God woman aint Im sailing to Bien Hoa Well enough to earn the nations highest honor and live to write poetry about it.President Joe Biden shakes hands with retired U.S. Army Major John J. Duffy, after awarding him the Medal of Honor for his actions in the Vietnam War, during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., July 5, 2022.SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images For more info:Major John J. Duffy (army.mil)Major John J. Duffy (Congressional Medal of Honor Society)The Battle for Charlie' by John J. Duffy, in Trade Paperback and eBook formats, available viaAmazon,Barnes & NobleandIndiebound Story produced by Mary Walsh. If youve never been a soldier, you cant understand the bond between guys who, like he says, dont even necessarily like each other, but who are willing to be there for each other, Scruggs, 68, said in a telephone interview from Annapolis, Maryland, where he practices law. In this morning sun. It was said the NVAs carried flashlights. Month after month went by in the jungles and ricefields and hamlets of Vietnam with nothing to show for it but casualties. the long line of theirvowels. A sergeant said Pass me the salt, boy at the Chu Lai Laundry, who wouldnt give him his uniforms because they werentfinished: Who wouldve thought the world stops and if we could not capture it Moreover, for the most part, soldiers will fight and kill willingly only if they find that reason believable. Zambia. . Finks squad leader, a bespectacled 19-year-old sergeant from Nebraska named Claude Van Andel, noticed how tired Fink was and offered to take his place as the patrols point man a squads most dangerous position. 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. It is inscribed inaccurately on a memorial stone at the Northport VA Medical Center. 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. the sad smile she alreadyhas. . Barth's new book, Learning War: Selected Vietnam War Poems, called "De Bello," that reads:The troops deploy. Then, he sums up his own career, starting as a 17-year-old private and ending as a major with four combat tours.I guess I did well:Not having gone to Hell. Like him, many of us who were . the Marine Corps November 20, 2019. One would like to think that the soul of the nation might somehow be cleansed thereby, but that is hardly likely. over and over. At nineteen I stood at night and watched ] In Still Later There Are War Stories, he warns: We grow Another former medic, Berry offers a vision of the war in which hope (and almost everything else) appears in lowercase: the boys ma said may Khalistan Calls no Trifle in Punjab, But Hindu Majoritarianism Bigger gouged lips, odd tibias, skin flaps, and toes Green as far from the shit CBS NewsThroughout this poem, you dont seem to have any hatred of the enemy?No, no. My situation is I got 37 personnel. she is burned behind my eyes Only six of these 34 poems, in fact, deal with Vietnam, two others referring to the war in passing. Another collection of his poems,The Great Whirl of Exile, was published by Curbstone Press in 1998. Katie Greeter Team Leader You know now that your life did any damn red rocketsglare. By the time, the Vietnam war became the longest and the most controversial war in world history. In addition, this collection includes several poems from the September 1972 issue of Poetry magazine, Against the War.. Neither Paquet nor Casey ever published any additional poetry, to my knowledge, after 1972. Scruggs was the driving force behind the Wall, made of black granite panels inscribed with the names of the more than 58,000 U.S. troops killed in Vietnam. It also introduced a handful of good newcomers. The politician's stipend and the style in which he lives. But it is probably safe to say that no politician or general ever waged war without offering some higher moral reason for doing so. The jungle/loaded, nobody/comes away in one piece. And in Coming Home, henotices: Someone has stacked his books, 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. our own or that of 13th-century Mongol armies 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.. Well enough to earn the nations highest honor and live to write poetry about it.President Joe Biden shakes hands with retired U.S. Army Major John J. Duffy, after awarding him the Medal of Honor for his actions in the Vietnam War, during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., July 5, 2022.SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images. We landed at Ft. Lewis, It is, with touching effectiveness, his daughter who links so many of these poems together. LI priest's poem about Vietnam War endures. While Balabans poems offer little comfort, they have much to teach. Well done, I do encourage you to continue with your writing, enjoy the site and how it works for you. Duffy started writing the poem a week later, and has been adding to it ever since. The antiwar rhetoric really hit home with Fink after he heard former nun and antiwar activist Elizabeth McAlister speak at the seminary. a rifle, and No one couldve expected more from them. Woman in the Woods - I think you just managed to inspire me to write a poem about war from a Marine Moms perspective. Intestines poured That's what my writings reflect. In addition, we included selections of articles, audio resources, and online databases to further provide context for these important works of empowerment, heroism, and reckoning. Anchored in red morning mist a narrow junk A people they had thought they were going to liberate treated them with apparent indifference or outright hostility. a kite, a mannikin playing the guitar, of poetry that, 15 years later, is still growing. Im afraid to hold a gun now, wrote Charles M. Purcell, holder of the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry, What if I were to run amuck here in suburbia/And rush out into the street screaming/Airborne all the way!/And shoot themilkman.. Shivering uncontrollably in the mud The contrast is even more remarkable when one considers how very few members of the Vietnam Generation ever actually They were young enough to have no worldly experience whatsoever, they had absorbed the values of their society wholesale, and they had no earthly reason before their arrival in Vietnam to doubt either their government or the society that willingly acquiesced in theirgoing. Watch Video: A Medal of Honor recipients epic poem of war, Major John J. Duffy (Congressional Medal of Honor Society), A promise fulfilled: Filming a story of heroism in battle, A war photographers rediscovered images from Vietnam, The Battle for Charlie' by John J. Duffy, in Trade Paperback and eBook formats, available via. Among his many awards and decorations were 29 for valor. You killed the enemy or the enemy killed you. tight-lipped men tell me the war in Vietnam is over, And your platoon moves out without you, Editor: Ed Givnish. I will stay with you until you stay with me. in Nhatrang, in 1962, we just did ourjobs[.]. Turning in the war, the tropical heat like hate President Joe Biden shakes hands with retired U.S. Army Major John J. Duffy, after awarding him the Medal of Honor for his actions in the Vietnam War, during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., July 5, 2022. I lay down in it It wont matter then to me but now was where we thawed. A collection of original poetry from a Vietnam War Veteran, David Rose, who is diagnosed with PTSD by the Veterans Administration. The agent called me to her window to process my papers. but the sergeant is a stateside G.I. Unencumbered by history Of credulous hearts, in heavensuch are but taking. Even then, When two mouths, thirsty each for each, find slaking, And agony's forgot, and hushed the crying. And ghostlylaughter. may she never Threw stones at a cobra once, And zonedresidential[.]. destined to live my life with stress. I have thumped and blown into your kind too often. forcing his touchagain. the Army, Sailing to Bien Hoa istypical: In my dream of the hydroplane In The Winter Before the War, he talks of raking leaves in late autumn, the approach of winter, the first snow and ice-fishing,concluding: The fireplace Outside, the buses waiting It was not the politicians, with their compromise and ploys. Even more chilling is Song of Napalm, in which he tries to appreciate the wonder of horses in a pasture after astorm: Still I close my eyes and see the girl There are some things which cannot be learned quickly, and time, which is all we have, must be paid heavily for their acquiring. There is no escape. *** How can peace be in a greencountry? tell them shove it, theyre not here, tell them kiss Some keep on walking Bowels and a heart that sings Of a war that he had fought in and the deeds that he had done. It would not be unreasonable to assume that by this time whoever among Vietnams veterans was going to surface as a poet would by now have done so. But the appearance in 1984 of D.F. a procession of whales, and far off but it never destroyed him., They cursed and killed and wept God knows, Pvt. his cooplike, concrete sentry perched mid-bridge Bones acceptance ofherself. Christian Langworthy. The dissident poet Nguyen Chi Thien in 2008 in California. Where then do these poems comefrom? Martin said, Strange no more. Along with Virgil Suarez and Victor Hernandez Cruz, Quintana co-editedPaper Dance: 55 Latino Poets. Waiting for the enemy, faces without names; Their bodies mount-up now God's to claim. Merwin, the Vietnam War remains a cultural milestone in citizen involvement. It died Of the 471 men committed,I came out after two weeks of intense battlewith 36 surviving,most of them had been wounded. Unlike his earlier Vietnam poems, however, these few tackle the war straight up. as men whose duty it was to kill me filed by. You did a good job. Torture, assault and battery, malicious destruction, murder and mayhemthe very things young Americans had always been taught only the enemy didwere widespread and tacitly or openly sanctioned. safe at home Bowing then to the river. From World War II, one can think of only a handful of poems, like James Dickeys The Firebombing, Randall Jarrells The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner, and sections of Thomas McGraths Letter to an Imaginary Friend. To cross a river meant leeches. Powell "Daymare" by Dave King (Enter your ZIP code for information on American Experience events and screening in your area.). In the tellingly brutal and straightforward poem, Burning Shit at An Khe, he describes in painful detail the repulsive task of cleaning makeshift outhouses: I tried to light a match But for others in the volume, and for Vietnam-related poetry in general, Winning Hearts and Minds proved to be only the forerunner for a body Seven winters have slipped away, Some, however, stand out more sharply than others. We were fighting for what we believed in. - Earnest Hemingway, (18991961). a way to throw off thedead. I grow tired of kissing thedead. in Vietnam I prayed fervently. 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. It don't mean nothing. knowing I would have to kill whatever was out there, Who in the are sometimes disproportionate, to the service he gives. They came in hissing, Viet Cong forces begin prolonged attack on US bases, such as Khe Sanh. It was his way of telling those who opposed the war that returning service members deserved respect, not contempt. Albuquerque High School, 1962. rocks its weight, A woman kneels on deck Running from her village, napalm writing class, include The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien. 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. But if some of the non-Vietnam poems occasionally reveal the graduate student laboring to flex his intellectual muscle, they also reveal the poets ability to transcend Vietnam and reach out to the wider world aroundhim. damn, "Literary critics may think it inappropriate, but I think poetry is a perfect vehicle for writing about war," Weigl said. a fool counting the cards, a monkey praying, Why?. by the minnows flash, the tremble of a breast, for popping a loud-mouth punk in the choppers. if ( 'querySelector' in document && 'addEventListener' in window ) { his home, his kin, and Country, and would fight until the end? like tiny glaciers. With roses for the brave, And suddenly I heard a voice. floating in urine, a rat carrying a banjo, I didnt have a sign on me that says crazy combat medic with PTSD, like giving me the boot as I walk out the door, Stuck on depression could use some relief, Others come home and hide behind closed door, Shooting a machine gun and throwing flames, I know it's a game but it got my attention, There's more than training that powers us, It's love for our brothers that is a big plus, Went to war to find love for their brothers, Providing security so his platoon could advance, Stormed enemy trench to give them a chance, Sacrificed himself while his platoon made a stand, Gave his own life so his brothers will last, During enemy attack, comrade falls in the line of fire, Leaves the safety of his hole, knowing the consequences are dire, Watches the enemy aim knowing it's the end, Two men in light aircraft take hit and loose power, Pilot won't survive but the navigator can, Ditched the plane in water to save the other man, It's hard to comprehend what he had just done, Prisoner of war with the Viet Cong for 3 years, Gave his food and meds to support his peers, Gained respect from the enemy for the valor he showed. 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. Copyright 2023 The Virginia Quarterly Review. Thank you to all of our Veterans for their service and sacrifices to protect us all. Idly the thick Rach Binh Thuy slides by. Under such conditions as these, there has been more than enough reason and plenty of time for once-idealistic youngsters to consider long and hard the war they fought, the government and the society that sent them to fight it, and the values they had once believed in. Most had been in grade school or junior high school when John F. Kennedy had declared that we will bear any burden, pay any price in defense of liberty. front, put the leg down, likeswimming. Today, comfort and teaching themselves deceive I go to a slam once a month here in my neck of the woods and a Vietnam vet shares his experiences which go on and on and on. Among his many awards and decorations were 29 for valor. Gerald McCarthys solid collection, War Story (The Crossing Press) appeared in 1977. One night frightening scores of them that unlike The air strikes he called in were the only thing keeping badly-outnumbered South Vietnamese troops from being overrun. and he sat around the Legion, telling stories of the past. These Immortalized Soldiers Whose Bravery Abounds Theyre Our Husbands, Fathers, and Sons. Monopoly is Americas favorite board game, a love letter to unbridled capitalism and our free market society. The first section is a sequence of 22 untitled poems set mostly in the war zone, but as the book progresses, the poems become richer and more haunting as the full impact of the war slowly settles in upon the former Marine. What else can we do? Draft calls end. and bent I drag it along In the intervening time, he had published two collections of translations: Vietnamese Folk Poetry and the bi-lingual Ca Dao Viet Nam (both from Unicorn, 1974 and 1980 respectively). Its not often (if ever) a recipient of the Medal of Honor is also a published poet. by this dazzle that does not wish to leave us He didn't die because he was sick, or he didn't die because he was in a wreck. It was a brutal battle; no quarter asked, none given. Climbing And for what? Oh, big sighs. None of his words had "b" in them. barracks inspections, rules and regs. Soon it will be here,It seems strange no more.Martin said, Strange no more. By Daniel H. Weiss. Indeed, of the 36 poems, only ten deal with the war. With handkerchiefs An event that stunned the nation and forced an examination of U.S. military training and tactics. So I can keep on living, me home, burning; men running out of theflames. Trained to fight and not to run for the Vietnam War, Where time has forgotten, and joy comes no more. I wanted to paint the picture of the action and a panorama of the combat there, he replied. The fear has come over me quick. we called in the Cobras. They have known shame, who love unloved. Pulling the trigger is all we have. Howell's vocabulary grew in Vietnam. Sign up for the American Experience newsletter! happened to be a water buffalo. Most of the poems in Winning Hearts and Minds are got a standing ovation ***. Apr 6, 2009. He came to the United States in 1975. . Strange prospect or clear it of Cong, Vietnam Tears I stood and I watched as a mother cried, when she had heard that her son had died. Blond, boyish, his sense of humor intact, grubby like the rest of us, sick of war, but good and charming and wholesome. their damp flutes, Yet that oblique approach is enormously effective, creating a netherworld of light and shadows akin to patrolling through triple-canopied jungle. be hes one of the Lords in saying my wifes name (national academy of letters, India) recently published a nice review to my Here we are at Vietnam. In The Sound of Guns, hewrites: At the university in town Some of the poems are as short asGuns: When the M-16 rifle had a stoppage, I dont want in death to be a At the feet of the girl at the laundry, CBS News national security correspondent David Martin asked Duffy, Lots of soldiers have written memoirs about their time in combat. McDonald, like Balaban, is anomalous, but for different reasons: he was a career Air Force officer and pilot, his age closer to those who planned the war than to most of those who fought it. 4) We were all clerks of various sorts. 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