Dear+America-+Daily+Soldier's+Lives

The book __Dear America: Letters From Home__ gives a great insight to how the soldiers lived in Vietnam and their feelings for the war. The letters are from soldiers themselves and tell about their experiences while being in Vietnam. What they wrote about the war shows both the positive and negative thoughts of how the soldier's felt. Though some of the soldiers had good times and liked being over there in the war, many did not have the same feelings. Many of their actions and what they saw in Vietnam would be considered malignant at home. The killing of many people and seeing deaths of thier friends put a huge amount of guilt on every soldier there. This only added weight, both physically and mentally, to the already substantial amount of things they had to carry. Soldiers went through hell trying to find ways to cope and forget about who died and what happened in Vietnam. Many were unsuccessful in their efforts and are remembered today with their name on the wall in Washington, D.C. with all of their fellow soldiers.

The book __Dear__ __America__: __Letters__ __From__ __Home__ is a book of letters that shows how soldiers felt about the war and what was going on. Most of the time they wrote the letters to people they were close to in hopes that the person would read the letter. I will show you a few letters from each stage of the war and how the mood of the letters had changed dramatically over the course of the war.

Dear Folks, I'm still here at the 22nd Replacement Center. I'll probably ship out tonight or tomorrow, whre to I don't yet now. Things are still quiet-no trouble whatsoever. It;s really funny seeing guys going home and I'm just getting here. It's just one big cycle. All the guys I talked to were infantry. They seem very sad even though they are going home. I guess they saw a lot. The clerks on the other hand are completely opposite. They just don't know what the war is really like. As one guy said, "You got to fight it to know it." I hope you are all well. I'll write again when I get a chance.

Billy

In this letter Billy seems to be prepared for the war. He says that there are many others though that don't have a clue what it's like. Many soldiers had to be fighting and actually shooting to see what the war is really like. And even though Billy seems to be calm and collected at the moment, he will soon find out what the war is really like on the battle grounds.

Dear Mom & Dad, I don't know how I can say this without alarming you, but I know I'll have to tell you about it because NBC News was there and I'm afraid you might have seen me on film or read about the dreadful fighting. When I think about the hell I've been through the last few days, I can't help but cry and wonder how I am still alive. My company suffered the worst casualities-I believe something close to 50 dead and wounded. Friends who I took training with at Ft. Polk have been killed, and some are seriously wounded. In my squad of nine men, only four of us survived. This was the worst battle battle as far as losses are concerned that this company has experienced. I'm not able to go into details now. I'm still in a slight state of shock and very weary and shaken from the last three days. I just wanted you to know that I'm OK. How I made it I don't know. Perhaps you didn't read about it, but in case you did I just wanted to tell you I'm OK. I can't help crying now because I think about the horror of those three days. I was carrying the bodies of wounded and dead onto helicopters that were in a clearing when I saw, I believe, Ron Nessen, of NBC, and they were taking pictures. Yesterday (I thought they'd never come for us) we were evacuated from that area by helicopter. The area is less than two miles from Cambodia, where VCs have regiments, and they ambushed us. I recieved your letter dated June 25th and will answer at a later date. Try to hold up. By the time you recieve this, I hope to be somewhat recovered and at ease.

Love, Kenny

This soldier has already gone through grueling times early in the war. He says that he fears the VC and wants to get back. He has seen many wounded and dead, as many others did also, which is tough on Kenny to keep having all these people around him die. His morale, as well as others, has changed dramatically from when they first arrived. Kenny now wants to get to safety whenever he can and try not to fight anymore because he fears dying in this war and not coming home.

Dear Bob, Peace. Well, I don't know a lot to tell you. I got back here and two guys from my platoon got killed and seven guys wounded all from the same squad. My squad helped get them out. It seems they were pulling ambushes and got hit with an RPG. This happened while I was home. Now they've sent our company back into the hills-Payday Ridge. Last year seven guys got killed there. How many will get killed this year? I feel as though I'll never come home. I told Chris, too. It seems too weird that I'll get to see the World again and then come back. I think it was my kiss goodbye. I'll never talk about this to anyone else-just you and Chris-and I'll never say it again to you or her. But I love you both, and I'll always feel for you as a great Buddy and a No. 1 brother. Thanks for everything, kid, and don't forget to double clutch!

Billy (Da Kid)

Billy says that he feels as if he will never come home. Many soldiers probably felt this way as the war went on. More and more people they fought beside were dying, so they felt as if they were going to die along with them. Soldiers who felt the same way as Billy did wrote letters like this to say their final words before they wrote again. With the thought of dying on their mind, they were trying to say goodbye in every letter they wrote without really putting goodbye.

As you can see over the course of the war, soldier's thoughts and feelings had changed greatly. They had come into Vietnam anxious to kill some people and not get touched. Many found this to be the total opposite. They worried about their lives every second of every day, hoping and wishing that they could stay one more day and write one more letter to their loved ones. As it got closer to the end, their feelings were crushed and morale was very low. Soldiers friends had been dying beside them and that was the last thing they wanted as they knew the war was coming to its end. These soldiers risked everything they had for us and deserve the most respect anyone can give for the things they went through every day in the foreign land called Vietnam.



[|Dear America- Daily Soldier's Lives] This link shows what the soldier's had to endure every day.