";s:4:"text";s:38798:"Know and care about people and their basic needs. For 10 years we demonstrated in the streets of Amsterdam, walked with banners and shouted slogans against Lyndon B Johnson and Nixon. Norman Minnier was drafted into our Army in 1967. This archive, containing 21,477 pages of documents received in response to VVAW’s Freedom of Information Act requests, chronicles the group’s organizing activities across the country. During his one year of service, he earned the rank of sergeant, and endured considerable combat. Winds NW at 10 to 15 mph. We had a long walk out of the hills along a mountain pathway but were then picked up by a truck and driven in to town. My military unit was in the combat much of that time.”. In an article in the New York Times Magazine on March 24, 1968, reporter Sol Stern observed, "In Vietnam between 1961 and 1964, Negroes accounted for more than 20 percent of Army fatalities, even though they represented only 12.6 percent of Army personnel in Vietnam" and even less in the general U.S. In 1964, he was a U.S. advisor to South Vietnamese troops. One nurse’s visit hadn’t been enough. She died, they told me. They looked so bright and happy. Here following is a personal account of a local man, Norman Minnier, of Northumberland, who served his country courageously during the terrible Vietnam War. ... Twenty years later, I had a chance to make up for my neglect. I hate thinking he dealt with all of this alone. The Grunts: Personal Accounts: April 24, 2000 . My dad’s deployment happened the last year of his enlistment, his marriage did not survive his tour, and my uncle says he’s never been the same. This site is a place to share stories about how the Vietnam War era has affected your sense of self and your place in the world. This category may require frequent maintenance to avoid becoming too large. I asked mum why she was crying and she said, ‘Because my daddy died’. Vietnam Personal Accounts ... During the French Indochina war, it was said that the French lost an entire BN in a battle during the 1950’s on Hill-55. They represent all military branches and both genders. A number of us were in a similar bad condition and were carried to another landing zone to be medevacked out to hospitals. In this photo I’m about six weeks old. Within these personal essays from people who took part in the filming of The Vietnam War, are lessons about what happened, what it … The protest movement had grown from a small group of young radicals to a broad front of people from all over society. I thought they were Chinese. “In early January 1967 John Mooney and I were US marines aboard the USS Iwo Jima, a helicopter carrier, off the coast of Vietnam near the Mekong Delta. John’s death was the first war casualty I experienced. So in a weird way, it’s with me every day, even still.”. Two Days in October | Article ... One Family's Vietnam War Story. They represent all military branches and both genders. He has PTSD and addiction issues, and was rarely at our house; my parents relationship was volatile and they’ve been separated/divorced as long as I can remember ... Our society did not (and does not) give returning soldiers and their families anything remotely like the kind of support they need, but some of this is his own fault too. His coverage of the war in Dispatches was ground-breaking for its presented a type of journalism that traded monotonous details for visceral descriptions. Cloudy skies early, followed by partial clearing. Personal Accounts Two months after withstanding the most ferocious siege of the Vietnam War, Khe Sanh was abandoned to the enemy. The Vietnamese who fought on both sides of the war wanted the same thing for the country that they love, peace. One of them was a friend who saved my life. The Japanese invasion of Vietnam in 1940 galvanized his generation’s political consciousness. The Firefight of 2 July 1967 at Túy An (1), the accounts of Richard Flanders, and the After Action Report of Major Robert RisCassi, Battalion S-3 Photography can play an important role in telling a service story, and we focus our lens on 12 collections from the Vietnam War, all of which include candid, amateur photographs. GuardianWitness contributor WeeLassNZ as a baby and her father. Across the street, an SDS (Students for a Democratic Society) poster promoted a confrontational march on Washington on April 29. These first-person accounts are included in "Dreams Unfulfilled," a collection published in 2010 by the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund. They were mostly young men in smart jackets and open-necked shirts as was fashionable then. “It came even faster than we expected. She agreed. But the one that still wakes him in a cold sweat is the memory of waking up over his M16 while on duty. I got one of the pens LBJ is handing out. But that was a decision his enemy would make - it was their option ... We got out of our jeep to look at the next village over, a few hundred yards across a rice field. Like many of his peers, he left school to join the Viet Minh, seeking independence from French colonial rule. Funeral procession in Ho Chi Minh City, 1968. The last helicopter was thrown by American soldiers from the roof of the American embassy. Growing up, the New Zealand government refused to acknowledge that birth deformities and conditions like mine were linked to exposure to dioxins in the war, despite successive studies in the US and Australia, acknowledging causal links with exposure to the dioxins used in the war and birth deformities in children. This April of 2018 we will be married 51 years. He was from Lakewood, California. The Vietnam War touched millions of lives. I last saw him at our grandmother’s funeral in 1970. He was part of a group of Frenchmen who were cozy with the South Vietnamese regime. In the beginning of his training, Norman was sent to have specialized Jungle Training in preparation for duty in Vietnam. I learnt to walk again. Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW) was founded in 1967 and quickly became one of the most visible antiwar groups of the 1960s and 1970s. This activist was collecting donations for the 400-mile round-trip bus ride from Cambridge to Manhattan.”. His previous driver had been killed in an assassination attempt on my father, which also took the lives of my uncle (my father’s youngest brother) and my cousin, while leaving him unscathed. Then Norman stopped remembering the awful war and smiled as he happily said, “My wife, Kathy, and I were married two weeks before I received my draft notice. The Domino theory lost its persuasiveness. Vietnam War; Personal Accounts » Submit Your Site To The "Personal Accounts" Directory. He has no idea how long he was asleep (everything looked the same), says an enemy fighter easily could have crept to his position and killed him. It was unsuccessful and I started a long process of rehabilitation and monitoring to stop further deterioration. My father [pictured above with his American advisor] was a colonel in the South Vietnamese Army. I was with rural guerillas in the Philippines, the New People’s Army, when I noticed another very sick child. When the country was divided in two, he chose to remain in the south while his younger brother and many of his friends went north. Soldier Recalls Vietnam War Battle Experiences U.S. veteran Caesar Smith gives a first hand account of the fighting conditions in Vietnam. Basically all the rumours you hear about that war he lived. And to my discredit I have to admit that I was actually rather more interested in boats than the Vietnam War, which by then seemed to have gone on endlessly on our TV screens each evening. And know their culture and history. The objection that the Americans liberated us, silenced gradually. One year later I was in Vietnam with the 2nd Bn ,1st Marines.”. The years of war did nothing to alter their bond. I once got an Australian nurse from a medical aid mission based in the provincial capitol to come out to the village to treat a very sick child whose scalp was terribly infected from scabies. He suffered wounds on his right arm and left shoulder. Re: Vietnam -- Stories Since the War. “The American district advisor (like a county) was showing me the edge of ‘secure’ territory. Understanding the power of a picture, the Veterans History Project encourages veterans to submit photographs of their time in the military. Posters promoting an anti-Vietnam war march, Harvard Square, 1972. read more of their stories on GuardianWitness, You can read more of her story on GuardianWitness, read more of Andrew’s story on GuardianWitness. You see, draftees were sent to boot camp and then usually straight to combat, but career guys they would train. He is also seaplane rated. “I was seven at the time. At age six, I underwent brain surgery to release the spinal fluid building up in the base of my skull. Marines - The Grunts - Personal Accounts. There was nothing to see except coconut and banana trees beyond the rice. His name is remembered on the Vietnam Wall in Washington D.C.”. I felt so happy that we could welcome them. An older woman held out what I presumed was her grandchild, for me to see. It was 1984 and while investigations have since uncovered that the US government knew about the effects of exposure to dioxins like Agent Orange, in the eighties, in Aotearoa New Zealand, where our country’s involvement in Vietnam was not discussed or acknowledged by anyone, the truth was only beginning to reach the public. They represent all military branches and both genders. Tom Johnson brings you on a journey through the wild Vietnamese jungles alongside one of the most decorated battalions of the Vietnam War. His recovery was delayed because the hospital staff missed a piece of metal in his shoulder. Not the geopolitics, not the natural resources. I’m not even sure I knew she had a daddy, but that response always stuck with me and I always remember the day she heard.”. I joined them. T he Veterans History Project of the American Folklife Center collects, preserves, and makes accessible the personal accounts of American war veterans so that future generations may hear directly from veterans and better understand the realities of war.. The Project collects first-hand accounts of U.S. Veterans from the following wars: Joseph A. Diblin, of Northumberland, was a four-engine pilot during World War II and has worked as a test pilot and civilian flight instructor. Like any proud father he says I was perfect – alert, curious, in perfect health – but within a year my family knew that something wasn’t quite right. After that was successfully removed, “I was stitched up and sent back to my unit for combat duty.” However, he soon suffered some more injuries there, but was patched up and again returned to combat duty. I hope wherever he is, he’s okay.”. Military Times has partnered with VVMF in … His name is etched on Panel 13E, Line 123 on the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, D.C. And suddenly, March 1975, the end was there. His brother tried to volunteer in his stead because of the baby, but that was not permitted, so my dad enlisted hoping to avoid deployment. This piece was updated on 30 April to include additional information from Ivan Pope. It was sponsored by the Greater Boston Peace Action Committee. I greeted them in Vietnamese, but there was an uncertainty among the villagers, a reserve, and they stood just outside their homes, silent. Vietnam War Bibliography: Oral Histories and Personal Accounts, American, Especially Soldiers Most personal accounts are scattered through the many topical sections of this bibliography. Call Number: DS557.A69 A237 L6. A U.S. In 2007 another government inquiry finally acknowledged the truth: New Zealand troops were sprayed with Agent Orange; it had increased their risk of certain cancers and neurological conditions, and it had caused birth defects in their children. There was a dispensary very close to the village where I was filming, built with US aid funds, after the area had been re-taken by US and Korean ground forces in 1965, but villagers told me it was empty. In honor of National Vietnam War Veterans Day on March 29 (signed into law by then President Donald J. Trump in 2017), AARP spoke with six veterans of the war about their most vivid memories and what they want Americans today to know or remember. The usual story in a case like this was that the supplies had been sold somewhere along the supply chain for private profit, even to their enemy. A riveting account of the event that helped give rise to the modern American militia movement. Go easy on the ground troops and the killing.”, “In Harvard Square, 1972. He received his draft card when he was 19 or 20, shortly after he left university to take care of a new baby (chances of being drafted were much higher if you were not a student). I was a little tiny doll, significantly smaller than other children my age, and while walking at 12 months, I had a limp. In places like this, the young adults are all on the other side in armed units, or hidden from us right now, in tunnels. He had an open sore at the base of his throat about an inch long. U.S. Marine Tom Smith's Firsthand Account of the Vietnam War U.S. Marine Tom Smith’s Firsthand Account of the Vietnam War My tour in Vietnam did not get off to an auspicious start. “Bill” Ehrhart joined the U.S. Marines when he was 17. At 13 I developed scoliosis on top of my underlying conditions and with increased strain on my already fragile spinal cord, with my heart and lungs affected, I had surgery to straighten my spine. Wikimedia Commons has media related to United States military people of the Vietnam War. I had to return to Manila. This is just a small glimpse of the intricate web of human lives caught up in a complicated war, with conflicting familial and personal loyalties. I spent the next two weeks getting treatment on my ankles and then returned to my unit for combat duty. Back then guys returning from the war were called baby-killers, nobody knew about PTSD or survivor’s guilt, and his mom and dad were heavy drinkers. As the marine jumped into the chopper, a fused grenade dropped from his belt suspender strap, exploded and killed him and my friend John, a corporal at the time. “It was revealed after the war that my father’s driver for years was a Viet Minh sent to kill him, a mission that he failed to carry out several times because of his loyalty to my father. The child was limp and very thin. My father, a journalist, got a friend who was in Saigon, to take photos of the funeral. They asked some wounded vets to attend the signing of the New GI Bill on Aug 31. They included social democrats, intellectuals, troubled believers and long haired youth that wanted to take a distance from their inveterate conservative parents. That’s what I was remembering, standing there in front of the old woman’s sick grandchild. “During April and March of 1968, we were in battle for 51 days and lost many men. I asked the mother if she would bring her child when we left and I would take them to the hospital in the city. It’s a picture that one never sees in the portrayal of the Vietnam War in the West.”, “I was a US Navy Hospital Corpsman 3rd class stationed at the National Naval Medical Center, Bethesda, Maryland. Dysentery, I thought. Three Vietnam War Veterans Share Their Stories W.D. He was very different from when I had seen him a few years before, he didn’t joke around with me and my brother like he used to, he kept to himself. Pages in this category should be moved to subcategories where applicable. I came down to the kitchen and noticed something. Most of us Vietnam Vets still have issues from the war, and it is pretty rare to have a marriage survive that long because of the effects of the Vietnam War. You have permission to edit this article. The book is “not only a splendid account of a conflict often forgotten in the aftermath of America’s war in Vietnam, but it also speaks to the debate that continues to rage among military experts on the nature of the two wars in Indochina and the proper ways to fight them,” wrote George Herring, the author of America’s Longest War. He became a guerrilla fighter, living and hiding in remote areas to avoid capture by the French. What you will find here is only a few that did not seem to fit well into any of those topical sections, plus collections of … Low near 35F. Introduction to RE: Vietnam -- Stories Since the War. Still, for about half an hour I was, perhaps, part of history, a genuine, if somewhat accidental, anti-Vietnam war demonstrator.”. She is a special person to stick with me that long. I’m his first child by his second wife, I was born in 1976, and I’ve never met my older brother. Old defences on the Hai Van pass, Vietnam. This was a village in Central Vietnam in the province of Binh Dinh, where he was pretty certain he could go without being blown up or ambushed. My dad has only recently started talking about his experiences over there ... diving out of a jeep down a 10-foot concrete stair well to avoid incoming RPG, fire fights, massive sleep deprivation, substance abuse. Thank you Veteran Norman Minnier for your service to our country! of Marine Tanks in Vietnam, which will draw heavily on Tankers personal interviews. I was always on New York time but at least I had learned something: to care for people no matter what. The Iwo Jima, carrying remnants of the 1st Battalion Ninth Marine Regiment, was one ship of a naval flotilla participating in Operation Deckhouse V. John was a gunner aboard a helicopter that picked up a marine in the Delta. Before leaving my grandfather’s home my dad, a combat vet hugged him and told him to stay in touch, but nobody in the family has been able to find him since then. Small Vietnamese men with kalashnikovs took over Saigon. For two decades, they fought on opposite sides, but after the war, my father and his brother reconnected as soon as they could. They were young, half a world away from home, and at war. Dad was 38. Seven ribs were removed and I spent three months in a full body brace as they grew back over the summer holidays. The passing of time has helped him adjust to all that and allowed Norman to finally tell his story. If the reader has some difficulty understanding why Norman is telling the story of his combat experiences this long after that awful war, it is because of the terrible experiences in Vietnam and the lack of understanding by his fellow citizens — the American people. I returned to the village about four months later and asked how the child was doing. This person is one of the nicest, gentlest people I know, and has been through the most harrowing things of anyone I’ve been acquainted with. Overview Eighteen nurses who served in the United States military nurse corps during the Vietnam War present their personal accounts in this book. To the Limit is one of the best memoirs written by Vietnam War veterans who fought in the air, and it's written by a person who piloted a Huey Cav airplane. Apparently, the Vietnam veterans were reluctant to talk because our American citizens had been so critical of the Vietnam veterans when they returned home. The Vietnam War helped shape a generation of Americans, none more so than the 2.7 million who served in Southeast Asia. Michael Herr was a war correspondent for Esquire between 1967 and 1969. American military personnel who served in the Vietnam War (1955-1975). Call Number: DS557.A5 F35 1967 "Consists of Dr. Fall's tape recordings, unpublished pieces, and articles that have not been published in book form." Tuberculosis, they told me. So don’t blame the military. Personal Accounts | The personal ... A look at the history of American women’s increasing participation in war—from Vietnam to the present—as nurses, soldiers, journalists, diplomats and spies. And even with that they failed. Enter a promotion code or Gift Card Eighteen nurses who served in the United States military nurse corps during the Vietnam War present their personal accounts in this book. ... but also one of the major events of the Vietnam War: the Tet Offensive, a series of North Vietnamese surprise attacks against South Vietnamese and U.S troops. (6) During my time "in country," the area surrounding Hill-55 was still a hotly contested neighborhood. Then they were trucked to a smaller Base Camp, Dautieng. On Nov. 20, 1967, Norman was wounded in a combat action and spent 11 days in a military hospital in Vietnam. Americans in panic who tried to get away with their large helicopters. Ehrhart, left, in October 1967 near Quang Tri, Vietnam, and today. We went to the hospital where I arranged for the little boy, about five years old, to be taken care of ... By the third day, there was light in his eyes already. It was then that I cried. I was sure that the police would close in at any minute. All of us as soldiers did what we were ordered. “On my next mission, my company was flown into an area that was full of enemy soldiers, so the helicopter pilots had to go to another landing zone. There was a family across the road. Here following is a personal account of a local man, Norman Minnier, of Northumberland, who served his country courageously during the terrible Vietnam War. First Amendment: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. When we got home from the funeral Dad told me the Tet offensive at Hue had killed many of Connie’s friends during the heavy fighting but he came through uninjured. This sign in front of the Coop (Harvard Cooperative Society) promoted a ‘Peace Day’ march in New York City on 22 April, a week sooner. I didn’t stay in the demonstration for very long. This March 29 is National Vietnam War Veterans Day. A few villagers came out of their homes on our side of things, curious about who we were and what we were doing. They served in the theater of combat, in the United States, and in countries allied with the U.S. Jack V Sturiano (pictured second row, second from right) meets President Lyndon B Johnson, 31 August, 1967. Eighteen nurses who served in the United States military nurse corps during the Vietnam War present their personal accounts in this book. Today, I’m 31, and a living echo of a war that my country should never have been a part of and even now, so many years later I’m still paying the price.”, “I was very young. Vietnam veterans from the northland share their personal stories, in their own words. Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Vietnam War Nurses : Personal Accounts of 18 Americans (2013, Trade Paperback) at the best online prices at … Completing that training, in the latter part of 1967, he was flown to Vietnam and assigned to the 25th Infantry Division at the Cuchi Base Camp. The following year there was a series of corrective surgeries to save my right foot and leg. “More than 15 years after my father Paul returned from Vietnam, I was born. They served in the theater of combat, in the United States, and in countries allied with the U.S. The stories of those who were fortunate to return home from the brutal war are indispensable when trying to separate false narratives from the truth. Vietnam at 50: 1969 When Richard Nixon entered the White House on Jan. 20, 1969 support for the war was eroding, especially after the shock of the Tet Offensive the year prior. Our readers share first person accounts of how the Vietnam war affected them, their families and their lives today. Winds NW at 10 to 15 mph.. Clear skies. “My grandfather, Roger Felix Pirard, was a French colonial businessman who ended up in Saigon in the sixties. The feared domination of communism did not take place. All they had for treatment was herbs. First of all, even though I was a new guy, I was promoted to corporal soon after I … A personal account from a veteran of the Vietnam War, A collection of recent columns written by Joe Diblin, LIVINGSTON, Lloyd Apr 30, 1934 - Jan 1, 2021, HOWERTER, Mark Jun 8, 1941 - Apr 22, 2021, BEHRENT, James Aug 3, 1942 - Apr 16, 2021. Now, let’s interview a fine Vietnam veteran who finally is willing to tell us what war was like in Vietnam. When I hit the ground, both of my ankles were injured and swelled terrible, and I was unable to walk. The President and Congress send the orders to the military and they must carry them out! At aged three, as nerve damage started to take hold I had my first surgery to release my spinal cord, tethered around three lower vertebrae. It was a different place it seems to me, the UK then, we felt quiet pride in welcoming these lovely people from a terrible situation.”. People’s thatch homes were a little farther off, concealed by the fruit trees. He died of throat cancer and was buried in this ceremony. He was educated at the French Catholic school Ecole Pellerin. Fall. I have always, and will always, cherish our friendship.”. When I stopped there to look at it, no one was there and no medicines were on its shelves. John was 29 at his death. They tried to say that New Zealand troops were never sprayed but Dad speaks of living, working and eating in a chemical haze. I don’t think I pity him (not that he’d want it), but I do wonder sometimes what his life would have been like if he hadn’t gone. “My cousin Connie, named for baseball manager Connie Mack, joined the marines in 1967. Rural women believe it’s wrong to wash the soft part of a baby’s scalp- anyway, they don’t have soap, so the tiny insects borough in to the child’s skin. You can read more of their stories on GuardianWitness, Last modified on Fri 14 Jul 2017 17.12 EDT. But I can’t tell you if he lived. He was only eight years older than me but it seemed the weight of the whole world was on him. The images we saw on the TV news, were unbelievable. I’ve never visited, but it’s on my list. Kirsty McFadden’s father during his military service. A Personal Account of the Vietnam War. Soldiers must obey orders, or they are penalized. I remember it well. Related Features. Here are two very different accounts of that same extraordinary day. The closest doctor was in the provincial city, but for local villagers, it might as well have been in another country because it was too far to walk, they didn’t have money to hire transportation and they knew that if they managed to overcome these obstacles, the medical staff wouldn’t treat them unless they paid for care, and they couldn’t pay. If you are a veteran, know a veteran, or are related to a veteran, and would like to place a personal story on the Online Veterans Tribute, please mail it to: American Veterans Center 1100 N. Glebe Rd. I Corps andFeb 2008 Marine Tanksin the Battlefor HueCity: Tet 1968 which are replete with personal accounts related during Tankers The interviews taken in Charleston, SCquite possibly will also find their way for inclusion in subsequent articles. The American citizens who were so critical, were apparently those who had never served their country in the military in time of war. Last Reflections on a War by Bernard B. “Let me explain – The TET Offensive began in Vietnam the end of January of 1968 and had a lot of hard fighting through the country. By the age of two I had been diagnosed with two neurological conditions – spina bifida and diastematomyelia. “The Vietnam War was far more complex from the Vietnamese perspective than anything portrayed in the Western media. My school pal said, no, they are from Vietnam. “My dad served a full tour, 1970-1971, approximately half of which was in and out of the DMZ [demilitarised zone] as his unit rotated through Khe Sanh. He competed in German nationals for swimming when he was in High School; I do think he must have been a very, very different person... Randomly, I now live near Garden Grove, California, which has the largest Vietnamese population outside of Vietnam (we have great food here); and I work with two individuals who left Vietnam as war refugees. “If I Die in a Combat Zone”: a personal account of the Vietnam War. Sign up now to get our FREE breaking news coverage delivered right to your inbox. By 1969, more than half a million Americans were stationed in Vietnam. On the night of January 7th I walked alone through the Iwo Jima’s hangar deck and stopped behind a parked helicopter. “Do something,” the grandmother meant, with her gesture. He commented, “I was awarded the Purple Heart Medal for the combat wounds.”. Care first about ordinary people in countries where some national interest seems to be critical. I was awarded a small amount of compensation for everything I’d been through, compensation that didn’t cover the costs of my final surgery. Serving the Central Susquehanna Valley Since 1937. 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