American men and women soldiers, the majority of whom had volunteered, were sent to a place where nothing was accommodating. Not even the soldier’s issued equipment was adequate or accommodating. They were not emotionally, psychologically, or materially equipped for what they would encounter in Vietnam, or upon their return to a place where they should have been safe; home. The Vietnam environment was nasty, brutish, and dehumanizing on the soldiers. Young men and women, mostly in their late teens and early twenties were sent into a living hell where most of them either would not or could not return. In addition, upon their return home, they were not welcomed as returning victors who had sacrificed their lives for

The Vietnam war started in 1954 to 1975. During this war, the Vietnamese Soldiers invaded a few towns in Laos. Some of these towns they invaded were towns my parents lived as kids. They grew up in different towns and refugee camps, but they went through similar journeys to get to America. As kids they ran miles across the jungle with their families to get to the Mekong River. Running through the jungle to get to the river took days. These days were the worst because there were no food to eat on this long walk. A lot of Hmong families who ran away from the Vietnamese soldiers didn’t make it far, or they died of starvation. My parents and their families were fortunate enough to had made it safely to the Mekong river without any harm done to

The life of an American soldier in Vietnam was a extremely difficult one. They had to deal with the terrible conditions of the jungle, a sneaky enemy, racism, and a lack of support from home. The rough terrain and conditions of the jungles in vietnam was rough. It was hot, and humid. There were wild animals most deadly, and it would rain a lot. The viet-cong were a very sneaky enemy. They mostly relied on guerrilla warfare and booby traps. The people of vietnam mostly out of fear would support them with food and housing, and there are even reported cases of the viet-cong convincing mothers to either use their babies or young children to act as a suicide bomber. This often lead to our soldiers mistakenly killing civilians because they did not

My dad has been through a lot to get to his happiness and freedom. It all began with the start of the Vietnam War on November 1, 1955, my dad’s birthdate. During the early years of my dad’s life, he went to school. Then, when he graduated high school, he enlisted in the Army. His time in the military lasted until the end of the war in 1975. For the next five years, my dad spent his time as a fisherman in Phan Thiết. One day, my dad decided he could no longer deal with how the Việt Cong treated everyone in Vietnam, so he went on an overcrowded boat and left Vietnam. Unfortunately, during the boat ride, my dad got caught, then captured, and sent to prison for a year. After they released him, he tried to escape again and after five long days