Journal Entry 1:
News Report from Saigon Vietnam. U.S. Embassy
This is John Wells reporting from the U.S embassy in Saigon. We have just got word from the military, that they will be evacuating U.S forces out of Saigon. There has been multiple small excursions across the city. The Viet Cong forces are using Guerrilla warfare as their primary tactic. Leaving American soldiers defenseless against their attacks. U.S. soldiers have know idea where the North Viet Cong is hiding or attacking from. There is complete confusion amongst U.S. forces. Our military leaders have no idea on the enemy's where abouts. Thousands of American soldiers have already died protecting this city and from the looks of it, they won’t be able to hold back the Communist Viet Cong for long. They are beginning to evacuate U.S. citizens. I believe they are evacuating U.S. politicians first, then American civilians, soldiers next and then rescue as many South Vietnamese citizens as they can. But from the looks of it, there won’t be much saving since there is a limited amount of helicopters and too many people. I will return in five minutes with more information on this tragic event happening in Saigon. This is John Wells reporting from the U.S. Embassy in Saigon.
This is John Wells reporting from the U.S embassy in Saigon. We have just got word from the military, that they will be evacuating U.S forces out of Saigon. There has been multiple small excursions across the city. The Viet Cong forces are using Guerrilla warfare as their primary tactic. Leaving American soldiers defenseless against their attacks. U.S. soldiers have know idea where the North Viet Cong is hiding or attacking from. There is complete confusion amongst U.S. forces. Our military leaders have no idea on the enemy's where abouts. Thousands of American soldiers have already died protecting this city and from the looks of it, they won’t be able to hold back the Communist Viet Cong for long. They are beginning to evacuate U.S. citizens. I believe they are evacuating U.S. politicians first, then American civilians, soldiers next and then rescue as many South Vietnamese citizens as they can. But from the looks of it, there won’t be much saving since there is a limited amount of helicopters and too many people. I will return in five minutes with more information on this tragic event happening in Saigon. This is John Wells reporting from the U.S. Embassy in Saigon.
Journal Entry 2:
Dear Mom and Dad,
Mom and Dad………. if you are receiving this letter then i just wanted to let you know that, I will not be returning home. I wrote this letter so that you, my parents, will know how I felt about my life as your eldest son. I just wanted to let you both know that I lived a great life, you both were always there for me.. When I was sad, you were there asking why and how could you guys cheer me up. When I was confused, you both were there ready to explain it for me no matter how long it took. When I was being a pain, you guys waited patiently until I was ready for reason. I lived a great life. You both provided for me and taught me lessons about life and what life is about. Mom you taught me love, patience, kindness. Dad you taught me how hard work pays for itself, how to provide for a family, and how to be a strong and nice man. I thank you both from the bottom of my heart. No words have been created to describe how thankful I truly am of you guys. You guys taught me everything I wanted to know and more. To bad I couldn’t go to college and become a teacher. Dad you always taught me how important this country is and how our future lies with our youth. I wanted to be a high school teacher, so I could mold the young minds of America and help them achieve their goals and change the world. A smart youth equals a promising and fortunate future. Our government had a different career in mind for me. They thought I’d suit better as a private in the 56 battalion stationed in South Vietnam. But the draft wasn’t completely horrible, I met some good friends and got to travel to the other side of the world. At least I got to travel before I could die. Even though I’m here against my will the scenery is beautiful. When the sun rises over the Vietnam mountains with its bright orange color tinge, the birds fly in the sky, and there is no shooting. Vietnam is quite beautiful. I wish you could see it. Its like a whole other world. Thank you guys for being there all my life. Caring and loving me all my life. Even though I lived 19 years. I would take none of them back. Now it’s my turn to watch over you both. I’ll always be watching over you in heaven.
Forever and always,
your son,
Steven Walker
Mom and Dad………. if you are receiving this letter then i just wanted to let you know that, I will not be returning home. I wrote this letter so that you, my parents, will know how I felt about my life as your eldest son. I just wanted to let you both know that I lived a great life, you both were always there for me.. When I was sad, you were there asking why and how could you guys cheer me up. When I was confused, you both were there ready to explain it for me no matter how long it took. When I was being a pain, you guys waited patiently until I was ready for reason. I lived a great life. You both provided for me and taught me lessons about life and what life is about. Mom you taught me love, patience, kindness. Dad you taught me how hard work pays for itself, how to provide for a family, and how to be a strong and nice man. I thank you both from the bottom of my heart. No words have been created to describe how thankful I truly am of you guys. You guys taught me everything I wanted to know and more. To bad I couldn’t go to college and become a teacher. Dad you always taught me how important this country is and how our future lies with our youth. I wanted to be a high school teacher, so I could mold the young minds of America and help them achieve their goals and change the world. A smart youth equals a promising and fortunate future. Our government had a different career in mind for me. They thought I’d suit better as a private in the 56 battalion stationed in South Vietnam. But the draft wasn’t completely horrible, I met some good friends and got to travel to the other side of the world. At least I got to travel before I could die. Even though I’m here against my will the scenery is beautiful. When the sun rises over the Vietnam mountains with its bright orange color tinge, the birds fly in the sky, and there is no shooting. Vietnam is quite beautiful. I wish you could see it. Its like a whole other world. Thank you guys for being there all my life. Caring and loving me all my life. Even though I lived 19 years. I would take none of them back. Now it’s my turn to watch over you both. I’ll always be watching over you in heaven.
Forever and always,
your son,
Steven Walker
evening America
Interviewer: Hello folks, I’m John Wiley and I’m here with Sergeant Brian. He is a Vietnam veteran and has been honorably discharged from duty. He has called in into this news station to tell us his story on the Vietnam War and what he thinks about the war.
Sergeant Brian: Hello America. I've experienced a lot of events in Vietnam.
I: Now Brian i’ll ask the questions and answer them with truth through your experience.
B: Yes sir. You run the show. I'm just here to describe and tell my story in Vietnam
I: Okay. First question. What was your experience over in Vietnam?
B: Horrible. It was a legit hell. I had no intention going there in the first place and I never adapted to the environment. It was either blistering hot or pouring rain. We had no advantage on the enemy. We come only return fire and defend ourselves because we where foreign to the enemy environment. I lost several of my brothers in that war. I stood over most of them while they bleed out right in front of me. I saw the fear and misery in their eyes. Just evening thinking about it makes my stomach curl. I have immense guilt on why I was the only one in my squad to survive Vietnam. This war was more than any nightmare. It was Hell.
I: Sorry to hear about your fallen brothers Brian. It must be hard to live with the guilt.
B: It gets harder the more I think about it
I: Sorry I asked
B: Its okay. The public needs to know the truth
I: Okay. But you don’t have to answer if the question bothers you. I do not want to cross any lines……. The second question have you ever heard about the Vietnam conflict before you were stationed in Vietnam?
B: No. Before i was drafted into the military, I never even heard of Vietnam. I couldn’t even find it on a world map. The only thing I knew was that Vietnam was in Asia. When I was flown over and stationed in Vietnam, it was like a foreign world to me. Their history, culture, beliefs and customs were all a mystery to me. Basically our government sent me over to a place I’ve never heard of and knew nothing about it. Maybe if they educated me about the country I would’ve understanded the conflict a little bit better. The only thing they told me was the North Vietnamese were Communist and I was to protect Democratic South Vietnam.
I: Wow. The lack on information given to you as an American soldier stuns me. Why didn't the government provide more information on Vietnam to soldiers? These are good questions that I would like answered for you Sergeant Brian.
B: I would like to too John.
I: Next question. Do you think the United States involvement in Vietnam was necessary?
B: That's a difficult question to answer John. Their are so many answers and opinions to that question.(pause) I think at the begin when the spread of Communism was present are involvement was necessary because I personally believe Soviet Communism is a threat to American Democracy. So us going there to stop the Communist North Vietnamese from over running the Democratic South was a good idea. But as time progressed and our casualties began dramatically increasing we should’ve begun to think of other options. We were in a completely foreign environment, we were defenseless against Viet Congs guerilla attacks because we could never find their trails and never knew when they would attack. The only thing we could do over there was retaliate against their attacks. We could never get ahead of them and attack them. Which is another crucial attribute in a war. Also, after years of no progress and no territorial gain, the body count kept rising. I think we sent to many soldiers over to combat the North. We were defending a country that was barely standing. They had little no no government at all. They had several small governments that would fall and crumble. They could never install a strong democratic government. So supporting such a weak government made me begin questioning our purpose in South Vietnam.
I: I think we shouldn’t of been in Vietnam at all. I think we lost too many people to a country that could barely support its own.
B: You say that now because you already know how high the casualties are and what we lost. At first the United States had a good intention. They believe that every country should have their own voice in the type of government the want. They didn’t want Communism so we aided them to combat the communist North Vietnam. But after awhile were no progress was made and the body count was rapidly rising we should've began considering other options.
I: I agree with you Brain. It stinks that so many people have to lose their lives for nothing. We didn't win the war. We were chased out of South Vietnam due to the Tet offensive. All of those small and rapid attacks caught us off guard and we left South Vietnam to defend for themselves. Within a couple of days with our withdrawal South Vietnam collapsed. All of those lives and sacrifices made to try to win the war are wasted. They ended up dying for a cause they didn’t even believe in or sign up for.
B: All we can do now is rebuild as a nation, and make sure all of those sacrifices and lives wasn’t in vain.
I: We’d like to thank Sergeant Brain for appearing on this show tonight and answering some questions about his experience in Vietnam. Like Brain already said, we can’t change our past but we can rebuild and look toward the future to prevent this event from happening again. After this quick commercial break we'll talk about the Anti War movement and their influence at home. See you soon folks! Don’t move of that couch!
Sergeant Brian: Hello America. I've experienced a lot of events in Vietnam.
I: Now Brian i’ll ask the questions and answer them with truth through your experience.
B: Yes sir. You run the show. I'm just here to describe and tell my story in Vietnam
I: Okay. First question. What was your experience over in Vietnam?
B: Horrible. It was a legit hell. I had no intention going there in the first place and I never adapted to the environment. It was either blistering hot or pouring rain. We had no advantage on the enemy. We come only return fire and defend ourselves because we where foreign to the enemy environment. I lost several of my brothers in that war. I stood over most of them while they bleed out right in front of me. I saw the fear and misery in their eyes. Just evening thinking about it makes my stomach curl. I have immense guilt on why I was the only one in my squad to survive Vietnam. This war was more than any nightmare. It was Hell.
I: Sorry to hear about your fallen brothers Brian. It must be hard to live with the guilt.
B: It gets harder the more I think about it
I: Sorry I asked
B: Its okay. The public needs to know the truth
I: Okay. But you don’t have to answer if the question bothers you. I do not want to cross any lines……. The second question have you ever heard about the Vietnam conflict before you were stationed in Vietnam?
B: No. Before i was drafted into the military, I never even heard of Vietnam. I couldn’t even find it on a world map. The only thing I knew was that Vietnam was in Asia. When I was flown over and stationed in Vietnam, it was like a foreign world to me. Their history, culture, beliefs and customs were all a mystery to me. Basically our government sent me over to a place I’ve never heard of and knew nothing about it. Maybe if they educated me about the country I would’ve understanded the conflict a little bit better. The only thing they told me was the North Vietnamese were Communist and I was to protect Democratic South Vietnam.
I: Wow. The lack on information given to you as an American soldier stuns me. Why didn't the government provide more information on Vietnam to soldiers? These are good questions that I would like answered for you Sergeant Brian.
B: I would like to too John.
I: Next question. Do you think the United States involvement in Vietnam was necessary?
B: That's a difficult question to answer John. Their are so many answers and opinions to that question.(pause) I think at the begin when the spread of Communism was present are involvement was necessary because I personally believe Soviet Communism is a threat to American Democracy. So us going there to stop the Communist North Vietnamese from over running the Democratic South was a good idea. But as time progressed and our casualties began dramatically increasing we should’ve begun to think of other options. We were in a completely foreign environment, we were defenseless against Viet Congs guerilla attacks because we could never find their trails and never knew when they would attack. The only thing we could do over there was retaliate against their attacks. We could never get ahead of them and attack them. Which is another crucial attribute in a war. Also, after years of no progress and no territorial gain, the body count kept rising. I think we sent to many soldiers over to combat the North. We were defending a country that was barely standing. They had little no no government at all. They had several small governments that would fall and crumble. They could never install a strong democratic government. So supporting such a weak government made me begin questioning our purpose in South Vietnam.
I: I think we shouldn’t of been in Vietnam at all. I think we lost too many people to a country that could barely support its own.
B: You say that now because you already know how high the casualties are and what we lost. At first the United States had a good intention. They believe that every country should have their own voice in the type of government the want. They didn’t want Communism so we aided them to combat the communist North Vietnam. But after awhile were no progress was made and the body count was rapidly rising we should've began considering other options.
I: I agree with you Brain. It stinks that so many people have to lose their lives for nothing. We didn't win the war. We were chased out of South Vietnam due to the Tet offensive. All of those small and rapid attacks caught us off guard and we left South Vietnam to defend for themselves. Within a couple of days with our withdrawal South Vietnam collapsed. All of those lives and sacrifices made to try to win the war are wasted. They ended up dying for a cause they didn’t even believe in or sign up for.
B: All we can do now is rebuild as a nation, and make sure all of those sacrifices and lives wasn’t in vain.
I: We’d like to thank Sergeant Brain for appearing on this show tonight and answering some questions about his experience in Vietnam. Like Brain already said, we can’t change our past but we can rebuild and look toward the future to prevent this event from happening again. After this quick commercial break we'll talk about the Anti War movement and their influence at home. See you soon folks! Don’t move of that couch!