*** Sailing to Bien Hoa istypical: In my dream of the hydroplane You study the things which start fromscratch. Of the 471 men committed,I came out after two weeks of intense battlewith 36 surviving,most of them had been wounded. the Air Force, and No one couldve expected more from them. } And finger paint the words of who I am But his poems are wonderfully powerful, often intimately personal and sensitive. Unencumbered by history Monopoly is Americas favorite board game, a love letter to unbridled capitalism and our free market society. An estimated 2 million Vietnamese civilians were killed, and 58,000 US soldiers died in action. nothing of Vietnam, the Units of our Conflict -- all Conflicts. At the time, I was really angry in the aftermath of that talk. It is inscribed inaccurately on a memorial stone at the Northport VA Medical Center. Some, however, stand out more sharply than others. It was my take on soldiers, as opposed to the one she made.. To think of killing someone makes me nervous. Zambia. damn, This was not the first appearance of poems dealing with the Vietnam war to be written by soldiers who helped to fight that war. Four current veterans one of the Vietnam War and three who served in Iraq explain how writing their experiences down has helped them come to terms with what they lived through. More durable a poetindeed, one of the very bestis John Balaban. After our war, the dismembered bits I like a little unaccustomed mercy. Like its predecessor, DMZ contained much that relied on emotion rather than craft. After Caliban in Blue, McDonald had published two additional collections, both good, neither touching on Vietnam. The whir of birds' wings to remember Bombs so long falling; after falling, the soldier-poets: scattered among the war-related poems are numerous excellent poems on other topics, suggesting an ability to transcend Vietnam. Because Linville who died in 2000 and Swit were so funny together, the M*A*S*H writers were understandably nervous about cutting off a reliable source of comedy. His MorningA Death is a masterpiece, capturing at once the new, sophisticated battlefield medicine of Vietnam and the ancient, ageless human misery and futility of allwars: You are dead just as finally 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. separation to her warped it out of place In this morning sun. Editor: Ed Givnish. that I havedrunk. But retired Green Beret John Duffy turned his trial-by-fire into an epic poem of the Vietnam War. Scruggs was the driving force behind the Wall, made of black granite panels inscribed with the names of the more than 58,000 U.S. troops killed in Vietnam. A company of NVAs crashing toward you Duffy was the lone American advisor to a battalion of South Vietnamese paratroopers sent to hold Fire Base Charlie. In Farmers Song at Can Tho, hewrites: What is a man but a farmer You have stopped for a break, stand up 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. Loaded down with grenades, AK-47s he could promise No sweat, man, Duffy replies. View of American troops from the 173rd Airborne Brigade as they exit a helicopter 40 miles south of Saigon, Vietnam, August 1965. He won't be mourned by many, just his children and his wife. Even more chilling is Song of Napalm, in which he tries to appreciate the wonder of horses in a pasture after astorm: Still I close my eyes and see the girl to the microphone And the initial rejection of Vietnam veterans, and the long silence of the 70s which followed (during which time Vietnam veterans were routinely stereotyped as drug-crazed, emotionally unbalanced misfits), have only given way to Rambo, Chuck Norris, and the sorry spectacle of Americas Vietnam veterans driven to build monuments to themselves and throw parades in their ownhonor. Worst of all, as time passed, it became obvious even to the most nave 18-year-old that the war was goingnowhere. Target him! It is, with touching effectiveness, his daughter who links so many of these poems together. Yet that oblique approach is enormously effective, creating a netherworld of light and shadows akin to patrolling through triple-canopied jungle. Poem for Our Dog Afraid of Thunder on a Rainy Day. the rest, all Waiting for the enemy, faces without names; Their bodies mount-up now God's to claim. - Earnest Hemingway, (18991961). . No one couldve expected more from them. You did a good job. But the explanations given by those whod sent the soldiers to fight in Vietnam became ever more surreal and absurd until they were revealed for what they were: nothing but empty words, bereft of reason or any semblance of higher moralauthority. 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. LI priest's poem about Vietnam War endures. Maurice DeCaul watched as his battalion's artillery units fired into the city. His first book-length collection, After Our War (University of Pittsburgh, 1974), deservedly won the Lament Award from the Academy of AmericanPoets. a fool counting the cards, a monkey praying, got measured, issued new dress uniforms 4) We were all clerks of various sorts. There is no escape. when he walked up This months harvest is tall green rice. But for others in the volume, and for Vietnam-related poetry in general, Winning Hearts and Minds proved to be only the forerunner for a body what do they know back where Moreover, for the most part, soldiers will fight and kill willingly only if they find that reason believable. Msgr. 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. Ex-infantryman Steve Hassett contributed half-a-dozen poems, including his eerily ironic Christmas, in which The Hessian Even worse, Americas veterans could not even crawl away to lick their wounds in peace. Years before Agent Orange was widely acknowledged for the silent killer it isthe deadly seed sewn in Asia only to take root at home among those who thought theyd survivedBalaban wrote in Along theMekong: With a scientific turn of mind I can understand I was so outraged that so many were nodding in approval, Fink said. CBS News national security correspondent David Martin asked Duffy, Lots of soldiers have written memoirs about their time in combat. Under such conditions as these, there has been more than enough reason and plenty of time for once-idealistic youngsters to consider long and hard the war they fought, the government and the society that sent them to fight it, and the values they had once believed in. Out of the stomach googletag.cmd = googletag.cmd || []; Leroy V. Quintana, a native New Mexican, served in Vietnam in the Army Airborne and a Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol unit in 1967-68. He lives with his wife and daughter in Philadelphia, and teaches English and history at theHaverfordSchool. my child by the new earth spongy under our feet: I was in the Florida State Drivers license office building getting my new drivers license. Indeed, of the 36 poems, only ten deal with the war. In following years, thousands of Vietnamese immigrate to the United States. acceptance ofherself. It had been 21 years since Jan Barry first went to Vietnam, and even the youngest of the vets were approaching their mid-30s. You chose to write poetry. Then drops his aim. These poems are available in a book format. pretty flowersll rise I am of the same generation as Harris, the courageous draft resister and anti-war campaigner who died on February 6. The battle raged back and forth. her eyes My situation is I got 37 personnel. Bobrowsky, Cross, and Purcell contribute powerful poems. embarrasses me. 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. Those Americans who supported the war couldnt understand why the soldiers couldnt win it. I am the last person you will touch. Copyright 2023 The Virginia Quarterly Review. Eases, and your pain, andmine. Poems from and about the American involvement in Vietnam. as ascar. Papers tell of their life stories, from the time that they were young. . she is burned behind my eyes It had a profound impact on me. But it offered additional poems by WHAM poets Barry, Cross, Krohn, Purcell, and others, as well as new work by Balaban andBerry. through my fingers into my soul. When a loved one doesn't return from war there will be many unresolved feelings. I n March 2019, three months before the publication of Ocean Vuong's novel On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous, he called his agent from the hallway of a Hartford, Conn . walking slowly, scratching. All of that was about to change forever. only a little more than a yard away. But he chose to do his alternative service in Vietnam, first as a teacher of linguistics at the University of Can Tho, then as field representative for the Committee of Responsibility to Save War-Injured Children. *** Duffy was the lone American advisor to a battalion of South Vietnamese paratroopers sent to hold Fire Base Charlie. To contextualize these pieces, we listed the poems in the time periods in which they were written, along with a selection of historical markers. these were only the mosquitos. a procession of whales, and far off a reminder of my wartime strife. "Memorial Day for the War Dead" by Yehuda Amichai. Why?! Khalistan Calls no Trifle in Punjab, But Hindu Majoritarianism Bigger ] Former Airman Horace Coleman writes of his Saigon daughter in A Black SoldierRemembers: She does not offer me one of the To cross a river meant leeches. Plus, I was 62, and the Vietnamese are typically about 56, Duffy said. : 4 min read. So, basically you had accepted the fact that you were going to die?It was getting a little dicey! Duffy replied.It seems like, going in, your position was not survivable.I think probably so, but I was never fearful in the whole battle.In a recording, Duffy (call sign: Dusty Cyanide) talks to the aircraft coming to his rescue.My situation is I got 37 personnel. . Something More on the War in Vietnam:The Tet Offensive (Sunday Morning)A promise fulfilled: Filming a story of heroism in battle (Sunday Morning)The lost platoon: Aftermath (Sunday Morning)A war photographers rediscovered images from Vietnam (Sunday Morning). Get the latest on new films and digital content, learn about events in your area, and get your weekly fix of American history. Christian Langworthy. Made.. to think of killing someone makes me nervous he could promise No,. Years since Jan Barry first went to Vietnam, August 1965 plus, I was 62, even... 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