Thich Quang Duc Analysis

On the 8th of June 1972, photographer ‘Nick Ut’ took an iconic photo of a group of young kids running away helplessly as soldiers escorted them out of the danger zone, (the danger zone was an explosion of napalm that burnt and basically disintegrates everything). Early that day Nick heard that there was fighting happening in North Vietnam near the occupied village of Trang Bang. He stopped on the nearby bridge with other soldiers and journalists. It was around 1pm when a south Vietnamese plane dipped down aligned with the highway and dropped the napalm bomb on the village, which turned out to be an accident. As thick black smoke filled the air, emerging from it was multiple civilians crying and screaming as burnt flesh fell off their fragile

Of crucial importance is the different attitudes between Nguyen and Quang has towards the Vietnam War. Nguyen represents the traditional view that the Vietnam War was a failure on the part of the Americans, a mistake and pointless war that ruined the lives of many. What is surprising is Quang’s view. With an immediate and loud retort to Nguyen’s negative feelings towards the Vietnam war, Seol’s portrayal of Quang immediately grabs the audience’s attention. Quang is grateful for the Vietnam war, and “thankful for the American soldiers that gave up their lives so [he] could live.” Actor Seol aptly captures the spirit and sentiments of an actual Vietnamese refugee, and in doing so provides a refreshing and different perspective about the Vietnam War. Faced with these differing perspectives, the audience must come to realize that America is not a monolith, but instead composed of people from many different backgrounds with varying experiences, attitudes, thoughts, and

Christian Bandoo McGee 7 th 3/4/2024 English II AAC The Man I Killed "The Man I Killed" In Tim O'Brien's narrative, "The Man I Killed," found in his book “The Things They Carried”, the depiction of a young Vietnamese soldier's death causes reflections on war, morality, and responsibility. I affirm that Tim O'Brien should not bear the burden of guilt or shame for the soldier’s death.

This shows that Vietnam changes people. The land was so different, and so were the people, which both influenced craziness. The soldiers had to withstand all hardships and mental distractions while fighting for their country.

The My Lai massacre remains one of the bloodiest and most shocking incidents in the history of the Vietnam War and yet it is not widely known as an important episode within the context of the war. The reasons for this are the attempted cover up of the incident by the US Army and then the US government and also the complete lack of consequences that the perpetrators received. In this essay the event and the relevant instigators along with the lack of appropriate action that was taken against them will be discussed. There are various reports and articles that outline the basic blueprint for what happened in My Lai and also the conflicting stories about just who should take responsibility for the deaths of the 504 people killed that day.

Many lives were lost during the Vietnam War with “the number of killed, wounded, and missing announced each week on the nightly television news, along with the “body count” of alleged VC dead” (Tindall and Shi, 1035). This war would be the first to be publically televised, and families would listen to the growing number of Americans losing their lives simply because they were not prepared for the fighting conditions in Vietnam. Vietnam’s climate was extremely hot and disease ran rampant in the jungle. The Viet Cong knew how to fight in these conditions and had the upper hand. George Ball, Undersecretary of State, wrote in a memo that “the South Vietnamese are losing the war to the Viet Cong” and “no one can assure you that we can beat the Viet Cong or even force them to the conference table on our terms, no matter how many hundred thousand white, foreign (U.S.) troops we deploy” (Supplemental Source: George Ball's Dissenting Opinion on Vietnam 1965).

“When my troops were getting massacred and mauled by an enemy I couldn't see, I couldn't feel, I couldn't touch... nobody in the military system ever described them anything other than Communists.” (Simkin) These were Second Lieutenant William Calley’s words in response to the My Lai Massacre, but were an example of how most soldiers felt at the time. The My Lai Massacre was a killing of over 500 unarmed South Vietnamese civilians in March 16th, 1968. During this time, The Vietnam war was growing and US support towards the war was increasing.

The Vietnam War was not only a battle, but it also marked the lives of those involved.

During the mid 1950’s, the Vietnam War turned to be the modern pinnacle for battles resulting in the deaths of 58,000 American soldiers and millions of Vietnamese death. It saw the viable destruction of modern technology such as the newly fashioned M-16 rifle and the Apache, a helicopter made for mass destruction. For the soldiers experiencing Vietnam, it was truly an experience which would shape their hearts and minds forever. As evidenced in Tim O’ Brien’s The Things They Carried, The Vietnam War was an emotional tremor for the soldiers as they experienced deaths and created legendary tales which would define their lives, as well as future generations indefinitely.

Because of the recentness of the Vietnam War, those who have lived through it can give testament to the time period and the emotions of the war from their first hand perspective. The Vietnam War spanned a time period of growth in fashion, music, spirituality, and human rights. But, the fear, animosity, and long term mental issues that stemmed from the war have affected all of those, in the service or otherwise, that lived from November 1st, 1955-April 30th,

Mitchell writes, “He did it in Washington where everyone could see/ because/ people were being set on fire/ in the dark corners of Vietnam where nobody could see./ Their names, ages, beliefs and loves/ are not recorded” (10-15). Morrison’s self-immolation was an act of protest against the United States’s actions in the Vietnam War, and his actions directly paralleled the government’s actions as “people were being set on fire.” Mitchell’s use of paradox between “he did it in Washington where everyone could see” and “the dark corners of Vietnam where nobody could see” demonstrate Morrison’s wish to bring the immorality of the Vietnam War to the public’s attention. By committing self-sacrifice in front of the Pentagon, Morrison is ensuring that people will learn about him, which also directly contradicts the Vietnamese people who “are not recorded.” Mitchell repeats the phrase “where everyone could see” throughout his poem in order to highlight Morrison’s convictions that the United States’s actions in the Vietnam War are immoral. By including Morrison’s beliefs about morality, Mitchell indicates that Morrison’s actions were not just an act of protest but also one based on a moral dilemma. Morrison’s internal moral dilemma is also demonstrated in Ferguson’s poem: “Not an unhappy man/ but one who could not stand/in the silence of his

On March 16, 1968, over 300 unarmed civilians were killed in South Vietnam during an indiscriminate, mass murder event known as the My Lai Massacre. Conducted by a unit of the United States Army, the My Lai Massacre ranked one of most appalling atrocities carried out by US forces in an already savage and violent war. All victims involved were unarmed civilians, many of which were women, children, and the elderly. Victims were raped, tortured and beaten, even mutilated before being killed. The massacre was forever seared into the hearts and minds of the American people as the day “the American spirit died.”

A quarter of a century after the Fall of Saigon, Vietnam continues to exercise a powerful hold of the American psyche. No deployment of American troops abroad is considered without the infusion of the Vietnam question. No formulation of strategic policy can be completed without weighing the possibility of Vietnanization. Even the politics of a person cannot be discussed without taking into account his opinion on the Vietnam Ware. This national obsession with Vietnam is perfectly national when viewed from a far. It was the only war that the United States has ever lost. It defined an era of American history that must rank with the depression as one of this nation’s most traumatic. It concluded with Watergate and led many to believe that the

It can be hard to fully comprehend the effects the Vietnam War had on not just the veterans, but the nation as a whole. The violent battles and acts of war became all too common during the long years of the conflict. The war warped the soldiers and civilians characters and desensitized their mentalities to the cruelty seen on the battlefield. Bao Ninh and Tim O’Brien, both veterans of the war, narrate their experiences of the war and use the loss of love as a metaphor for the detrimental effects of the years of fighting.

“Whatever the motives for conflict, they are incorporated in individual attitudes and expressed in popular opinion.” (Albig 1939, 139) It has often been argued that Defence Secretary Robert McNamara “has done more to shape that conflict than anyone outside the Viet Cong” (Kennedy 1993, 93). This is an important illustration of the power of the media; through the media, “The domino theory [was] the dominant interpretation of events in Indochina” (Schulzinger 1998, 88).