Stories from people like you help this site grow. We've gathered a selection of some of the most interesting, poignant and provocative poems, essays, songs and memories that people have shared with us. Please feel free to share your thoughts on each piece, and go to the "Share Your Story" section to add your own.
I am not a Vietnam vet. I was a child during the Vietnam War. My next door neighbor went to Vietnam when he was 20 years old. I was 10 years old at the time. He and I used... read more »
SAN FRANCISCO Flipping through my United States passport as if it were a comic book, the customs man at the Noi Bai Airport, near Hanoi, appeared curious. "Brother, when did you leave Vietnam?" "One day before National Defeat Day,"... read more »
At The Wall this past Veterans Day weekend, at Panel 3-East, I had the great honor and privilege of lifting up Thomas Alexander Rudel, age 4 and 1/2, and introducing him to his grandfather, Capt. Thomas C. Metsker, who... read more »
Vietnam still resonates In America because so many of us were altered by it -- often in ways we never perceived at the time. As a reporter in Southeast Asia, I spent most of my time not in Vietnam... read more »
The first time I went to Vietnam, it was August, 1967, and I was 20 years old. My war year ended, uninterrupted, after the standard twelve months of duty. I shared the life of Highway platoon, B Company of... read more »
After my long, long year (1969-70) at war (first in Vietnam, then in Thailand flying combat missions into Laos and writing official Air Force histories about the "secret war"), I vowed to put the experience behind me. I returned... read more »
When I returned from Vietnam in 1969, I was greeted at the Seattle, Wa. airport by a group of war protesters who proceeded to spit on me, tear medals from my uniform, and call me baby killer. My experience... read more »
Five years after the fall of Saigon I worked for UNHCR, teaching English on the Malaysian island of Bidong, then the temporary home of more than 40,000 Vietnamese refugees. For these boat people, the journey from Vietnam was often... read more »
X-rays were a mystery at first, but I learned to think in negatives, to read shapes of whole or broken bones, the gray nimbus of my flesh. Through clear specks light shone like stars in a planetarium, different angles... read more »
Almost bought a machete from the surplus store, but its hilt fit my hand just a little too well, and old memories broke through barriers that were disappointingly thin; I was back in the jungles of the 'Nam once... read more »
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