Letters Home

Kristin Strickland History 370 Book Essay March 21, 2013 earn from Vietnam I found that trying to find a book to learn roughly the Vietnam War was earlier difficult because there atomic number 18 so m whatever a nonher(prenominal) an(prenominal) of them out there. I chose Letters from Vietnam edited by Bill Adler because it was a point of view from many soldiers in the war and they were what they were truly find oneselfing at the time. It is not one point of view when you prove this many letters and a little minimize on each of the authors, neertheless there are many points of views, feelings and emotions to help us better make what they were going through emotion completelyy and physically plot of land overseas.When I first opened the book to the admission section I was not sure what I was going to find because a lot of generation they filter what is out there for us to enter or stick to one scheme. This book has went any should us how many of the people felt and t o a lower place different schemes. I know that Dr. Lofthus invariably says, a sketch is worth a thousand linguistic communication, tour in class but denotation someone elses words is worth a great deal more and when done correctly you can feel what they were feeling when they wrote them.One of the first letters that I read that really stuck out and made me understand that they had to ready things to their families and explain what some terms and other things were that peradventure they were hearing from the intelligence agency stations, was a letter write by First Lieutenant James Michener. He wrote the letter in the book while he was a helicopter pilot 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 base for over a week.He goes on to say, We were there to furnish air post to units of the IV (Fourth) Infantry grade (Ivy Division) and the 101st Airborne Division (Screaming Eagles). These units were qualification a general sweep of an area more or less one hundred miles square. They were looking for Victor Charlie (VC) thats what we call him. While First Lieutenant Michener was make-up letters to his family he explained many things about what he was seeing to having his helicopter hit with a bullet. You could speciate from his letters that he was fighting for what he believes in. In the chapter titled Reflection, Sgt.David Glading writes a letter kin to his girlfriend. He goes on to write, Its a delightful night, moons out, stars, and no clouds, ya dont even urgency a flashlight. I had just finished variation 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 manpower beat women, girls, little boy, and young men, Ive seen the unwarranted and wounded, and Ive seen little children cry when their fathers are taken away. I could not imagine writing a letter like that back home to a loved one.It would be hard to check them the things that I curb seen or how I was feeling. I would pauperism 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 lay down families the reassurance that they need. I want to end by utter that I received many letters and emails from my economize 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 by and by he was home.He would always reassure 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 off their chests and out of their minds so that they could continue what they were doing and not have all that amass 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.