Veteran Narratives and the Collective Memory of the Vietnam War. John A. Wood

      

      Veteran Narratives and the Collective Memory of the Vietnam War

       WAR AND SOCIETY IN NORTH AMERICA

       Series Editors: Ingo Trauschweizer and David J. Ulbrich

       Editorial Board

       Janet Bednarek

       Andrew Cayton

       Michael W. Doyle

       Nicole Etcheson

       Joseph Fitzharris

       John Grenier

       John Hall

       Paul Herbert

       James Westheider

       Lee Windsor

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       Protecting the Empire’s Frontier: Officers of the 18th (Royal Irish) Regiment of Foot during Its North American Service, 1767–1776, by Steven M. Baule

       Citizen-General: Jacob Dolson Cox and the Civil War Era, by Eugene D. Schmiel

       Veteran Narratives and the Collective Memory of the Vietnam War, by John A. Wood

       VETERAN NARRATIVES

       and the Collective Memory of the Vietnam War

       John A. Wood

      OHIO UNIVERSITY PRESS

      ATHENS

      Ohio University Press, Athens, Ohio 45701

       ohioswallow.com

      © 2016 by Ohio University Press

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      Printed in the United States of America

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       Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

      Names: Wood, John A., 1980– author.

      Title: Veteran narratives and the collective memory of the Vietnam War / John A. Wood.

      Description: Athens, OH : Ohio University Press, [2016] | Series: War and society in North America | Includes bibliographical references and index.

      Identifiers: LCCN 2015044413| ISBN 9780821422229 (hc : alk. paper) | ISBN 9780821422236 (pb : alk. paper) | ISBN 9780821445624 (pdf)

      Subjects: LCSH: Vietnam War, 1961–1975—Veterans—United States—Biography, | Vietnam War, 1961–1975—Personal narratives. | Vietnam War, 1961–1975—Literature and the war. | Vietnam War, 1961–1975—Social aspects—United States. | Vietnam War, 1961–1975—United States—Psychological aspects. | Vietnam War, 1961–1975—Influence. | Memory—Social aspects—United States. | Collective memory—United States.

      Classification: LCC DS559.73.U6 W67 2016 | DDC 959.704/30922—dc23

      LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015044413

      Contents

       Acknowledgments

       Introduction: They Were There

       1. Who Were the Vietnam Veteran Memoirists?

       2. Combat Conditions and the Vietnamese People

       3. Race and Racism

       4. Men, Women, and Vietnam

       5. The Return Home and Life after Vietnam

       6. The Political Content of Veteran Narratives

       7. Those Who Came Before and After

       Conclusion: The Vietnam Memoir Legacy

       Notes

       Bibliography

       Index

      Acknowledgments

      Many people have made this book possible. Kenneth L. Kusmer of Temple University provided invaluable guidance from the very beginning. He worked tirelessly as a reviewer and editor of chapter drafts, pushing me to improve my writing and hone my arguments. I also benefited from the considerable knowledge and experience of Gregory J. W. Urwin, James Hilty, and Stanley Katz. More recently, David Ulbrich, Ingo Trauschweizer, members of the Ohio University Press staff, and two anonymous readers helped turn the manuscript into a publishable book. Finally, I am lucky to have friends and family who kept me sane while working on this project. No one, however, has helped me more through this process than my parents, James and Joan Wood. This book is dedicated to you.

      Introduction

       They Were There

      Robert Mason graduated from US Army Primary Helicopter School in the spring of 1965, fulfilling a lifelong dream of becoming a pilot. That summer he shipped out for Vietnam.¹ The helicopter Mason flew during the war was a troop carrier, “the Bell HU-1 Iroquois, known as the Huey.”² He often attracted enemy gunfire when he dropped off or picked up “grunts” (foot soldiers) at landing zones (LZs) throughout South Vietnam. After numerous forays into such “hot LZs,” Mason got somewhat used to bullets pinging off his Huey, along with “the confusion, the crackling door guns, the smell of gunpowder, the yells of the grunts, [and] the radios going crazy.”³ He “learned how to function, even though [he] was scared shitless, by doing it over and over again.”⁴ A fellow pilot eventually dubbed Mason a “chickenhawk.” He was a chicken because he was terrified before every mission, but a hawk because he bravely kept flying in spite of his fear.

      The strain of too many hot LZs, however, started to take their toll on Mason in the final weeks of his twelve-month Vietnam tour. He had trouble getting to sleep, and when he managed to doze off, nightmares about horrible things he had seen