Numbers & Morale
By: Ava Swanstrom
NumbersCapt. Eugene “Red” McDaniel (former POW): “After having asked for over 3,700 men, they gave us their list, the Vietnamese list of 591, which I happened to be one of. We accepted that list and came home in four groups. 591 men. And on April 13, 1973, and this is public record, the US government said, ‘they’re all dead!’. Well, my question is, what happened to those other 3,109 that we asked for between March of 73 and April 73, when we declared them all dead. What happened to those men?”
http://www.whiteoutpress.com/timeless/americans-abandoned-pow-mia-s-in-vietnam694/ At the end of Operation Homecoming in the Spring of 1973, 2,646 Americans did not return from Southeast Asia - they were "unaccounted for," or "MIA". Facts: Year in which the highest number of American deaths were reported in Vietnam: 1968 (16,592 deaths reported). The age at which a U.S. serviceman was most likely to die in the Vietnam War: 20. In 1969, the percentage of Americans who personally knew someone who had been wounded or killed in Vietnam: 52%. African-American servicemen deaths as a percentage of all Vietnam War deaths: 12.5%. Total number of American female deaths reported in the Vietnam War: 8. |
MoraleInitially, the soldiers of the Vietnam war generally accepted the government’s radical decision to become involved in the communist threat in Vietnam. Though these men felt as if they were forced, due to the draft, the majority of them accepted that it was an important action to confine the spread of communism in Asia. At this point, the morale of the soldiers were high.
As the war progressed, the soldiers began to believe that they were fighting for nothing, and that they didn’t even know what they were fighting for at some points in the war. In this, their morale quickly deteriorated, and many soldiers expressed that they were not sure what he was fighting for. They didn’t understand what the war supposed to improve in the long run of America. Many of the soldiers expressed that they have trouble accepting the human damages of the war and the emotional cost of it all. They were all struck by the horrific conditions of the forest they had to survive through. The loss of hope in the soldiers' eyes represent the disintegrating morale effecting their motivation. The political climate change was depicted as truly effecting the lives of the soldiers at war, and the lives of the family and friends in America. The soldiers in Vietnam explained that they felt absolutely no comfort. The soldiers were barely able to shower and didn’t have many clothes to wear. Because of these factors, their conditions were poor and unsanitary. Additionally, there were many bugs and they often came across booby traps which was terrifying to be surprise by. Many of these soldiers constantly felt homesick and wrote letters home almost every day. This represents the psychological turmoil that went on in the soldiers’ minds each day, being stranded at war against one’s will. The frustrations of guerrilla warfare, the conditions the jungle brought them, and the failure to make progress against the Vietcong took a toll on the U.S. troops’ morale. They began to get frustrated with themselves and often felt as if they wanted to give up. Morale continued to worsen during the later years of the war when soldiers realized they were fighting even as their government was negotiating to withdraw from the war. This upset many of the soldiers because they continued to feel as if they were constantly killing innocent Vietnamese civilians for nothing. |
READ ALL ABOUT IT!
Check out this TIME article, focusing on the landmark 1969 LIFE magazine.
http://time.com/3485726/faces-of-the-american-dead-in-vietnam-one-weeks-toll-june-1969/
http://time.com/3485726/faces-of-the-american-dead-in-vietnam-one-weeks-toll-june-1969/
Read this interview with a Vietnam War veteran about the Guerrilla Warfare he experienced.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/peoplescentury/episodes/guerrillawars/hackworthtranscript.html
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/peoplescentury/episodes/guerrillawars/hackworthtranscript.html
watch this video!
Watch this video about a Vietnam war veteran's experience with fighting through Guerrilla warfare.