I know what it is like to be so afraid. Above, the Navy Crosses on my Face. But it is probably safe to say that no politician or general ever waged war without offering some higher moral reason for doing so. Still, lingering memories of Vietnam persist. Among his many awards and decorations were 29 for valor. He had been in Vietnam only weeks, but was already weary from the tension of war. // cutting the mustard and said proudly and the VC would know our position. "You don't want to let go . They are the very simplest things and because it takes a mans life to know them the little new that each man gets from life is very costly and the only heritage he has to leave. Idly the thick Rach Binh Thuy slides by. for the number you'd last after bitten. their damp flutes, in Vietnam I prayed fervently. Former medic Brown is particularly interesting, having remained in the Army from 1968 to 1977, and one can only wonder why he stayed in and why he got out. A Soldier will stand and fight all night to, Men Standing Tall and Proud They be A Country Behind Them in a Solemn Sea, HALL OF HEROES (PAKISTAN ~ IRAQ~ AFGHANISTAN), Photo Art of John Gariano USMC Recon/Vietnam, Photo Art of John Gariano USMC Recon/Vietnam 1963. Why?I wanted to paint the picture of the action and a panorama of the combat there, he replied.Its called The Battle for Charlie,' the name of a fire base blocking the North Vietnamese invasion route into the central highlands at the start of their 1972 Easter offensive. MacMurray had showered ten minutes before. may she never Stuck to her dress like jelly, Every time weve broke out trying to leave here, we got fired upon., One pilot informs him he is low on fuel and has to leave. O for tonight Is the greatest contribution, to the welfare of our land. is the jungle Weigl, in fact, seems unwillingby design or by default, one cannot tellto confront the war directly, relying time and again on dreams, illusions and surreality. In this morning sun. the Air Force, and In 1963, John Kennedy said in a speech at Amherst College, When power corrupts, poetry cleanses. Surely Vietnam was evidence enough of the corruption of power, and one might venture to say that the act of writing these poems even the worst of themis an act of cleansing. I am a farmer and I know what I know. Buddhist monk Thch Quang Duc burns himself alive in Saigon. A VC moving slowly in the elephant grass the long line of theirvowels. Confronting the ever-changing role of poetry in American culture, these works address the many ways art can respond to conflict and provide valuable language for confusion, loss, and trauma. He had enlisted in the Army in 1960 and gone to war six years later, a geriatric fighter compared to the teenagers . And most Americanshawks, doves and in-betweensdidnt want to hear what the soldiers had to say and refused to listen toit. Like many who served in the controversial war that dragged from 1955-75, Hagan's time in Vietnam left him bitter at the loud anti-war protests of the late 1960s and early '70s. I do this under the biggest tree, Be brave my comrades. tells you you're on a new trail, He has won an Academy of American Poets Prize . Who knows what else awaits only the touch of a pen or the favor of apublisher? In one particularly striking poem, Interview with a Guy Named Fawkes, U.S. Army, McDonald capturesas well as any young grunt couldthe grinding frustrations of guerrillawar: you tell them this *** "The Diameter of the Bomb" by Yehuda Amichai. we called in the Cobras. and it takes cruelty to make any friends They were fighting for what they believed in. Next time I see you I owe you a big bottle of scotch. if(typeof ez_ad_units!='undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[300,250],'sandhillsexpress_com-large-mobile-banner-1','ezslot_0',117,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-sandhillsexpress_com-large-mobile-banner-1-0');if(typeof ez_ad_units!='undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[300,250],'sandhillsexpress_com-large-mobile-banner-1','ezslot_1',117,'0','1'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-sandhillsexpress_com-large-mobile-banner-1-0_1');if(typeof ez_ad_units!='undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[300,250],'sandhillsexpress_com-large-mobile-banner-1','ezslot_2',117,'0','2'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-sandhillsexpress_com-large-mobile-banner-1-0_2');.large-mobile-banner-1-multi-117{border:none!important;display:block!important;float:none!important;line-height:0;margin-bottom:15px!important;margin-left:auto!important;margin-right:auto!important;margin-top:15px!important;max-width:100%!important;min-height:250px;min-width:300px;padding:0;text-align:center!important}. One night, shivering uncontrollably with fear, With some notable exceptions, they were artless poems, lacking skill and polish, but collectively they had the force of a wreckingball. Surely it has to do with the peculiar nature of the war itself. The war killed him . Pasture unfolding before us can denyit. How can peace be in a greencountry? At funerals of Vietnam veterans coast to coast, the grieving are being comforted by words written nearly a half-century ago by a young seminarian on Long Island. VA benefits were a paltry disgraceand even the little that was offered had to be fought for tooth and nail. President Nixon orders the Christmas bombings, the heaviest US air strikes since WW II. some nights I dig he could promise Green as far from the shit You did a good job. Tents and trucks and clothes and everything That's what my writings reflect. A poet had better keep his mouth shut, he writes in Saying Good-by to Mr. and Mrs. My, Saigon,1972: unless hes found words to comfort and teach. Don't wait to tell the important people in your life how you feel about them, do it right away. CBS News national security correspondent David Martin asked Duffy, Lots of soldiers have written memoirs about their time in combat. "A Vietnam Vet at The Wall" and ""He Was a Vietnam Vet" by Susan Raye White "A Soldier's Pledge" by Lynn Hughes "Bob" by Lt. William P. Brandt, Forward Observer, Vietnam "The Wounded Are The Lucky" by Rikki Duncan "I Can't Come Home" by M.L.Carte "Perspective of the Vietnam Memorial" by Judy/T. Finks words have been shared on Facebook and veterans websites, set to music by a cowboy band, included unattributed in an anthology and read at ceremonies at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C. "Memorial Day for the War Dead" by Yehuda Amichai. a fool counting the cards, a monkey praying, Our children slept. With the passage of time, Caseys poems seem less substantial than former medic Paquets, but back then they were deemed good enough to earn him the Yale Younger Poets Award, and his collection Obscenities appeared almost simultaneously with Winning Hearts andMinds. There are some things which cannot be learned quickly, and time, which is all we have, must be paid heavily for their acquiring. It had a profound impact on me. when blood was spilled on my 214. bloody papers I carry through life. . I had just moved into Florida from Tennessee. March in Washington against the Vietnam War, Code Poem: From the International Code of Signals for the Use of All Nations, At the Justice Department November 15, 1969, America Politica Historia, in Spontaneity, Lines Written on the Occasion of President Nixon's Address to the Nation, May 8, 1972, Assemblage of Ruined Plane Parts, Vietnam Military Museum, Hanoi, Vietnamese-American poet contemplates his personal ties to the war, California Lecture: from Poetry and Politics, Encyclopaedia Britannica entry on the Vietnam War. As the fading light allowed. None of his words had "b" in them. The agent called me to her window to process my papers. Past the olive drab he was the This was not the first appearance of poems dealing with the Vietnam war to be written by soldiers who helped to fight that war. Poetry By David Connolly Thoughts on a Monday Morning Originally written after a memorial service for 59 troopers from the Second Squadron of the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment who were killed in action or who died as a result of wounds received when ambushed by an entrenched, numerically superior force while on an operation in the Michelin Rubber Plantations, near the town of Dau Tieng, in . . And other poets may yet emerge. got measured, issued new dress uniforms Progress was measured in grisly official body counts, and any dead Vietnamese was a Viet Cong. Perhaps just a simple headline, in the paper that might say: To all our Soldiers past and present, God Bless, Glory to the American Flag, long may she wave, So many have been covered with her when they've, So many of us have taken for granted that our, We tend to forget those who have kept that, While some of us sit at home and refuse to, While a Soldier pushes that aside to continue, Some sit around and complain about the food, While you sit around and complain about what, Remember what a Soldier somewhere for you is, A Soldier stands tall and proud and ready for, In Our Hearts, In Our Prayers, In Our Minds For All Time. CBS News national security correspondent David Martin asked Duffy, Lots of soldiers have written memoirs about their time in combat. Also a trained anthropologist, Hurston collected folklore throughout the South and Caribbean reclaiming, honoring and celebrating Black life on its own terms. Christian Langworthy was born in Vietnam in 1967 with the birth name of Nguyen Van Phoung. Poem for Our Dog Afraid of Thunder on a Rainy Day. Some keep on walking In late March 2003, while standing outside Nasiriyah, Iraq, former Marine Sgt. Ex-infantryman Steve Hassett contributed half-a-dozen poems, including his eerily ironic Christmas, in which The Hessian This is for Fred-who carried me on his back when I could walk no further. . Bones falling in slowmotion[.]. over mid-muddyriver. In Farmers Song at Can Tho, hewrites: What is a man but a farmer ***. All rights reserved. Calling in everything from B-52 bombers to helicopter gunships, Duffy and his troops held out for as long as they could. Cross, Jr. I hate you/with your yellow wrinkled skin, /and slanted eyes, your toothless grin. Woman in the Woods - I think you just managed to inspire me to write a poem about war from a Marine Moms perspective. they fire on us. Anchored in red morning mist a narrow junk In his exploits with his buddies; they were heroes, everyone. And in all these years, not once has a single policymaker or general ever accepted any blame or offered anapology. Idly. This months harvest is tall green rice. It temains as relevant today as it did then. with benediction was ourvillage. What patriotism is NOT is the fear and hatred spewed by Trump and his ilk. Watch Video: A Medal of Honor recipients epic poem of warIts not often (if ever) a recipient of the Medal of Honor is also a published poet. staring at lapping water. Seen seventy-odd years pass by on this planet. After the Navy, You have been followed. A company of NVAs crashing toward you A third major book to appear during the bicentennial year was Walter McDonalds Caliban in Blue (Texas Tech Press). On this day, the St. Johns University graduate was the forward-most man in a small patrol of soldiers who were hacking their way through the thick vegetation. One could feel enemy eyes Who likes blood and gore. View of American troops from the 173rd Airborne Brigade as they exit a helicopter 40 miles south of Saigon, Vietnam, August 1965. While many of these writers might be loath to call themselves antiwar poets, few if any have anything good to say about their experience inVietnam. One might argue ad infinitum about what constitutes valid moral justification for any given war. It seems like, going in, your position was not survivable., I think probably so, but I was never fearful in the whole battle.. In Eating the Forest, he speaks of soldiers/trained to sleep/where the moon sinks/and bring the darkness home[. Then the village Over their nose***, No jaw When a loved one doesn't return from war there will be many unresolved feelings. The contrast is even more remarkable when one considers how very few members of the Vietnam Generation ever actually All rights reserved. Plus, I was 62, and the Vietnamese are typically about 56, Duffy said. In a letter, he told them Van Andel died as soldiers often do, taking on danger to protect comrades they sometimes barely know. By the time United States troops withdrew from Vietnam in 1973, the Vietnam War had become one of the longest, most controversial conflicts in American history. For when countries are in conflict, then we find the Soldier's part. Most of the poems in Winning Hearts and Minds are Going to the US Department of Defense and the VA to tell them you can retro engineer your own post war PTSD in order to train others who are going off to war to not receive PTSD after the war, is like going to Saudi Arabia to tell them you have developed an engine that runs on air. The "b" on Howell's typewriter didn't work. School children walk by, he writes in OnDeath: Some stare shivering uncontrollably in the mud. I wrote the poem within a few days of that. Only six of these 34 poems, in fact, deal with Vietnam, two others referring to the war in passing. You get the wonder, the joy, the tender moments - and you get the tears at the end, too.". Chocolate steamed Balaban is particularly adept at contrasting the impact of the war on Vietnam with the indifference of those at home. Im sure of the children, of poetry that, 15 years later, is still growing. Its not Shakespeare, he said, but it says simply and directly what most military people, especially those who served in combat, feel about fellow soldiers.. our hands around. be hes one of the Lords So Let the Flags of Freedom Fly Unfurled in Their Majesty High: In the Sun, In the Rain In the Winds Across This Land, Years of Tears Has Brought Us Here Gathering Around to Hear This Sound, In the Sun, In the Rain, In the Winds Across This Land, In the Sun, In the Rain, In the Winds For All Time, The Rods and Wire of Steel at my Core are. It just highlighted what I saw through the experiences of a lot of guys, and in response to the way things seemed to be highlighted in the news.. Photo by PhotoQuest/Getty Images. Across my chest To suggest further additions, please contact us. God woman aint I can tell true stories/of the jungle, he writes in When I Am 19 I Was aMedic: I sleep strapped to a .45, came squinting, wobbling, jabberingback. CBS NewsThroughout this poem, you dont seem to have any hatred of the enemy?No, no. no dead bulb gonna rise this May Or would you want a Soldier, who has sworn to defend. then at least let's give him homage, at the ending of his days. Waiting for the enemy, faces without names; Their bodies mount-up now God's to claim. Another collection of his poems,The Great Whirl of Exile, was published by Curbstone Press in 1998. American troops return home with veterans benefits dramatically reduced since the era of WW II. in Vietnam I prayed fervently. in Asia. ] In Still Later There Are War Stories, he warns: We grow To cross a river meant leeches. some jerk who breaks his promise, and cons his fellow man? You know now that your life Among his many awards and decorations were 29 for valor. No, it was a combat, said Duffy.Major John J. Duffy served in special operations groups, often behind enemy lines, during four combat tours in Vietnam. (national academy of letters, India) recently published a nice review to my Men fought and died for nameless hills, only to walk away from them when the battle was over. got a standing ovation He wrote the poem a few years after coming home, when he was a student at the Seminary of the Immaculate Conception in Huntington. that swirls upon her face but cannot blink pretty flowersll rise Your wet clothes piled I wanted to paint the picture of the action and a panorama of the combat there, he replied. barracks inspections, rules and regs. Some of the poems are as short asGuns: When the M-16 rifle had a stoppage, Find out what each side had in its arsenal. my fate was sealed when I ETS. With handkerchiefs Windy sighs. All of them deal with Vietnam and its aftermath. Best of all, poets like Weigl and Balaban are still young and still producing. Trained to fight and not to run for the Vietnam War, Where time has forgotten, and joy comes no more. Im staying with you, you need cover,We are a team, we have fought togetherAnd if need be we will die together.That may be the cost of saving our troopers.Deaths moment is near,I can feel its flame. and the world's a little poorer, for a soldier died today. Like the Wall, Scruggs said, Finks poem addresses the loss that so many veterans felt and still feel. He served as a correspondent during the conflict, and some of his descriptions of battle . The firefight that followed left most of the dozen or so U.S. troops either dead or wounded. Soon it will be here,It seems strange no more. You have stopped for a break, stand up I dont want in death to be a I stood there not so long ago. are sometimes disproportionate, to the service he gives. Most of my anthologies, and the three textbooks I use for my creative We were home finally going home. Duffy was the lone American advisor to a battalion of South Vietnamese paratroopers sent to hold Fire Base Charlie. In For Mrs. Cam, Whose Name Means Printed Silk, he reflects on the dislocation of the refugee BoatPeople: The wide Pacific flares in sunset. Oneword. I cut it out and taped it to my bedroom door where it remained until my parents passed and we sold the house in the late 1990s. But retired Green Beret John Duffy turned his trial-by-fire into an epic poem of the Vietnam War. the cries and screams I heard so loud. More than transcending Vietnam, in Blue Mountain Balaban absorbs Vietnam and incorporates it into a powerful vision of what the world ought tobe. Who waits in waves of heat before her. The Line Between Innocence and Immorality. that as we grow old, we will not grow evil, One night frightening scores of them By the time United States troops withdrew from Vietnam in 1973, the Vietnam War had become one of the longest, most controversial conflicts in American history. only a little more than a yard away. Consequently, I have INDIAN LITERATURE (IL, 259), the flagship journal of Sahitya Akademi He lives with his wife and daughter in Philadelphia, and teaches English and history at theHaverfordSchool. In 1965, President Johnson commits 200,000 troops to the war, rising to more than 500,000 in 1967. Threw stones at a cobra once, We were given orders to fight to the death, Duffy replied. They were fighting for what they believed in. Those who protested the war extended their outrage to those whod fought it. Some, however, stand out more sharply than others. Running from her village, napalm A plane that was to take In a tight sequence of poems, the persona he creates bids goodbye to his family, does his time in Vietnam, and comes home. old counting the year/in days, . To contextualize these pieces, we listed the poems in the time periods in which they were written, along with a selection of historical markers. . Edited by three Vietnam veterans working out of a basement kitchen in Brooklyn and published originally through private funding, it contained 109 poems by the editors and 30 fellow veterans. silly hats she sells Americans and And because the war dragged on and on in ever-escalating stalemate for weeks and months and years, there was time and more than enough time for soldiers to think about the predicament in which they found themselves. Why?. He is author of 14 books of prose and poetry, and editor or coeditor of four anthologies, and has been publishing regularly in VQR since 1980. I slide on my army suit. Until I slipped and climbed Speak from out the grave: "I am the Unknown Soldier, The spirit voice began. to all things, even small things, To begin with, those who went to Vietnamwell into the late 1960s and contrary to popular perceptionwere largely young volunteers, eager and idealistic. Bowels and a heart that sings Strange prospect we called forjets. Poem for Our Dog Afraid of Thunder on a Rainy Day. did any damn red rocketsglare. all his buddies listened, for they knew whereof he spoke. It also introduced a handful of good newcomers. The shortest poem in the book is LEclatante Victoire de KheSanh: The main thing Nixon is elected president and begins bombing Communist bases on the Cambodian border. happened to be a water buffalo. Crushing the shower shack. In his poem, Duffy imagines the orders the North Vietnamese commander gave his troops: if(typeof ez_ad_units!='undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[580,400],'sandhillsexpress_com-banner-1','ezslot_5',114,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-sandhillsexpress_com-banner-1-0'); The big American with the radio on his back,I want him killed, he is controlling the aircraft.He is attacking our anti-aircraft and artillery guns.He moves often. Surely, in the process of trying, the best of them have added immeasurably to the body and soul of Americanpoetry. Just ask if you need assistance or have any questions, we are here to help you. In Orpheus in the Upper World, he offers perhaps an explanation for the hundreds and even thousands of poems written by those who fought thewar: For when his order had burst his head, Copyright 2023 The Virginia Quarterly Review. Beautiful with herfacts. To a Sacred Place That We All Know Deep In the Shrines of Our Soul: In Our Hearts, In Our Prayers In Our Minds For All Time. The average age of American soldiers in Vietnam was 19-and-a-half (in World War II it had been 26). And it all came down on me, the stink resurrection day In remembrance of American involvement in Vietnam, the Poetry Foundation has assembled a selection of poems from our archives that address the conflict and its aftermath. The Tet Offensive begins on the lunar New Year, causing major doubts regarding US ability to secure the southern region. 'On Getting Out of Vietnam' was written in 1972 and was included in Nemerov's award-winning book of poetry, The Collected Poems of Howard Nemerov, published in 1977.The title clearly hints at the withdrawal of American troops from Vietnam during 1970-1973. So, basically you had accepted the fact that you were going to die?. Mason, 46, was a spiritual POW for almost two decades after his body came home. Bowing then to the river. Zambia. A people they had thought they were going to liberate treated them with apparent indifference or outright hostility. The dying and wounded moaning softly,Despair and hurt are common:Is this glory?Martin said, Thats a good question: Is this glory?Is this glory? They have known shame, who love unloved. 2023 Sandhills Express (KCNI|KBBN), All rights reserved. What else can we do? carried by raw emotion alone, and most of the soldier-poets were not really poets at all but rather soldiers so hurt and bitter that they could not maintain their silence any longer. has retaken thetrenches. March 30, 2022 7:00 AM EDT. rhapsody, And thats the essence of war.. but the sergeant is a stateside G.I. acceptance ofherself. Hundreds of ball bearings went screaming through the leaves, killing the Nebraskan and soaking Finks pants with his own blood. Takes cruelty to make any friends they were heroes, everyone of the... 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