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.
Coming home, we are looked down upon...our lives have been destoryed forever and our boyhood taken away from us. America looks the other way when we speak, we are freaks! We did as we were asked and now we... read more »
Since being discharged in the late '60s, I have either been unemployed or underemployed. This status has taken an emotional toll which I would not wish on anyone. On the credit side, I have remained faithfully married, put... read more »
CHRIS VOICE OVER I think now, looking back, we did not fight the enemy, we fought ourselves and the enemy was in us ... The war is over for me now, but it will always be there - the... read more »
Twenty years ago, I sat in a hearing room very similar to this one we are in today. I was there to testify about the continuing bloodshed In Vietnam. Among the other veterans who were sitting at the table... read more »
The other day at my parents' home, I chanced upon a relic from my incongruous past. Hidden in our family closet, behind a row of business suits and wool sweaters, was my father's South Vietnamese Army uniform, a paratrooper's... read more »
I know now why I cannot travel light. Twenty one years after my arrival to the United States, I have at last been acclimated to Fall and Winter in America. I have finally gotten used to my luggage. Twenty... read more »
Soldiers spend most of their time waiting. In the military patience is more than a virtue, it is a vital tool. In the fall of 1971 I sat idle at a fire base for several hours, kept company by... read more »
It is difficult to imagine my life without Vietnam. I say this from the perspective of 30 years of experience with Asian affairs in the military, in government policy positions, in the private sector and academe. Vietnam entered my life... read more »
The Vietnam War scarred me more severely than any of the eight Purple Hearts I'd received during almost eight years of combat. Up to Vietnam, I'd always been a Don Quixote-like idealist who believed that those who served our... read more »
I started out trying to fulfill my parents wishes. They wanted me to become a physician, I wanted to be a musician/actor. I volunteered for the draft in 1966 because my best friend was drafted. The ARMY transformed me... read more »
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