First Post

This is a student project created for a United States History class. The posts in this blog are of historical nature about a specific event in U.S. History. This blog deals with the Vietnam War. This is not meant to be expert scholarship and there may be errors. This is a first attempt at learning something in more depth. There has been a genuine effort to properly cite all pictures, quotes, information gathered in this research project. For a list of sources see the final blog."

Michael Agostinelli

FNG's

Actual Blog date: Sunday, May 16th, 2010
Historical Date: December 10, 1968
10,000 miles we traveled. All of us, a collective force of over three million came strong to fight for dear old Uncle Sam. I arrived on the beach at Da Nang (1), near the border of North Vietnam, ready and eager to serve my country to the fullest. White, Black, Hispanic and Native American, and I’m sure I saw a couple Guamian and Hawaiian men standing proud, bare out of our teen hood. We were originally sent to fight as a unit but eventually just came as replacements. Some of the landing zones were greeted by friendlies and people carrying wreathes. I overheard some of the older troops talking about how the soldiers in the air terminal of Tan Son Nhut were greeted by sniper fire. That’s a funny thing about the older troops, they call us newbies or cherries. it almost made us want to spend a few months in the brush so we could label other new guys cherries or FNG ("****in' New Guys")(1).

Agent Orange Briefing

Actual Blog date: Wednesday May 19, 2010
Historical Date: December 12, 1968
Today we had a safety briefing on the one the chemicals they were dropping by the gallon on the forests. They called it agent orange, a herbicide and defoliant. The supposed goal of the spreading of this chemical was to help destroy the forest where we believed the Viet Cong were hiding. Some of the effects though they told us included cancer, deformations, and several birth defects. They showed us some of the pictures of people who were affected by the chemical. Private Marcus vomited after a short while.(2)

The Tet Offensive

Actual Date: 05/20/10
Historical Date: February 1, 1968
Its been two days since the surprise attack by the Viet Cong. There was supposed to be a cease fire on Tet, some holiday marking in the beginning of spring. They over ran us, we were unprepared and they just walked right in. I ran as fast as I could with the other men in my unit. My heart is still pounding and I’m still shaking even as I write this. We’re heading back to Kontum to see if anyone is still around. To be honest, after today, I don’t think we’ll win this war. (2)

On The Run

Actual date: May 21. 2010
Historical date: February 1, 1967
Second entry for today, we’ve traveled a good 50 miles through dense forest. What’s left of the unit is stopping to take a breather, however we all clench our guns to our chest and have our eyes unintentionally alert. We lost a couple men on our trek, most of them to fire from enemy guerrillas and traps. We had a section on traps and pitfalls the Viet Cong used and the markers to look out for them. Seems they didn’t read too heavily into that part of the book. That’s the worst part about fighting in the jungle, they could be anywhere, they could lay any trap, and we would have no idea if they were right in front of us or in the tunnels under us. (2)

A Just Cause

Actual date: May 20, 2010
historical date: Feb 3rd, 1968
Its been two days since I arrived and I've already seen some things I don't think I'll ever forget. Because the enemy is guerilla forces we never be sure if someone is a Viet Cong or a genuine citizen. The interrogations are brutal and they keep insisting they are not Viet Cong. Lt. Jacobs is adamant though, until he gets a confession he won't stop. Today however was something different, the Lt. had discovered a Viet Cong Officer. There was a police chief nearby named Nguyen Loan. Lt. Jacobs thought it was a good idea for him to execute the prisoner. When he did shoot the officer he congratulated the police chief, telling him it was a "just" cause. There was also a reporter nearby, I only caught the end of his name though, Adams I think it was. I wonder if this made it back to the states. (1)

Massacre at My Lai

Actual Date: May 20, 2010
Historical Date: March 16, 1968
The barracks have been in an uproar recently. News from the United States says that a lot of people oppose the war here. Apparently that photographer did make it back and that photo of Loan executing the Viet Cong officer caused quite an uproar. Another photo showing the effects of agent orange also caused quite a backlash at us. Captain Ernest Medina said he was ordering an operation plan to take out a battalion of Viet Cong. The areas in the Son My Village were designated My Lai 1,2,3, and 4. He said let no one live. (4)