Research Paper

The Ignored Veterans

The Greatest Generation is the term used to describe the men who grew up in the early twentieth century and lived through the depression and fought in World War II. These men lived through the toughest economic period ever seen in America and went off to fight the ultimate evil in the east all within their lifetime. These men were celebrated for their patriotism, strength, and heroism when they returned from war after defeating the Nazi empire. Their sons and grandsons would grow up hearing all of these fabled tales about the war stories that defined them. However, it was their sons and grandsons who would endure real hardship of war. The war that defined the next generation was the Vietnam War, which had no clear reason and left many people confused. Ultimately, the complicated nature of the Vietnam War that had caused the narrative around war and the treatment of soldiers to change, which would ultimately cause great hardship upon return. 

The narrative behind World War II is what set up the soldiers from Vietnam to fail. The narrative behind World War II can be best defined as the ultimate restitution plot. Arthur Frank describes the restitution plot as “At the core of those expectations is the assumption of restitution: returning the sick person to the status quo ante” (Frank 83). Frank describes the restitution plot in the context of medicine, however the idea still applies when considering war. Essentially, the restitution plot described by Frank is the perfect story, where a problem arises and it is eventually solved, returning everything back to normal.When looking at World War II, one can see how it holds to the ideas of the restitution plot. Where a great evil had appeared in the east, and the United States was able to help defeat the evil and return the country back to normal, or arguably at a greater place. The war had lived up to its promises with an American victory. “Restitution is not only possible, it is commodified”(Frank 86). Frank here mentions how stories of restitution are often expected, which was exactly the case with World War II. As a result of this perfect restitution narrative, the soldiers were very well received and praised upon their homecoming. Carson describes this narrative in his work “Fables of Our Fathers: Flogging the ‘Greatest Generation.’”

But Reagan’s speech was the one that cemented the war’s transformation into a distinctively American legend: the founding myth of our superpower incarnation, just as the winning of the West had been the founding myth of our manifest-destiny incarnation. (Carson 164)

Here we can see how the narrative of World War II was so perfect that it became romanticized and glorified, despite being a very destructive and gruesome war. Germany and Hitler were the ultimate enemy that fell at the hands of America, who had few loses compared to the other countries.

 What we were supposed to do about that in the absence of equivalent challenges was unclear…We were happy to go from respecting our elders’ sacrifices, which was only right, to envying them—which was lunatic (Carson, 167).

This narrative became so good that the following generations wanted to have a similar defining war victory in their lives like their forefathers had. War was almost becoming an American tradition, and it had started with an almost perfect story in World War II.

 However, the Vietnam War was the perfect example of a failed restitution plot“[w]hen restitution does not happen, other stories have to be prepared or the narrative wreckage will be real (Frank, 92.)” Frank’s ideas hold up, as Vietnam did not really have a real definitive moment of resolution. In fact, Vietnam had lacked a clear enemy that simply needed to be taken out for the Narrative. Originally, the communist government in North Vietnam was supposed to be the enemy and the Vietcong troops were the ones America was attacking. However, media coverage really only captured small agrarian and fishing villages being attacked. Media coverage had a focus on the massive vietnamese civilian deaths. This brought up the essential question of who are we really fighting. Additionally, America was experiencing great loss for the first time in its history and the truth about war was about to enter the fable. ““There were occasions, I believed, when a nation was justified in using military force to achieve its ends, to stop a Hitler or some comparable evil, and I told myself that in such circumstances I would have willingly marched off to the battle”(O’Brien 42). O’Brien is able to sum up the major dilemma that came with Vietnam. This lack of a real threat or villain is one of the biggest reasons for the change in narrative on how war was viewed and how soldiers were treated. Without the enemy that just simply needed to be taken out, there was no real source of restitution, which led to the wreckage described by Frank that would be felt by the soldiers. “Vietnam, where I was a soldier, and then home again. I survived, but it’s not a happy ending. I was a coward. I went to the war” (O’Brien 58). O’Brien describes the struggle for the soldier by explaining how he only lost with what he did. He could have chosen to dodge the draft and be called a traitor and a coward or he could succumb to the pressure and fight a pointless war and receive similar treatment upon his homecoming. This highlights a big change in mentality that soldiers faced when dealing with the war. Typically, like in World War II, soldiers were viewed as honorable heros, but suddenly with Vietnam they are referred to as cowards. 

It was this difference in narrative that would ultimately affect the way that soldiers were treated and received after the war. Rosenthall describes this change in narration within his paper on “Vietnam War Soldiers and the Experience of Normlessness.”

The Vietnam War has generated national strains which may be considered anomic- of conflict and dissent about our involvement in the war; of doubt about the style and quality of leadership; of questions concerning the behavior and tactics of our troops; and of challenges to the basic processes of government itself. These anomic strains may well have created a unique sense of normlessness in the individual Vietnam War soldier. (Rosenthall 86)

The soldiers returning from Vietnam became a symbol of the confusion, death, and senseless violence that came from the war, and as a result they did not receive the typical welcome that their forefathers had after their war. MacLean discusses this contrast in his work “While Veterans of World War II Prospered, Vietnam Veterans Suffered Economically after Coming Home.” “World War II veterans have long been seen as heroes, called the “Greatest Generation …by contrast, Vietnam veterans have long been viewed as damaged goods.  According to this narrative, they most likely were wounded physically by their service”(MacLean 2016). This stigmatized view of the soldier would begin to permeate throughout the country, bringing more hate and struggle to the Vietnam veterans. Young captures the struggle of the soldiers in his article “The “Real Victims” of the Vietnam War: Soldier versus State in American Comic Books”.“The cover depicts an overweight female hippie glaring angrily at the uniformed and well-groomed Ed Marks while both stand in line at the airport” (Young 568). This quote here really shows how poorly the soldiers were treated.  Having a soldier, someone who should be very respected by society, is being stared down by an overweight female hippie, which is essentially the type of person that society at this time did not respect, really shows how poor the soldiers were treated. The biggest problem with the treatment of soldiers after Vietnam would be that they had no real choice in the matter. They had to act out their duty to defend the country and our flag because they were expected to carry on the great military legacy that America had. They were forced to be in a war that was not well received, and were forced to bear the ridicule that came along with it. They had grown up listening to the amazing stories of war from their forefathers, only to experience the exact opposite in their lifetimes. Ciampaglia discusses the treatment of Vietnam soldiers in his article “Why Were Vietnam War Vets Treated Poorly When They Returned?”.

And for the men who served in Vietnam and survived unspeakable horrors, coming home offered its own kind of trauma. Some, like Wowwk, say they had invectives hurled their way; others, like naval officer Ford Cole, remember being spit on. As a cohort, Vietnam veterans were met with none of the fanfare and received none of the benefits bestowed upon World War II’s ‘greatest generation’. (Ciampaglia 2018)

World War II veterans came home well received. The men who fought in Vietnam had memories of their fathers and grandfathers returning from war in an honorable way, which is why the treatment they received in return hurt even more.

The greatest tragedy of the Vietnam War, from the American perspective, was that the real victims were the men who fought it. Upon returning home the veterans were not welcomed with the typical parade because the war was treated as a loss, and no one celebrated a lost war. No one held space for the soldiers who needed to be listened to. They came back scared and broken both mentally and physically, and got no real help from the people that they went to war for. 

Freedom lurked around us and I understood, at last, that he could help us to be free if we would listen, that he would never be free until we did. Yet, there was no battle in his face now. I heard what he had gone through and would continue to go through until he came to rest in earth. (Baldwin 140)

Baldwin is able to really capture the importance of being heard. The soldiers were deliberately ignored when they came back because America was trying to erase its mistake and the people who were forced to fight in it. 

Vietnam had clearly changed America’s relationship with war and with its soldiers. The boys who had listened to their father’s amazing war stories had grown up to become men ridiculed for going to war. The source of contention was that the Vietnam veterans had not fought in a perfect war. Because their war did not have a clear enemy who just needed to be defeated, people were confused as to who the soldiers were fighting. As a result, the soldiers in the war became part of the failed restitution story described by Frank, and America had to deal with a loss for the first time in its history, and the soldiers were left to bear the wreckage of a failed restitution story. The lack of understanding that the Vietnam War was what forced the war narrative to change after World War II. 

 

Works Cited

Baldwin, James. Sonny’s Blues. Partisan Review, 1957.

Carson, Tom. “Fables of Our Fathers: Flogging the ‘Greatest Generation.’” Baffler, no. 33, Winter 2016, p. 160. EBSCOhost,  search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=f6h&AN=124672045&site=ehost-live.

 

Ciampaglia, Dante A. “Why Were Vietnam War Vets Treated Poorly When They Returned?” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 8 Nov. 2018, https://www.history.com/news/vietnam-war-veterans-treatment.

Frank, Arthur W. The Wounded Storyteller: Body, Illness, and Ethics. University of Chicago Press, 1997.

 

MacLean, Alair. “While Veterans of World War II Prospered, Vietnam Veterans Suffered Economically after Coming Home.” USAPP, American Politics and Policy, 16 Mar. 2016, https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/usappblog/2016/03/14/while-veterans-of-world-war-ii-prospered-vietnam-veterans-suffered-economically-after-coming-home/.

O’Brien, Tim. Things They Carried. Fourth Estate LTD, 2019.

Rosenthal, Irwin. “Vietnam War Soldiers and the Experience of Normlessness.” Journal of Social Psychology, vol. 96, June 1975, pp. 85–90. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssr&AN=520794503&site=ehost-live.

Young, R. (2017), The “Real Victims” of the Vietnam War: Soldier versus State in American Comic Books. J Pop Cult, 50: 561-584. doi:10.1111/jpcu.12548