Essay Contribution for Traveling Vietnam Wall

Can you imagine coming back from the war and having people booing and hating you for serving your country? That’s what it was like for many soldiers returning from Vietnam. The Vietnam War was one of the most important wars in United States history. Although we lost and many soldiers died, our country learned how important it is to respect and love our soldiers who return from fighting for the United States. The war lasted for about twenty years, from 1957 - 1975, however the U.S. only had troops there from 1965 - 1975. The war was a civil war where North Vietnam and South Vietnam were fighting for unification. It was part of the Cold War as the U.S. supported South Vietnam in its quest for freedom and Russia supported North Vietnam in its desire for a unified communist country. The reason the U.S. got involved in the war was because they did not want the country of Vietnam to become communist. It was a hard place to fight a war because soldiers struggled to find their enemies in the jungles and to even determine who was the actual enemy. Sometimes the soldiers faced booby traps and ambushes from people who they thought they were fighting with, not against. 58,272 U.S. soldiers died in this war and it is believed that millions of Vietnamese died also. President Richard Nixon decided to remove our troops starting in 1969. In March of 1973, the final troops were removed and by April of 1975, South Vietnam surrendered to North Vietnam and Vietnam became a unified communist country. The U.S. clearly lost the war and its goals were not achieved.

Sadly, the soldiers who returned home were often not treated as heroes or properly welcomed home. During the war, many people back home didn’t support the war because they didn’t think it mattered if Vietnam became a communist nation. Some people even said soldiers were killing babies for no reason. Through the years, people have realized that this lack of respect was a