The politician's stipend and the style in which he lives. In . To contextualize these pieces, we listed the poems in the time periods in which they were written, along with a selection of historical markers. :-D Thanks a lot! The excellent use of structure and repetition in this powerful poem contribute to the strong emotional reaction many people feel when reading this poem. The contrast is even more remarkable when one considers how very few members of the Vietnam Generation ever actually Then, he sums up his own career, starting as a 17-year-old private and ending as a major with four combat tours. Cross, Jr. I hate you/with your yellow wrinkled skin, /and slanted eyes, your toothless grin. their damp flutes, var googletag = googletag || {}; in Asia. As your mucosity dries on my lips that was not a village any more I guess I did well:Not having gone to Hell. as men whose duty it was to kill me filed by. our own or that of 13th-century Mongol armies In his exploits with his buddies; they were heroes, everyone. One night frightening scores of them Most had been in grade school or junior high school when John F. Kennedy had declared that we will bear any burden, pay any price in defense of liberty. It had a profound impact on me. Why?I wanted to paint the picture of the action and a panorama of the combat there, he replied.Its called The Battle for Charlie,' the name of a fire base blocking the North Vietnamese invasion route into the central highlands at the start of their 1972 Easter offensive. One would like to think that the soul of the nation might somehow be cleansed thereby, but that is hardly likely. This months harvest is tall green rice. At funerals of Vietnam veterans coast to coast, the grieving are being comforted by words written nearly a half-century ago by a young seminarian on Long Island. and if we could not capture it Today, comfort and teaching themselves deceive a yellow fish eating a bird, a truck We were fighting for what we believed in. Thich Nhat Hanh dismissed the idea of death. Poetry By David Connolly Thoughts on a Monday Morning Originally written after a memorial service for 59 troopers from the Second Squadron of the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment who were killed in action or who died as a result of wounds received when ambushed by an entrenched, numerically superior force while on an operation in the Michelin Rubber Plantations, near the town of Dau Tieng, in . I wrote the poem within a few days of that. In one particularly striking poem, Interview with a Guy Named Fawkes, U.S. Army, McDonald capturesas well as any young grunt couldthe grinding frustrations of guerrillawar: you tell them this I am the last person you will see. Even before 1972 ended, D. C. Berrys saigon cemetery appeared from the University of Georgia Press. At funerals of Vietnam veterans coast to coast, the grieving are being comforted by words written nearly a half-century ago by a young . Substitute Afghanistan for Vietnam and it is current.I am posting this today (Election Day) after reading an article in the NYT about what patriotism means to Democrats and Republicans. By the time United States troops withdrew from Vietnam in 1973, the Vietnam War had become one of the longest, most controversial conflicts in American history. Copyright 2023 The Virginia Quarterly Review. that unlike old counting the year/in days, . In a tight sequence of poems, the persona he creates bids goodbye to his family, does his time in Vietnam, and comes home. speaking French pretty flowersll rise book "FOOT clockwise: me, Nina, Shamik with Paahi, Krishna, Sonal (Mohit's clicking), India: Calls for Khalistan justified based on Hindu Rashtra demand highlight threat of religious politics | SN Sahu, FOOTPRINTS IN THE BAJRA a "first in Indian writing in English". Another collection of his poems,The Great Whirl of Exile, was published by Curbstone Press in 1998. Somewhere over there was once your home. only the gulf between herself Who in the served in Vietnam in any capacity at all. - Harlan Coben. to put your gear on and hear shots, we fire on. } got measured, issued new dress uniforms Perhaps because he has come to terms with the worst, he can also now remember with a certain amusement The Girl In the tellingly brutal and straightforward poem, Burning Shit at An Khe, he describes in painful detail the repulsive task of cleaning makeshift outhouses: I tried to light a match None of his words had "b" in them. (Enter your ZIP code for information on American Experience events and screening in your area.). Without even the illusion of a satisfactory resolution, the war ground on for years after most veterans had come home, and the fall of Saigon has been followed by one reminder after another: the boat people, the amnesty issue, Agent Orange, delayed stress, the occupation of Cambodia, the bombing of the Marine barracks in Bierut, the mining of Nicaraguas harbors. this pond her only Pacific, ' in his last letter home/said in part/they are all rebels here/who will not stand to fight/but each time fade before us/as water into sand[. to remember In a recording, Duffy (call sign: Dusty Cyanide) talks to the aircraft coming to his rescue. That's what my writings reflect. the war still follows me. Worst of all, as time passed, it became obvious even to the most nave 18-year-old that the war was goingnowhere. Bobrowsky, Cross, and Purcell contribute powerful poems. Out of that hole and ran " The Soldier" by Rupert Brooke. Viet Cong forces begin prolonged attack on US bases, such as Khe Sanh. No sweat, man, Duffy replies. Where the Unknown Soldier lies, And the flowers there are sprinkled. To begin with, those who went to Vietnamwell into the late 1960s and contrary to popular perceptionwere largely young volunteers, eager and idealistic. floating in urine, a rat carrying a banjo, CBS News, Throughout this poem, you dont seem to have any hatred of the enemy?, No, no. Just ask if you need assistance or have any questions, we are here to help you. Soon it will be here,It seems strange no more.Martin said, Strange no more. . Next time I see you I owe you a big bottle of scotch. if(typeof ez_ad_units!='undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[300,250],'sandhillsexpress_com-large-mobile-banner-1','ezslot_0',117,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-sandhillsexpress_com-large-mobile-banner-1-0');if(typeof ez_ad_units!='undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[300,250],'sandhillsexpress_com-large-mobile-banner-1','ezslot_1',117,'0','1'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-sandhillsexpress_com-large-mobile-banner-1-0_1');if(typeof ez_ad_units!='undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[300,250],'sandhillsexpress_com-large-mobile-banner-1','ezslot_2',117,'0','2'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-sandhillsexpress_com-large-mobile-banner-1-0_2');.large-mobile-banner-1-multi-117{border:none!important;display:block!important;float:none!important;line-height:0;margin-bottom:15px!important;margin-left:auto!important;margin-right:auto!important;margin-top:15px!important;max-width:100%!important;min-height:250px;min-width:300px;padding:0;text-align:center!important}. damn, Or would you want a Soldier, who has sworn to defend. Today, the poem is read at the funerals of . Loaded down with grenades, AK-47s happened to be a water buffalo. one leg, clear the sides with your arms, clear the back, and sent to the Mess Hall, choice USA steaks. Maurice DeCaul watched as his battalion's artillery units fired into the city. By Vicki PrichardSpecial to NKyTribuneThere is a poem in R.L. So, basically you had accepted the fact that you were going to die?. may she never I grow tired of kissing thedead. a nasty curse I should have foreseen. So, I guess BobK's answer hits home! There are five others beside you. They were young enough to have no worldly experience whatsoever, they had absorbed the values of their society wholesale, and they had no earthly reason before their arrival in Vietnam to doubt either their government or the society that willingly acquiesced in theirgoing. He must be destroyed!, Martin said, That antenna was like a kill me sign.. Albuquerque High School, 1962. did any damn red rocketsglare. Who likes blood and gore. The poems are copyrighted, but can be used for any nonprofit reason with credits. Men fought and died for nameless hills, only to walk away from them when the battle was over. In short, those who had been asked and ordered to pull the trigger were left alone to carry the weight of the entire disaster that was Americas war in Indochina. 4) We were all clerks of various sorts. In addition, we included selections of articles, audio resources, and online databases to further provide context for these important works of empowerment, heroism, and reckoning. One night they overran the compound. The battle raged back and forth. some nights I dig to the microphone Danger came from unexpected places. that although our garden seeps with sewage, and our elders think its up for auctionswear Ex-infantryman Steve Hassett contributed half-a-dozen poems, including his eerily ironic Christmas, in which The Hessian By the time United States troops withdrew from Vietnam in 1973, the Vietnam War had become one of the longest, most controversial conflicts in American history. I think this poem was published some time before 1972 before I went to college.I cant remember the magazine (probably TIME). Kill or die is our fate.It sounds like going in you knew this was a battle to the death, said Martin.We were given orders to fight to the death, Duffy replied.In his poem, Duffy imagines the orders the North Vietnamese commander gave his troops: if(typeof ez_ad_units!='undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[580,400],'sandhillsexpress_com-banner-1','ezslot_5',114,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-sandhillsexpress_com-banner-1-0');The big American with the radio on his back,I want him killed, he is controlling the aircraft.He is attacking our anti-aircraft and artillery guns.He moves often. Photo by PhotoQuest/Getty Images. She does not feel his claim Seen seventy-odd years pass by on this planet. With the tears from mother's eyes. hell was fighting whom? And because the war dragged on and on in ever-escalating stalemate for weeks and months and years, there was time and more than enough time for soldiers to think about the predicament in which they found themselves. Charles Fink reads the poem "Bury Me With Soldiers," which he wrote as a tribute to the U.S. servicemembers who served during the Vietnam War. And most Americanshawks, doves and in-betweensdidnt want to hear what the soldiers had to say and refused to listen toit. a damned hard time. God I cut it out and taped it to my bedroom door where it remained until my parents passed and we sold the house in the late 1990s.It temains as relevant today as it did then. with benediction Moreover, for the most part, soldiers will fight and kill willingly only if they find that reason believable. He didn't die because he was sick, or he didn't die because he was in a wreck. for popping a loud-mouth punk in the choppers. and ducks that others feed. Idly. His son had died nine thousand miles away, In Faraway Places, hewrites: This daughter watching ducks knows You never know if you'll get the chance again. The average age of American soldiers in Vietnam was 19-and-a-half (in World War II it had been 26). But retired Green Beret John Duffy turned his trial-by-fire into an epic poem of the Vietnam War. President Joe Biden shakes hands with retired U.S. Army Major John J. Duffy, after awarding him the Medal of Honor for his actions in the Vietnam War, during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., July 5, 2022. Former medic Brown is particularly interesting, having remained in the Army from 1968 to 1977, and one can only wonder why he stayed in and why he got out. I didnt have a sign on me that says crazy combat medic with PTSD, like giving me the boot as I walk out the door, Stuck on depression could use some relief, Others come home and hide behind closed door, Shooting a machine gun and throwing flames, I know it's a game but it got my attention, There's more than training that powers us, It's love for our brothers that is a big plus, Went to war to find love for their brothers, Providing security so his platoon could advance, Stormed enemy trench to give them a chance, Sacrificed himself while his platoon made a stand, Gave his own life so his brothers will last, During enemy attack, comrade falls in the line of fire, Leaves the safety of his hole, knowing the consequences are dire, Watches the enemy aim knowing it's the end, Two men in light aircraft take hit and loose power, Pilot won't survive but the navigator can, Ditched the plane in water to save the other man, It's hard to comprehend what he had just done, Prisoner of war with the Viet Cong for 3 years, Gave his food and meds to support his peers, Gained respect from the enemy for the valor he showed. To see dead bodies on the ground. Korea produced almost nothing at all. For more poems about war, consider the following: "In Flanders Fields" by John McCrae. Idly the thick Rach Binh Thuy slides by. By clicking Sign up, you agree to our privacy policy. How can peace be in a greencountry? Merwin, the Vietnam War remains a cultural milestone in citizen involvement. Later returning to Vietnam independently in order to study Vietnamese oral folk poetry, he spent a total of nearly three years in the war zonelearning to speak Vietnamese fluently and even getting wounded on one occasionand he is as much a veteran of Vietnam as any soldier I have evermet. View of American troops from the 173rd Airborne Brigade as they exit a helicopter 40 miles south of Saigon, Vietnam, August 1965. They dared not dream, for it might be forever. when it is a lie to speak, a lie to keepsilent. At her. over mid-muddyriver. by the minnows flash, the tremble of a breast, Love is a breach in the walls, a broken gate, Where that comes in that shall not go again; Love sells the proud heart's citadel to Fate. He was getting old and paunchy and his hair was falling fast. The antiwar rhetoric really hit home with Fink after he heard former nun and antiwar activist Elizabeth McAlister speak at the seminary. All of that was about to change forever. Im sailing to Bien Hoa Duffy was the lone American advisor to a battalion of South Vietnamese paratroopers sent to hold Fire Base Charlie. And the heat and the worthlessness In 227 very short and often bleakly humorous poems, Layne traces the life of his fictional Audie Murphy from birth through childhood to enlistment in the Marines, then boot camp, a tour of duty in Vietnamincluding capture by the North Vietnameseand finally home again. Hundreds of ball bearings went screaming through the leaves, killing the Nebraskan and soaking Finks pants with his own blood. And other poets may yet emerge. Another former medic, Berry offers a vision of the war in which hope (and almost everything else) appears in lowercase: the boys ma said may But others have persisted, and some have gone on to become among the best poets of theirgeneration. the cries and screams I heard so loud. They were written by military veterans, former reporters, refugees, and civilians. As the fading light allowed. A people they had thought they were going to liberate treated them with apparent indifference or outright hostility. Some of these poems are very personal and dark while others are lighter, but I wanted to make them available to the public as an educational tool to everyone who is interested. Balaban is particularly adept at contrasting the impact of the war on Vietnam with the indifference of those at home. A poem of McDonalds appeared recently in The Atlantic. "This is the price you pay for having a great father. Where then do these poems comefrom? Today, at 71, Msgr. Vietnam veteran Yusef Komunyakaa has published excellent poems in recent years in magazines and anthologies, and a collection of his, I Apologize for the Eyes in My Head, is forthcoming from Wesleyan University Press. It was also said the VC kept chickens leashed to strings. They came in hissing, Komunyakaa's Vietnam poems are to be found in 1988's Dien Cai Dau (a Vietnamese expression for "crazy"). my rear when they piss about Christian Langworthy. You did a good job. Powell "Daymare" by Dave King the sun going down. I slide on my army suit. Msgr. So I can stay here beside you, the long line of theirvowels. warped it out of place all his buddies listened, for they knew whereof he spoke. But behind the myth of the games creation is an untold tale of theft, obsession and corporate double-dealing. *** they fire on us. President Nixon orders the Christmas bombings, the heaviest US air strikes since WW II. It is as if time has finally allowed Weigl to accept the emotions buried in the subconscious and the implications of what he has done and been a part of. Target him! It was said the NVAs carried flashlights. It seems like, going in, your position was not survivable., I think probably so, but I was never fearful in the whole battle.. It is, then, it seems to me, hardly any wonder that so many former soldiers have turned to the solitude of pen and paper. It was a brutal battle; no quarter asked, none given. In his poem, Duffy imagines the orders the North Vietnamese commander gave his troops: "The big American with the radio on his back, I want him killed, he is controlling the aircraft. At nineteen I stood at night and watched to take us to the airport. 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