I had always known my maternal Grandpa had fought in a war, but I could never remember which one and when I was younger I never bothered to ask or try to get information about it. When this assignment came along, I was actually really looking forward to the opportunity to learn all about his experiences and be able to record it on video. It was fascinating to hear about the stories of my Grandpa training to be a fighter pilot and narrowly escaping death a few times. I loved hearing about his friends and what they did in their free time. Especially now when we are in a war, I found it really interesting to hear a first hand account of how the military operates and how the soldiers commonly feel. I can’t even imagine having joined the military when I was 17 and leaving my family to fight in a foreign country for a country that didn’t even consider it a war. I think my Grandpa, like most soldiers, didn’t fight for the glory of being a soldier, but instead to protect our country and the world.

One interesting thing I learned about my Grandpa was that when he went to graduate school, he was about 32 and he already had a family. He didn’t hang out with other veterans, but instead his closest friends were a Catholic nun and an Indian woman. 

I am really grateful for this experience because I know my family and I will treasure the video for many years and I was able to become more knowledgeable about the man who has played such a huge role in my life as a role model.

I think it is interesting that back in the 1800s so much fraud occurred by members of the military who wanted to take advantage of the pensions office. I believe this had an influence on all future pensions for soldiers because it left a bitter taste in the government’s mouth which made them think they would always be taken advantage of, so they tightened the restrictions on giving out pensions. This is sad because the soldiers who fought hard and desperately need and deserve the benefits are being punished for the deeds of those who didn’t even fight at all. I was surprised to notice the almost joy with which the prediction was made that soon all the revolutionary soldiers would be in the grave and would no longer burden the pension system. What an awful way to think about American soldiers!

The question of morality in the military is important to contemplate. If the soldiers don’t know what they are fighting against or for, they have no right to fight and take lives. Mindless soldiers who just do whatever their commanding officer tells them are bad news for the military and for the American people. The Philippine Insurrection showed this and seemed to have opened the eyes of Americans to discuss the above stated topic.

It really disturbs me how the blame for communism had to be blamed on someone, so the American soldiers were chosen as the scapegoats. I can’t even imagine having risked my life for a country and its people who then turn their backs on me and accuse me of going against the very cause I was fighting for. Especially if I was a POW!! It seems like a national ignorance that caused this problem, or maybe the government’s desire to avoid paying pensions and giving benefits to the homecoming soldiers.

Reading about the atrocious conditions that the Korean soldiers underwent both during the war and after as veterans makes me mad. I can’t believe in such recent years the government treated them so awfully! Not giving them special clothing for radiation, giving them LSD tests, and denying any responsibility for the cancer that resulted from the atomic radiation… It makes me wonder what the government is doing to our soldiers now that we don’t know about that is inexcusable and inappropriate…

Violet Hill Gordon mentioned how cool and awe-inspiring it was to see so many women representing America in 1942 in Washington for the Women’s Memorial. When asked about discipline problems in the barracks, Gordon discussed lesbian activity and they did not know how to handle it…the commanding officer talked to the women under suspicion and although no one was discharged, there was some “reshuffling” of the barracks to solve the “problem.” She served in the WAAC, which then became the Women’s Army Corps and she was enlisted for the training period before being promoted to the second commanding officer-she served in England and France in WWII. One of Gordon’s closest friends convinced her to join the efforts…she was restless and wanted to do something adventurous. She had been worried that she wouldn’t be accepted into the military because she only had 2 years of college and not much experience. Regardless, she was accepted. There were only black women in her regiment because the military was not integrated yet. I think it is really awesome that this woman was interviewed because she mentioned later in the interview that she did not keep a diary but regretted it. Like many veterans, when the war was over she did not want to dwell on her experience, but rather wished to move on.

Regina Schiffman served in Korea as an Army Nurse. She served for 21 years in active duty. She made the point that she was pretty impressed by the field work that the nurses were able to do, including surgeries, with such rough circumstances. She seemed to insist that the activities for every day varied greatly, from the number of patients to the types of surgeries, and “there was no typical day.” Schiffman seems like she is pretty mellow and did not have a hard time talking about her experiences, so I wonder if she ever had to deal with psychological issues after the war. Maybe she was able to deal with it all because, like she said, “you were needed there.” I thought it was really interesting when, near the end of the interview, she voiced her opinion on the homecoming of veterans from Korea, Vietnam, and WWII, and how she didn’t see such a difference between Korea and Vietnam and didn’t understand why Vietnam vets were treated so awfully when the turnout of that war was similar to Korea.

Jeanne Holm was a major general in the air force in WWII. She discussed the equity between men and women in the military, and how women were allowed to go to the same schools as men and were paid equally and treated equally to men. She said this was almost like a present for the women back at home who were civilians. She fought for this equity because she believed women should be allowed to do any job they were capable of. She redesigned the uniforms, which she described as dreadful. Holm seems to me like a proactive and proud woman who fought for what she believed. In her words, “I tackled everything on my list.”Women who were married were able to be discharged, which Holm disagreed with and tried to change the policy so that women would have to finish their term before getting out. She encouraged women to go to court if they had policies they wanted to change for themselves.

For the veteran’s interview I interviewed my grandpa, who fought in the Korean War. Something he told me that I had not previously known (and that is in this article) is that the US was actually fighting under the United Nations military, not America. I thought it was interesting that General MacArthur promised that the troops would be home at a certain time, but he didn’t count on China becoming involved, which made them have to stay much longer than intended. Then the Truman administration wanted to pull the troops out and “abandoned plans to reunify Korea.” This proves that war is unpredictable and you can’t expect clear paths of victory. The government decided that the bodies of the soldiers would be brought back to the US to be buried because they weren’t sure if they would be permitted to have access to the cemeteries in Korea. Then there was the debate of what to put on the headstones because technically the conflict in Korea was not a war but a police action. In other words, Congress did not give permission to declare war, but in all other senses it was one. I think it is really sad that Korea is known as the “forgotten war” because all the men and women who fought and died or gave years of their lives to the cause surely would not want it to be forgotten. All the families of the deceased could not have forgotten.

When the article mentioned the memorial for Korean vets, it seemed to me like an easy way for the government to get out of building and funding a new memorial somewhere else, so they just combined it with the Punch Bowl for WWII in Hawaii. The major problem with the public’s opinion of this war was that it did not have a clear winner, so there was nothing to get excited or proud over. It is sad that the museum was not funded and did not succeed because the plans sounded really cool for it. It was cool though that Kennedy encouraged so strongly art from professionals.

After the Cold War (and the failure to win in Korea), the Vietnam War was not taken lightly by American citizens and many protests took place. It seems like a lot of government ideas for memorials and commemorative measures were brought up but then not followed through with due to lack of support monetarily or publicly. For example, the MIA day that was designed to remember all those who were lost in war never caught on.

I had never thought about the fact that the Vietnam soldiers were flown within a few hours from the war scene back to their homes in the US, while in previous wars troops had had time to detox and transition by taking a ship back home with all their fellow comrades.

I really enjoy reading about the Vietnam War because I never learned enough about it in high school, and I like the manner in which we are learning about it. I like learning about veterans because then the learning is more involved, based on a personal level instead of memorizing useless facts like dates and such.

Chapter 23 went hand in hand with Born on the Fourth of July in that it described the confusion of the young soldiers who were excited about the fighting for their country but once they got to Vietnam they didn’t know who their enemy was and lost perspective for why they were there. I found it really interesting that the US government was not concerned with human or financial costs of the war. Because the American economy was booming and lots of imports were coming in, the government did not think they could possibly spend so much money on such a seemingly trivial war in a tiny country with much less resources than America. It was also interesting reading about the role of the news and films in creating an image that the government approved of. Spectators in America could watch what they wanted for entertainment, and change the channel when it got too hard to watch, or too real. The part describing the My Lai Massacre was excruciating to read, I cannot comprehend that level of human cruelty and hatred. It was sad that this event gave such a bad reputation to all Vietnam vets when they came home.

Chapter 24 focused on how the government (VA) divided up their money to give to veterans and how they disbanded the theory that Agent Orange had any negative medical effect on them. Peckarsky, the man who worked for the VA and decided who was eligible for benefits and who wasn’t, swore that the dioxin TCDD was not harmful to humans and therefore could not be used for a claim to get money. Even when people like Paul Reutershan found clear evidence of being affected by Agent Orange, the government denied responsibility and refused to give him benefits.

Chapter 25 discussed the view of the Dow Chemical Plant that was responsible for the harmful Agent Orange chemical. They were worried and in jeopardy of being sued for large sums. I think they should have taken responsibility and helped the veterans out whom they permanently injured (or killed), instead of worrying about public image so much. I understand that it was tough to prove that the cancer or chloacne was caused by Agent Orange back then, and the company/government did not want to shovel out money because then all veterans would claim ill effects from Agent Orange, but they still should’ve looked more into the research.

Chapter 26 introduced Dr. Lavy, who wrote a book on the harmful effects of herbicides on humans. He said that most of the commotion of Agent Orange was brought on by the media and, although toxic, the chemical did not actually have much of an effect on the soldiers. It was such a battle between the government and the veterans on what they had the right to do and how to handle the whole problem of Agent Orange. It is sad that the government was so unwilling to help the veterans when they were clearly in need of benefits and medical care, regardless of the exact cause. It seems as though no matter how much evidence there was that Agent Orange did in fact have negative effects on soldiers, the government was more concerned with money than helping. It says that $35 million would have been spent each year if they had agreed to give benefits to those injured soldiers, so clearly they would rather lie and be corrupt than pay that much money to help the men who fought for them.

In Chapter 27, the veterans decided to do a law suit because they were still suffering from the effects of Agent Orange years after the major debates ended. They wanted monetary compensation, but this brought up a new problem with the government, in the form of lawyers. The government didn’t like the veterans to have lawyers, probably because they knew that it would be hard to win against a professional who supported veterans. The Ranch Hand study backfired in the government’s face because it proved that those who had handled the Agent Orange directly had higher rates of cancer. The veterans ended up compromising the case, with only receiving about $5700. 

The Vietnam War in general took a toll on America, the soldiers, and Vietnam. Everyone involved went through hard times and in most cases did not get much out of the experiences.

Ron Kovic is such a graphic author in how he describes the hospitals he stays in, the war demonstrations he partakes in, and his own humiliations in general. While reading the second half of his book, I kept thinking about what he was thinking when he wrote it. Was he crying from remembering the pain and sorrow he felt? Was he enraged and wanting to rebel against the government while writing about his treatment in the hospitals and demonstrations? Why was he so open about his humiliation? If it was me, I would have left about half of those experiences out of the book because I wouldn’t want other people to know about them. 

I thought the part about him going to Mexico was really sad because it reveals so clearly his loneliness and desperation. I couldn’t believe the scene where he is attacked, beaten, and arrested for demonstrating by men who had also fought in Vietnam. It was good that he had gotten so involved in speaking out against the war and discouraging high schoolers from joining the military. Also, it was nice that he grew so close to the other vets in California and considered them brothers. The part about Helen was confusing to me because it seemed like it was everything he had wanted and prayed for, a woman to love him and marry him and accept him the way he was. I don’t understand why he just gave her up for no apparent reason so he could be alone, which he obviously didn’t really want.

This book immediately captured my attention and I could not put the book down until the end of part 1. The scenes were so clearly depicted, it was based on emotion and not fact, and I was eager to find out what war it was, how the narrator would survive, and if he would be sent home. I thought the part in the hospital was very disturbing and when he was talking about the nurse and doctor and corpsman joking around about football I was disgusted. They seemed to only be doing their job without any compassion or feelings towards their patients who were dying in front of them. It was awful to read about the poor young people who were screaming for their mothers and bleeding out of every direction. This book is so far one of the most captivating I have ever read, and I look forward to reading more.

I think the priest was right when he told the man that he would be alone in his learning about his wound/disability and how often times no one would want to hear about what he was going through. This seems to be a theme of most veterans in general, and not just about wounds but the entire war experience. Based on what we have studied thus far, many veterans were treated as civilians when they came back from the war and no one understood what they had been through, nor were they interested in trying to understand. I noticed the switch from first person to third and it confuses me a little because I don’t know if the author is still talking about himself or some other person.

The chapter about the hospital where he stays once he gets back home is repulsive. Urine on the floor, rats, puke, and careless nurses and caretakers. The poor veterans are treated awfully and there is no one for them to go to for help or to talk to. The narrator is coming to terms (hesitantly) with the fact that he will never feel below his chest again, and he is trying to figure out why this has happened to him. He seems so alone and scared and it makes me angry at the government for not taking better care of the men and women who fought for their country.

He reminisces about when he was a young boy and played outside all the time; baseball, running, jumping fences. He said he was so proud to share a birthday with America. He went into detail about his childhood friends who he kept throughout high school and about going through puberty. Then he described his dream to be a marine and how they were so romanticized in movies and in real life. This all shows his innocence and naivety before he went to war, which is really sad and reminds me of how young he really was.

The part when he actually gets to the Marine training reminded me of a Jewish concentration camp, with their heads being shaved and being forced into a communal shower without knowing what was happening and being humiliated and naked. I was surprised that he said he would stick through it no matter what it took because the conditions were so rough and discouraging that I would expect at least some thoughts of regret or uncertainty. The Marines are designed to break you of humanity pretty much and build you back up to be a killing machine, which is evident in the chapter. I think the ending of part 3 depicts the confusion and fear that the boys encountered while being trained…it also reminds me of war itself, which makes it obvious that that’s the whole point of it.

In WWII, the role of black soldiers grew significantly as civil rights movements were becoming more popular. Blacks were now accepted as soldiers, officers, and higher ranking fighters than just working in the service areas like food and cleaning. They were now trusted with guns and responsibility. This was interesting to me because when I interviewed my grandpa about the Korean War, he said there was one black soldier in his squadron and the other blacks he saw were working in the ship’s maintenance areas. 

The role of women started off being unclear and similar to the past wars, with women not being widely accepted as military participants. Eventually, with the introduction of the WASPs and WAC, women began to gain status in the military. They were notorious for being good aviators. These women fought next to the male soldiers and had the same duties and many of the same experiences, yet when they returned home they were treated with much less respect. Women were generally well respected among their male comrades, but the government did not recognize them as veterans. Most of the women did volunteer work after their service. The veteran’s hospitals were apparently disgusting, with poor staffing and inadequate methods. They were overcrowded and understaffed.

After Roosevelt died, Truman changed things for veterans by putting a WWII vet in control of the hospitals for veterans. Veteran’s groups like the American Legion and the VA were very popular at this point, but then the fear of communism began to infiltrate the country and these groups were seen as potential threats and breeding grounds for communists.

This book is telling about how WWII was an improvement from WWI in that the medicine was more advanced and the survival rates for the wounded were higher. This was due to the introduction of penicillin and other drugs, and more advanced training of the surgeons who treated the wounded. At the same time, WWII had the highest casualty rate of any war for the US in history and had the most deadly combat. The average combatant did not see the enemy while fighting because the units were so spread out, with only 50 soldiers per square mile. This contributed to a feeling of isolation that messed with the soldiers heads and caused psychological problems. The funny thing was that before men were sent to war, they would be checked for signs of potential psychological problems and would be deferred if they came up positive. Of course, the reason most soldiers had psychological trauma was because of what they faced during the war, not before.

Many veteran’s groups arose in America to aid the returning soldiers, such as the Veteran’s Administration, which was the largest independent agency in the federal government, the American Legion, and the Retraining and Reemployment Administration. These groups helped veterans find jobs, readjust into civilian life, and provide professional help for those with psychiatric problems. 

The GI Bill provided for education for the veterans, but they found that the topics taught were often not stimulating enough or did not have much relevance to the intellectual needs of the veterans. This called for a revision of the courses offered at many schools, along with new teaching styles.

Veterans would reminisce about the war days as being the most exhilarating experience of their lives that they would remember forever. They continued being involved with war interests, such as local VFW reunions and random war memorabilia like pins and caps. Understandably, most veterans did not fully recover from the effects of the war and dealt with their emotions by spending time with other veterans who understood their sorrows.

Paul Fussell talks about how no one seems to care that so many soldiers are dying in war because they are mostly the lower class citizens who are not educated and have no status in America anyway. He says it is a eugenics movement, or survival of the fittest. He seems to be pretty bitter by this point about the war, the American civilians, and the soldiers/officers he is fighting with. There is a quote from a British field marshall that says how lazy, untrained, and uncourageous the US troops are and how their leadership is terrible, as well as the soldiers’ fighting techniques. I found it really interesting how he was so divergent from teamwork and said he hated it when people tried to convince him that all human beings are the same.

Fussell later began talking about returning from the war and going to Harvard University, living alone in a rented room. He was determined to make this college experience different from his first, and he was a more serious student who improved academically. About 70% of the graduate class were veterans, and the transition into college from the military was fairly easy for them. They tended to discriminate by the amount of danger that other veterans had encountered, and those who were involved in less threatening environments were often rejected.

As Fussell grew older, he became more emotional and felt sympathy for all the families that would never be fully healed from their losses during the war. He recognized that the soldiers were not the only ones who had suffered greatly during the war and would continue to long after it was over.