A Story for All Americans: Vietnam, Victims, and Veterans

Portada
Frank L. Grzyb
Purdue University Press, 2000 - 328 páginas

A Story for All Americans: Vietnam, Victims, and Veterans (formerly titled, Touched by the Dragon) details wartime accounts of average servicemen and women - some heroic, some frightening, some amusing, some nearly unbelievable. The work is a historical compendium of fascinating and compelling stories woven together in a theme format. What makes this book truly unique, however, is its absence of literary pretentiousness. Relating oral accounts, the veterans speak in a no-nonsense, matter-of-fact way. As seen through the eyes of the veterans, the stories include first-person experiences of infantry soldiers, a flight officer, a medic, a nurse, a combat engineer, an intelligence soldier, and various support personnel. Personalities emerge gradually as the veterans discuss their pre-war days, their training and preparation for Vietnam, and their actual in-country experiences. The stories speak of fear and survival: the paranoia of not knowing who or where the enemy was; the bullets, rockets, and mortars that could mangle a body or snuff out a life in an instant; and going home with a CMH - not the Congressional Medal of Honor, but a Casket with Metal Handles. The veterans also speak of friendships and simple acts of kindness. But more importantly, they speak of healing - both physical and mental.

 

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Contenido

INTRODUCTION by Senator John F Kerry
3
YOUR ASS IS MINE
19
FINAL PREPARATIONS AND DEPARTURE
35
Saying Goodbye
43
The Friendly Sendoffs
49
INCOUNTRY
63
WAR IS NOT ALL
125
NOWHERE TO HIDE
157
MY GOD WHY
183
BEING SHORT
213
THE HEALING PROCESS
243
THE
249
OUR FALLEN HEROES
255
Derechos de autor

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Página 1 - The loud little handful — as usual — will shout for the war. The pulpit will — warily and cautiously — object — at first 'the great, big, dull bulk of the nation will rub its sleepy eyes and try to make out why there should be a war, and will say, earnestly and indignantly, "It is unjust and dishonorable, and there is no necessity for it.
Página 1 - Then the handful will shout louder. A few fair men on the other side will argue and reason against the war with speech and pen, and at first will have a hearing and be applauded; but it will not last long; those others will outshout them, and presently the antiwar audiences will thin out and lose popularity. Before long you will see this curious thing: the speakers stoned from the platform, and free speech strangled by hordes of furious men who in their secret hearts are...
Página 1 - There has never been a just one, never an honorable one — on the part of the instigator of the war, I can see a million years ahead, and this rule will never change in so many as half a dozen instances. The loud little handful— as usual — will shout for the war. The...

Acerca del autor (2000)

Frank L. Grzyb was sent to Vietnam in 1970 and assigned to the First Logistical Command (First Log) and later the U.S. Army, Vietnam (USARV), both situated in the coastal city of Qui Nohn in the Central Highlands.

Información bibliográfica