Part I

In Part 1 I choose the story by Roger Donlon. Roger Donlon was sent to Vietnam just before large scale American troops were sent in. At that time the US Government sent in small groups Americans to train much larger groups of Southern Vietnamese troops on how to fight. Roger Donlon, was the first American to receive the Medal of Honor in the Vietnam War, and it was this part of his story that really touched me. Roger Donlon and his troops were attacked early in the morning, and Donlon was able to save not only himself but many of his fellow troops, all the while being shot numerous times, so many times that when help finally arrived they thought he was dead. I have always liked hearing stories of heroism, it brings back nostalgic memories of when I was younger and hearing about great acts of heroism. The Vietnam War is not one one hears positives things about, usually its full of brutality towards women and young children, so hearing a story where the hero was actually in true a hero and saved lives was quite nice. I would say that I really couldn’t find anything untrue or false about what I read in Roger Donlon’s accounts of his story.

Part II

Just like in Part I I had strong emotional connections to a few stories in Part II. In Part II I read the story of Henry Prunier. Henry was sent into Vietnam in 1945, long before Americas involvement in Vietnam. Prunier was sent to help an anti Japanese resistance called the Viet Minh lead by “Mr. Hoo” and “Mr. Van” Prunier was to help the Viet Minh on how to fight the Japanese in guerilla combat. There he trains the ill equipped aviet Minh, they don’t have enough weapons to even train half of them at once. They are also using confiscated French rifles, left behind from when the French occupied Vietnam. My biggest problem with Prunier’s story however and the thing I find most disappointing is that after war he becomes silent. He doesn’t participate in any sort of protests and only really talks of the war at the rotary. Now I know I haven’t fought in any war nor have I had to endure any kind of the trauma that these men must have had to endure, but I have had to endure quite a bit of medical issues throughout my life and my main goal is always to talk about it to help others, others who have lost loved ones or others who are going through the same treatments as me. I really do feel that if I saw the horrific events of that war, especially in the ladder half of the sixties then I would speak out, speak out so none of my fellow soldiers would be put into harms way.

I found the story of Paul Kattenburg to be particularly hopeful and showing quite a bit potential for good. Kattenburg is described as an expert of Vietnam before most people knew what Vietnam was. Kattenburg was a supporter of Diem who later became President of South Vietnam, Kattenburg later returned to Vietnam in 1953 only to discover that Diem was not in tune with the people, in fact he had gone off the deep end, speaking incoherently for hours about anti communism attitudes. So Paul Kattenburg returned to the US and spoke with high ranking officials where he spoke of not getting any further involved in Vietnam, their man Diem was losing control of his supporters and his country. After hearing about the possibility of an overthrow of Diem. Kattenburg said this woudnt work, the French had poured everything they had but they couldn’t beat the nationalism of the Vietnamese, the people loved Ho Chi Minh and the Americans could never win, it was pointless. Kattenburg was dismissed, in fact he was sent to a different department all together, and after bombing begu in 1965 he resigned completely. I was really touched by Kattenburgs actions albeit they were a failure I respect anyone who has the courage to go against the fray, to tell it like it is and do whats right. He knew it was a losing war but yet he still tried to save countless lifes and not send multiple countries into all out war.