VC: Andrews, right?
This post has nothing to do with my travels. Well, trangentially, if anything.
I was driving along Hwy 101 in the Olympic Peninsula recently, and I was talking to myself (as often happens with solo travelers). It occured to me I could be rattling off utter nonsense, and no one would be the wiser. So, I started rattling off some nonsense words, just for the fun of it. That led me to wonder how much I knew about the Vietnam War. I have no idea why this topic in particular sprang up. I think some of the nonsense words may have sounded like a term from that war.
So, I began to brainstorm: What facts did I know about the Vietnam War? Here's what I came up with. (I did not use the Internet or any resource books.) It's not impressive.
* South Vietnam was communist and wanted North Vietnam to be communist, too.
* It started for the U.S. when Kennedy sent some troops over in 1963 to help settle things down in the region. (I got this from the movie "Dogfight.")
* The draft was established, leading folks to burn draft cards and flee to Canada (I know this in part from the musical "Hair")
* Vietcong was the name for the ... bad guys?
* The Ho Chi Minh trail was ... something. (You could be on the "right side" of the HCM trail, as Baby's sister remarked to her in the movie "Dirty Dancing")
* Ho Chi Minh was a leader.
* Our troops trained in Parris Island (I learned this from the Billy Joel song).
* It was a "dirty little war," with U.S. troops confounded by all the foreign, jungle-like terrain. (Quote from "Hair")
* U.S. troops burned villages, killing women and children (I've seen this in lots of movies)
* Charlie was the name for ... the enemy?
* Prostitution was rampant among Vietnamese women and U.S. soldiers (got this from "Miss Saigon" as well as movies)
* Little babies were born who had American fathers and Vietnamese mothers.
* The South won the war, and U.S. troops eventually withdrew.
* It ended sometime in the early 1970s -- 73, maybe? I think Ford was president. (I know this because our family was in Canada from 1967-1973. Coincidence? Hmmmm)
* The rock opera "Hair" was written in direct response to the war.
* Oliver Stone commented on it in his movie "Platoon." That was his, right?
* Some South Vietnamese fled the country and came to the U.S. (A girl in my high school had done this with her family.)
OK. So that's about the extent of it. You'd never have gotten this glimpse into my ignorant mind if I were sleeping like I should be at 1:18 a.m.
Good night.
I was driving along Hwy 101 in the Olympic Peninsula recently, and I was talking to myself (as often happens with solo travelers). It occured to me I could be rattling off utter nonsense, and no one would be the wiser. So, I started rattling off some nonsense words, just for the fun of it. That led me to wonder how much I knew about the Vietnam War. I have no idea why this topic in particular sprang up. I think some of the nonsense words may have sounded like a term from that war.
So, I began to brainstorm: What facts did I know about the Vietnam War? Here's what I came up with. (I did not use the Internet or any resource books.) It's not impressive.
* South Vietnam was communist and wanted North Vietnam to be communist, too.
* It started for the U.S. when Kennedy sent some troops over in 1963 to help settle things down in the region. (I got this from the movie "Dogfight.")
* The draft was established, leading folks to burn draft cards and flee to Canada (I know this in part from the musical "Hair")
* Vietcong was the name for the ... bad guys?
* The Ho Chi Minh trail was ... something. (You could be on the "right side" of the HCM trail, as Baby's sister remarked to her in the movie "Dirty Dancing")
* Ho Chi Minh was a leader.
* Our troops trained in Parris Island (I learned this from the Billy Joel song).
* It was a "dirty little war," with U.S. troops confounded by all the foreign, jungle-like terrain. (Quote from "Hair")
* U.S. troops burned villages, killing women and children (I've seen this in lots of movies)
* Charlie was the name for ... the enemy?
* Prostitution was rampant among Vietnamese women and U.S. soldiers (got this from "Miss Saigon" as well as movies)
* Little babies were born who had American fathers and Vietnamese mothers.
* The South won the war, and U.S. troops eventually withdrew.
* It ended sometime in the early 1970s -- 73, maybe? I think Ford was president. (I know this because our family was in Canada from 1967-1973. Coincidence? Hmmmm)
* The rock opera "Hair" was written in direct response to the war.
* Oliver Stone commented on it in his movie "Platoon." That was his, right?
* Some South Vietnamese fled the country and came to the U.S. (A girl in my high school had done this with her family.)
OK. So that's about the extent of it. You'd never have gotten this glimpse into my ignorant mind if I were sleeping like I should be at 1:18 a.m.
Good night.
posted by Danielle P at 5:21 AM
2 Comments:
Hi Danielle:
Thanks for contacting me. I wish you had done it sooner. I see you passed through IND which is close to Ohio and I could have shown you the sights here in Ohio. We have the world's largest basket among other things! I have enjoyed getting caught up with you through this blog for the past few months, but why are you doing all this? What has put you "on the run?"
I see now that I have placed my questioning comments above within the very serious subject of your Vietnam ramblings. I don't mean to be insensitive, so I will comment on my connection to Vietnam as well. I have always gotten the details for the Vietnam Conflict confused with the Korean Conflict. I believe that in Korea we were promoting the South instead of the North. My dad was a Vietnam Vet, but he never wanted to talk about the horrors he saw over there...war sucks, but we will start one over the smallest detail or disagreement. My dad is dead now, most likely due to what he was exposed to in Vietnam. I miss getting to know him as a fellow adult instead of as my dad to whom I had nothing to say and with whom I had no connection. His biggest influence on me was his death which sent me on my own cross-country journey of discovery back in 2001 and again in 2002, 2003, 2004 and so on... I am still "undiscovered." And I still miss my dad.
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