Thomas Dake: My Hero

I have learned a lot about what life was like at the time of the Vietnam War by interviewing my grandfather. My grandfather, Franklin Torr, was living in Dover, NH at the time, in his late thirties, married, and had three young children. The Vietnam War impacted my grandfather’s life in a unique way. One aspect of his life that changed at the start of the war was that a lot of his tenants, in the mobile home he owned, were in the New Hampshire National Guard and were stationed in Vietnam, flying missions, and some were advisors. He said the following about them; “Of the tenants that fought in the war, they thought they were doing the right thing at the time” When asked if he could provide a story of one of his Vietnam War veterans, he said that not a lot of them liked to talk about their war experiences in depth, two of his tenants that served in Vietnam died in Vietnam. One of his former classmates was a Marine Colonel, one thing he remembers this man mentioning was; “the troops did a great job while they were there”. The most shocking thing that he remembers from this

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

Wars are a difficult place to be. “THE VIETNAM WAR transformed a generation” (Roberts 1). With all that happened during the war such as exposure to

In Tim O’Brien’s fictional narrative “On the Rainy River,” the narrator faces the dilemma of avoiding the draft or submitting and going to Vietnam, a common predicament that many men faced after receiving draft cards for the Vietnam War. O’Brien displays the thought process of the narrator as he makes a decision, and near the beginning, the narrator describes certain qualities that he believes make him “too good for [that] war”(2). He lists off achievements like “president of the student body” and “full-ride scholarship,” arguing for the idea that he is “above” going to war(O’Brien 2). Through explaining what the narrator believes to be superior traits, the reader might begin to ask, “What types of people actually went to the war?” If the narrator feels that he was above going to Vietnam, there must be some preconceived notion of who was expected to serve. After seeing how the narrator reacted to his call to battle, a question is left of whether the draft was fair in relation to social classes.

Vietnam is the subject of Journal #1, but more importantly the effect of Vietnam on individuals. Tim O'Brien, in his book, describes a number of personal events that he experienced as a result of his experiences in Vietnam. One of the most interesting assertions he makes is when he claims that because he went to war, he was a coward. (O'Brien) He makes this claim because he was really opposed to the war but did not have the courage to stand up an announce his opposition. Instead he simply obeyed orders and sent to war. But he forgets that there is a difference between the courage to stand up for one's convictions and the courage to face actual death. His claim of being a coward is a personal judgment based on his personal emotions, while his acceptance of actual danger and the risk of death proved that he was not. I believe that his guilt over not opposing the war publicly, not evading the draft, was the source of his feelings of cowardice. However, the horrors faced in Vietnam were the true test of courage, and he passed that test.

            As I reflect on the many conflicts America has been a part of, none can compare to the tragedies that occurred in The Vietnam war. As told in The Things They Carried (O’Brien), characters such as Norman Bowker and the author Tim O’Brien, who fought in The Vietnam War, experienced these tragedies first hand. When released to go home from war, they carried with them burdens of shame and guilt due to the horrific duties they had to take part in while fighting, and also dealing with the hard fact that they had to leave many who weren’t as lucky behind.  In the book, O’Brien talks a lot about how people deal with the burdens put onto them compared to others. Norman Bowker unfortunately wasn’t able to deal with the burden that The Vietnam War casted upon him. Shortly after war in fact Norman Bowker committed suicide at the place where he was working at the time. Tim O’Brien talks about a letter he received from Norman just before he chose to

My grandfather was drafted to be a medic in Vietnam 82nd airborne. One day he sated that he was with one of his best friends going out to check for wounded. He said “ I nudged my best friend and asked if he was read only to turn around to see that, half of his head was gone. Have you ever cut a grapefruit in half? That is exactly what his head looked like.” In this traumatizing moment my grandfather explained that in War there is no time to have grief; that you do not have any time to comprehend what just happened. He proceeded to tell me that War wasn’t about saving your friends because you have to save yourself.

The impact of the Vietnam War upon the soldiers who fought there was huge. The experience forever changed how they would think and act for the rest of their lives. One of the main reasons for this was there was little to no understanding by the soldiers as to why they were fighting this war. They felt they were killing innocent people, farmers, poor hard working people, women, and children were among their victims. Many of the returning soldiers could not fall back in to their old life styles. First they felt guilt for surviving many of their brothers in arms. Second they were haunted by the atrocities of war. Some soldiers could not go back to the mental state of peacetime. Then there were soldiers Tim O’Brien meant while in

The Vietnam War is one of the most controversial wars the United States has ever been involved in. This is due to the lack of reason for the United States’ involvement in the conflict; it was not necessary to have Americans fighting in Vietnam (Cornish). Regardless of the lack of need for soldiers, young men from the United States were still drafted to fight and were shipped off to Vietnam, despite not knowing what they were fighting for. While there, most of them experienced horrific events that ended up following them after Vietnam, resulting in a condition called post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which would weigh on the veterans’ shoulders for the rest of their lives. Tim O’Brien, author and Vietnam veteran, is not an exemption to

“the was nakedly and aggressively boring.” (Page 34). “War is nasty, war is fun, war is thrilling, war is drudgery, war makes you a man; war makes you dead.” (Page 80). Most veterans that survived in the Vietnam War wanted to forget some of the things and events that took place within the war.

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.

I’m glad my dad came home safely from the war and still in his right mind. A six year war like that could kill a man physically, emotionally, or socially. But that war was fought mostly by hillbillies no one has ever heard of like my daddy and granddaddy, but grand dad wasn’t so fortunate as daddy was. I imagine when I grow up there will be another war and I’ll be drafted and I’ll walk up my driveway to my wife and

Have you ever met a person who was forced to their home and family just to fight for innocent people from another country? Despite that, farming for long hours each day, and fighting life-threatening health risks, my grandfather, Leroy Recker, refuses to stop helping other no matter what, and that makes him a hero. He gave up his time to protect his nation and the people in, and even those of a nation he didn’t even know, without any objections. He now farms with his brother and son each year even though he is fighting a large amount of issues with his health. Leroy has given so much to others and his country, and deserves more honor and recognition as a hero than he is given.

He is a hero through kindness and generosity and is always determined to do right for reasons other than wealth and fame (Clark,

There are many different heroes in the world known to have an outstanding impact on the world today. A hero is someone that presents unique attributes in order to achieve greatness and reach their full potential in life. The society most often places this person on a much higher scale than the average class of civilization. In my life, the person who best reveals the qualities of a hero is my grandpa, Gran. Throughout his life, Gran has displayed the characteristics of being humble, determined, and supportive to both my family and me.