The Vietnam War 1884
The
Vietnam War in 1864 was long forgotten and over for many Americans, the
following article by Josh Hochgesang, Tracye Lawyer, and Toby
Stevenson explains the psychological aspects that the war had on people especially
the soldiers.
“During the war, you were
exposed to a lot of stress, confusion, anxiety, pain, and hatred. Then you were sent back home with no
readjustment to the lifestyle in the states, no deprogramming of what you
learned from the military, and no "welcome home" parades. You are portrayed to the public as a crazed
psychopathic killer with no morals or control over your aggression. You find that there's nobody you can talk to
or who can understand what you've been through, not even your family.”[1]
The
quote above examines the readjustment for the soldiers from the war and
returning home, it explains how there was no assistance or help for the men,
and making their transition harder. The Vietnam War is still viewed as one of
the worst wars to have ever happened; this attitude is unlikely to change. The article also explains how Post Traumatic
Stress Disorder (PTSD), was not taken seriously until the 1980’s; ‘when many
Vietnam veterans were complaining of similar symptoms.’
The war had an extraordinary affect across the nation, a massive amount of 'fifty-eight thousand people were killed', along with 'two thousand captured', and 'three hundred and fifty thousand wounded', it is not surprising that people in America still feels the effects of this.
The Vietnam War was expressed in many films during the 80's, in particular, Platoon (1886).
Compared
to other war films, the director does not portray US soldiers as victims
throughout. A scene in the film includes the My Lai Massacre, it shows American
soldiers beating Vietnamese civilians, also shooting them, and many raped young
women. This was a triumph and shows how attitudes towards the Vietnam War were not
patriotic at all. Also films like Good Morning Vietnam (1987) which took a different approach more a comedy starring Robin Williams. The following video clip is a scene from Platoon which shows the invasion of a Vietnamese village, known as the My Lai Massacre which is very distressing to watch. This film just amplifies the corruptness of the Vietnam War and how soldiers looked like they did not really know what they were doing, as we see a quarrel between soldiers. The films exemplifies peoples attitudes of the war, attitudes that will never be proud and patriotic.
http://movieunclaimed.com/acrossthefence/index.php/mnu-vietnam/mnu-vietnam-mia
The website above talks about missing soldiers in action from the Vietnam War; ‘According to the Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office there are still 1,681 U.S. servicemen still unaccounted for from the Vietnam War.’
The website above talks about missing soldiers in action from the Vietnam War; ‘According to the Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office there are still 1,681 U.S. servicemen still unaccounted for from the Vietnam War.’
An American wrote
in 1994, "It is not conspiracy theory, not paranoid myth, not Rambo
fantasy. It is only hard evidence of a national disgrace: American prisoners
were left behind at the end of the Vietnam War. They were abandoned because six
presidents and official Washington could not admit their guilty secret. They
were forgotten because the press and most Americans turned away from all things
that reminded them of Vietnam."
The clip below shows the trailer for a documentary called Unclaimed (2014):
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