Phan Xuan Sinh. His story really spoke to me. He talked about how many innocent people were killed because they thought they were the enemy. I feel in this story his memories seem to be pretty clear, especially when he talked about the old couple the removed and burned down their home and then to find a few weeks later they came back and rebuilt it. This war was not only about the enemy, but about the innocent people who lost their lives and their homes because of it. He told the old man that it was a dangerous place to live, why did he come back. The old man replied, “All my ancestors are buried here and this is our land. We’re not going to leave.”  This account makes me wonder how many others had to give up their land and homes because of the injustices of the war.

Deirdre English. “How can my country be at war and I don’t know about it?” This story seems to be a bit farfetched for me. I don’t understand how a high school student didn’t know about the Vietnam war. She talks about how most Americans didn’t know where Vietnam was, but look at all the war protestors. I was disappointed because maybe the high school teachers didn’t talk about the war going on or how about the parents during this time? Maybe it was denial in some people’s minds about how brutal the war really was.

Ta Quang Thinh. This one was very disappointing. I don’t understand why this account was put in the book. It seems made up and not very emotional. It was almost like this was just a story made up to fill the book. I’m not really sure this happened and maybe this person just wanted to be in the book, so they made up a story of what happened to them in the war. I also think that maybe, just maybe they don’t remember and made something up because they didn’t want to look like a fool. I expect more out of people who were part of the war, more emotions and better memories of what actually happened.