After thinking about all the things we would learn this year in American history I decided to do my project on the experiences of Vietnam War There is a lot of controversy as to whether or not the VietnamWar veterans are given enough recognition for what they went through. I haveheard horrible stories of US soldiers dying from US bombs, shell shock, andsoldiers returning to America and not being able to function as activemembers of society due to the horrors of the war. All I really know aboutthe war is what I have seen on television. I wanted to learn about the warthrough the firsthand accounts of those who were there. The Vietnam War was a military struggle fought in Vietnam from1959 to 1975. It began as an attempt by Communist guerrillas (or Vietcong)in the South, backed by Communist North Vietnam, to overthrow thegovernment of South Vietnam. The struggle grew into a war between SouthVietnam and North Vietnam and ultimately into an international conflict. TheUnited States and some 40 other countries supported South Vietnam bysupplying troops and munitions, and the USSR and the People's Republicof China furnished munitions to North Vietnam and the Vietcong. On bothsides, however, the burden of the war fell mainly on the civilians.1 On January 27, in Paris, delegations representing the United States,South Vietnam, North Vietnam, and the Provisional RevolutionaryCommunist Government of South Vietnam signed an Agreement on Endingthe War and Restoring Peace in Vietnam. The cease-fire officially went intoeffect on January 28. Both the US and North Vietnam asserted that therewere no secret peace terms.2 All the US fighting forces had withdrawn from Vietnam by March1973, but not without major losses on both sides. Two million Vietnamesewere killed and 3 million were wounded. The extensive use of napalm anddefoliants (such as Agent Orange) left many people badly burned, anddestroyed the ecology of a country that was mainly agricultur...
