what was it like for the american soldiers in vietnam ??

Question

what were the conditions like for them..? how did they feel?

Answer 1

I think I can answer that. My husband was wounded in Viet Nam and his leg had to be amputated below the knee when he arrived back in the States from Japan. Once he was able to leave the hospital and come home for the wkend, I would take him to town (Oakland, CA). He was called names, spit on and cursed at. I could not believe what I was seeing. I remember one time I took him and a hospital buddy out to dinner at Pizza Hut. We were enjoying ourselfs - 2 guys in wheelchairs, me, and our baby daughter. I wasn't looking around and did not notice that the dining area had gotten quiet. Soon the manager appeared and told us we were bothering his other patrons, making them ill because of the purple face and arm scars. He politely asked us to leave - after paying for our meal, of course.

When he was finally able to talk about Viet Nam, he told me his stories and I wrote them down. If it wasn't hot, there was a downpour with lower temps. Snipers were always around. Spiders were huge. Men were lost to booby traps (Claymore land mines, sharp wire string across the path hopefully to kill some of the men, and having children or women coming toward them carrying some type of hidden killing instrument - just to name a few. He told me about the day he was wounded. Incoming mortar fire landed close to him killing his best friend and tearing his leg almost off. The only thing holding it from falling off was that it was still attached to skin from the thigh. His arm and side of his face was full of sharpnel.

He felt we had no business over there and killing civilians hit him hard. When he was able to be flown to California he was sent to Oaknoll Naval Hospital. And that brings us back to the beginning of my answer. Hope this helps.

Answer 2

Viet Nam was definitely a sticky wicket. I don't know whether we should have gone in or not. That's not a decision I had to make. I DO know that Kennedy started our involvement when the French bugged out and his reasoning was based on defeating, or at least not allowing, Communism. The worst of it came after Lyndon Johnson LIED to the American People and the Military. There was not a Gulf of Tonkin incident. He made it up. Yep - A DEMOCRAT LIED!! Many young men and some women served because they thought they were doing the right thing and, remember, those of us of that generation had fathers who fought and won World War II. The treatment of our Veterans as they came home was DEPLORABLE and anyone who participated in the sh!t dished out by people like Bill Ayers and his Weathermen should have been shot for treason. The boys who went over there came back men - IF they were lucky enough to come back. In this way it was similar to WWII. There really aren't any other similarities that come to mind. We watched it all on television at dinner time. Walter Cronkite gave us the daily body counts. We always killed 10x the men our guys would admit to losing. We became almost disinterested in it - until a relative was called up. My husband's draft # was 364. THAT'S what everyone cared about.

Answer 3

I'm pretty sure it isn't going to do them any good to talk about it.
You might send a bunch of Vietnam Vets into flashbacks.

It was War and war is hell, because there are and were no rules.

Good luck.

Search Vietnam War footage, concentration camps.

Answer 4

nean give an excellent well thought out answer. If you want to see what it was like. Visit "The Wall" in DC, You will see old codgers like me tracing the names of fallen buddies, and openly crying like babies.

"If you are able, save for them a place inside of you and save one backward glance when you are leaving for the places they can no longer go.

Be not ashamed to say you loved them, though you may or may not have always. Take what they have taught you with their dying and keep it with your own.

And in that time when men decide and feel safe to call the war insane, take one moment to embrace those gentle heroes you left behind.

Major Michael Davis O'Donnell
1 January 1970
Dak To, Vietnam
Listed as KIA February 7, 1978

*KIA is killed in action*

Answer 5

There is a book called Suicide Charlie, that was written by a vietnam vet, and it is an amazing account from the soldier's perspective. I highly recommend it. It is by Norman Russell. Here is a link to it on amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Suicide-Charlie-Vietnam-War-Story/dp/0671522795/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2/002-1504981-1864054?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1192164749&sr=8-2

Answer 6

I agree with "Nean" I went through that too. My cousins and I just came back. Our war was here in the U.S.
We tried to survive in 'Nam, we had to live here in the U.S.

My cousins and I were in a large restaurant eating, five of us from 'Nam, three were Rangers and out of uniforn, someone mentioned 'Nam and the next table three guys started heckling us. Calling us names, one splashed beer on us. My cousin smashed a pitcher of beer in his face and then, all hell broke loose.

The cops came. We were taken outside. The cops, it turned out, both were ex Marines just back from 'Nam let us go and arrested the three for disturbing the peace.

My cousin cried over it. We all did. I gave two years and was wounded. I was 18 years old, my cousin was 18. We were to young to drink. But, not to young to die for our country.

How did we feel, we were afraid to mention we were in 'Nam, we were put down, we were spit on, we were heckled. I took my wife and kids and went into the woods of Northern Minnesota for over thirty years, on the Canadian border. I never mentioned I was in 'Nam. My daughter, now thirty five, asked if I was in the Army, I told her "yes' and I leave it go.

They all wonder why I built my memorial in the front yard, a flag with flowers and stone benches. A place of peace. For all the guys that didn't come home. My son doesn't even know I was there, he just saw my jacket with my ribbons and stripes and has asked my wife. She says to ask dad. I don't talk about it.

Answer 7

My dad was there but doesn't talk about it except to say that it was worse coming home. They were called baby killers, spit on and basically disrespected by the entire country. I think we have learned our lesson in that even if you don't support the war you should support the troops.

Answer 8

Have worked with lots of them seen photo albums and listened to there stories. good and bad.so many men and women were there. so go talk to some.

Answer 9

scared like hell

Answer 10

Hell?