The Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was long and costly. Many didn't support it and towards the end, so many people were against it that Nixon had to pull the troops out. The US officially with drawled in 1973 and it was humiliating. However Ms. Volpe deeply remembers the war when it was still in full swing. Many of the young men that she knew were affected, even her brother. She remembers there were deferments, for example if a boy had high blood pressure, he wasn't selected to go. In fact many boys fled to Canada to escape the draft because they didn't support the war. "My mother was frantic because my brother was in his 20's and we didn't want him to go" (Volpe) She claims that even though she loved and supported her country, she didn't want her brother to be drafted, especially because they had heard of so many deaths. In answering the original question 'Overall did you support the Vietnam War why or why not?' She said : "I supported it in the sense that we were trying to prevent Communism from going into South Vietnam from North Vietnam... It was an awful war. I never really, and still don't, feel like we ever accomplished much going there. It was almost like, a waste, except for the fact that you would never wanna think that way because of all the people that died... but yeah, I hated the Vietnam War... I lost a lot of friends and my brother lost a lot of friends, and when I go to Washington and I see the Vietnam Memorial, I think it's one of the most heartbreaking ones of all."
I asked her about her brother and how it felt when he could have been drafted. She responded with "Well you don't wanna pray for someone you love to have high blood pressure, but you don't want them to go to Vietnam because at that point in time, the news of what was happening there and the horrible stories, I mean chances are you went to Vietnam and you didn't survive." I admitted to her that I was a bit confused on how the drafting process worked and so she explained to me that; "All the young men during that time were given a number and they would tell you... we're drafting the numbers from one to 500. And depending on what your number was, like id you had 501 you weren't gonna be one of the ones that were drafted. However, after an examination if you had high blood pressure or any other medical issues you were deferred, you didn't go. I believe that (her brother) was within the numbers of being drafted, however when he went for his physical he had high blood pressure, and for that reason he didn't go." (Volpe) I was thankful that she explained it to me because, as I said, I didn't really understand the drafting process prior to the interview, but now I do.
Another big part of the war, was that many Americans didn't support it. There were many riots and protests across America. "It was sad because, you know they would burn the flag and my goodness you know so many people were against the war and so many people did leave the country just so that they wouldn't have to be involved in the war." (Volpe) I was surprised by this because before the interview, I knew that Americans hated the war, but I never knew that people went to such lengths, like fledding to Canada, in order to avoid it. In fact Rosemary even said; "It was a very dark horrible time." When concluding her answer about the protests. I felt really bad for her in that moment because like she said before, she wanted to be loyal to her country but at the same time, her and many other Americans couldn't ignore the casualties that came with the war.
However, when Nixon finally made it a goal to get American troops out of Vietnam, citizens rejoiced. Even though the pull out was humiliating for America, everyone knew that not very much was being accomplished while our troops were there. "I was very happy when the war ended... I believe it had to." (Volpe) Rosemary also agreed that American troops weren't accomplishing very much in Vietnam, and even though we were there to contain the spread of Communism, we were there for no personal gain other than to protect South Vietnam, and the casualties that our troops were experiencing were far too great to justify our purpose for being there.
I asked her about her brother and how it felt when he could have been drafted. She responded with "Well you don't wanna pray for someone you love to have high blood pressure, but you don't want them to go to Vietnam because at that point in time, the news of what was happening there and the horrible stories, I mean chances are you went to Vietnam and you didn't survive." I admitted to her that I was a bit confused on how the drafting process worked and so she explained to me that; "All the young men during that time were given a number and they would tell you... we're drafting the numbers from one to 500. And depending on what your number was, like id you had 501 you weren't gonna be one of the ones that were drafted. However, after an examination if you had high blood pressure or any other medical issues you were deferred, you didn't go. I believe that (her brother) was within the numbers of being drafted, however when he went for his physical he had high blood pressure, and for that reason he didn't go." (Volpe) I was thankful that she explained it to me because, as I said, I didn't really understand the drafting process prior to the interview, but now I do.
Another big part of the war, was that many Americans didn't support it. There were many riots and protests across America. "It was sad because, you know they would burn the flag and my goodness you know so many people were against the war and so many people did leave the country just so that they wouldn't have to be involved in the war." (Volpe) I was surprised by this because before the interview, I knew that Americans hated the war, but I never knew that people went to such lengths, like fledding to Canada, in order to avoid it. In fact Rosemary even said; "It was a very dark horrible time." When concluding her answer about the protests. I felt really bad for her in that moment because like she said before, she wanted to be loyal to her country but at the same time, her and many other Americans couldn't ignore the casualties that came with the war.
However, when Nixon finally made it a goal to get American troops out of Vietnam, citizens rejoiced. Even though the pull out was humiliating for America, everyone knew that not very much was being accomplished while our troops were there. "I was very happy when the war ended... I believe it had to." (Volpe) Rosemary also agreed that American troops weren't accomplishing very much in Vietnam, and even though we were there to contain the spread of Communism, we were there for no personal gain other than to protect South Vietnam, and the casualties that our troops were experiencing were far too great to justify our purpose for being there.