Letters Home

Kristin Strickland History 370 Book Essay March 21, 2013 Letters from Vietnam I found that trying to find a book to conduct round the Vietnam War was rather difficult because there are so many of them out there. I chose Letters from Vietnam edited by Bill Adler because it was a token of view from many soldiers in the war and they were what they were truly feeling at the time. It is not one point of view when you read this many earn and a little background on each of the authors, but there are many points of views, feelings and emotions to help us better understand what they were going through emotionally and physically while overseas.When I first opened the book to the introduction section I was not sure what I was going to find because a lot of times they filter what is out there for us to read or stick to one scheme. This book has went any should us how many of the tidy sum felt and under different schemes. I know that Dr. Lofthus always says, a picture is worth a thousand wor ds, while in build but reading someone elses words is worth much more and when done correctly you can feel what they were feeling when they wrote them.One of the first garner that I read that really stuck out and made me understand that they had to define things to their families and explain what some terms and other things were that maybe they were run intoing from the news stations, was a letter written by graduation exercise Lieutenant James Michener. He wrote the letter in the book while he was a helicopter pilot program in Vietnam from 1966-1967. The letter was dated November 17, 1966 from Tuy Hoa, Vietnam and he starts by explaining the reason that he hasnt written in a while is because he was away from his foot for over a week.He goes on to say, We were there to furnish air support to units of the IV (Fourth) Infantry element (Ivy Division) and the 101st Airborne Division (Screaming Eagles). These units were making a general sweep of an area about one hundred miles squ are. They were looking for Victor Charlie (VC) thats what we call him. While First Lieutenant Michener was writing letters to his family he explained many things about what he was seeing to having his helicopter hit with a bullet. You could tell from his letters that he was fleck for what he believes in. In the chapter titled Reflection, Sgt.David Glading writes a letter home to his girlfriend. He goes on to write, Its a beautiful night, moons out, stars, and no clouds, ya dont even need a flashlight. I had just finished reading the paper and found a poem, so Im sending it along. You know, you hear and read about all the things that go on over here, but dont really understand or believe them until you see it. Ive seen old men beat women, girls, little boy, and young men, Ive seen the dead and wounded, and Ive seen little children cry when their fathers are taken away. I could not call back writing a letter like that back home to a loved one.It would be hard to tell them the thi ngs that I have seen or how I was feeling. I would want to lie so that they thought I was ok and that everything was fine, but many of these letters if not all can be read and not give families the reassurance that they need. I want to end by saying that I received many letters and emails from my husband while he was in Iraq. He never once let on if anything was wrong. He always asked about our kids or how I was doing. He would tell me when he wanted a new picture or socks, but he never let on as to what he saw until after he was home.He would always lull me that things were fine when the news would say something else, or when one of our aircraft from the base crashed he would call and tell me he was fine. I am not sure how I would handle a letter like these if they were sent to me. I did not live through that era, but I am sure that it helped them get the things bump off their chests and out of their minds so that they could continue what they were doing and not have all that acc umulated inside. It is good to get it out and now we have all of these wonderful letters to give us an idea and understanding of what they all faced during the Vietnam Era.