Forty years ago

[cakmpls]

The fall of Saigon. Finally, it was over

Comments

[belleweather]

I wasn't even alive during the war, but I find that it has almost completely defined my life. My father went from being a starry-eyed, engaged lawyer-to-be to a mercurial, alcoholic cynic during the two tours he served. My childhood was defined by his attempts to process his own PTSD, which involved my sister and I going to support groups and classes for children of veterans until Vietnam was more real to us than a lot of parts of the U.S. My dad finally managed to make peace with most of his experiences in the war, only to die of heart disease caused by Agent Orange in 1999. My law school was financed in part by survivor benefits from the VA, and of course I now work for 'the redheaded step-child of the U.S. Government', doing a type of foreign policy that strangely doesn't seem too different from what my dad did working in PsyOps in the war.

[cakmpls]

Thanks for telling that story. My brother's experiences in Vietnam (he was a helicopter pilot--generally considered as dangerous as infantry, and some reports say helicopter crews had the highest percentage of KIA) colored the rest of his life, which of course had a huge effect on his children.

[athenais]

I honestly didn't understand there was a war going on. My folks never let us watch news coverage of it and I paid no attention to something happening far away to people much older than me (I turned 5 in 1963). It wasn't covered much in school classes, either; Civics skimmed over it and it was too new for History. How fascinating that you were immersed in that and what a really fine piece of writing this is.

[cakmpls]

Thank you.

[mgs]

I remember going with my father to a protest at Macalester when I was in Junior High and wearing a black armband at school the next day. I cannot recall if this was tied to a specific war event. This would be about 71. I think I got talked to at school about the armband, but I can't bring up any detail.