Pulled along in a little red wagon... march on washington... 1967? 1969?

Later... Agnew resigns on TV.

Later still... "The Deer Hunter" and "Coming Home." I love Jane Fonda.
Love. Jane. Fonda.

Later still... I hate Jane Fonda.

Later still... at the Hall of Presidents in Disney World. Jacob asks me "What president did the most good things?"

"Well, Lincoln did good things. Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Lyndon Johnson did lots of good things. But... there was this war..."

-----

old boy and young man who seldom considered his own
dying a possibility. After all, they are little
people and it would take a lucky shot to slay a giant
before it is to late for another try.

 

Every Viet Nam combat veteran wears a tattoo of
memories etched by adrenaline. There"s nothing like
it, really. The total sense of presence, the giddy
laughter, helium voiced conversations with the grim
reaper. He promised to let me win.

 

I want to be held, then, ever so gently by my mother. To
be home in her kitchen with oatmeal and the distant
radio newsy voice reassuring that tomorrows weather
will make for some good fishing.

-----

I remember as a kid that the Vietnam war ended sometime before 1975 because there was an arcade game at the bowling alley in Sioux City called 'Nam '75 about a POW escaping a hostage camp after the war.

-----

The Deer Platoon, Jacob's Apocalypse, Good Morning Cacciato, Full Morning They Carried, The Life Jacket, Going After the Metal Ladder, Hunter Now, Still Vietnam Things

 

(Platoon, The Deer Hunter, Full Metal Jacket, Jacob's Ladder, Apocalypse Now, Good Morning Vietnam. Still Life, The Things They Carried, Going After Cacciato)

-----

Vague understanding of the war in general, too young or not paying attention, the main memory is of the "souvenirs" that my oldest brother brought back: ivory carved ship (?) still on my mom's *wall unit* (which she went gaga over); sweeeeet fringed suede caramel colored jacket (and pants to match) and very cheap stereo.

-----

1. Watching the war at the dinner table with my parents. I didn't know what it meant. There was always footage of guys lying down. I thought they were sleeping.

2. When the announcement was broadcast that the war was over (they broke into the CARTOONS for that), I ran into the living room and told my parents. They were not happy.

3. My uncle Danny and his cousin Johnny were about the same age. They watched the lottery from in a bar. Johnny got a good number and got to stay home, Danny was drafted into the army. If you asked Danny how he felt about it, he'd say "Well at least it's not the Marines. On the day he went in to be inducted, this big guy walks in, picks Danny and a bunch of other big guys out of the crowd and says, "Congratulations, gentlemen. You are now United States Marines." Danny worked as a cook. He told me he caught a bullet in his teeth. He didn't cut his hair for a long time after he came home.

Johnny went to college. He protested the war and went on tour with The Dead. To this day, he still feels guilty that he got carte blanche to his life. He told me the whole story about the draft.

That's all I can remember I was six or seven at the end of the war.

-----

the face of god the face of war the face of ho chi minh tough bastard didn't even masturbate plagerized the declaration of independence born on the same day as me and malcolm X but mccarthy ran all of our asian advisors into hiding thought they were commies what is the name of the viet cong soldier who made it across the lawn of the american embassy ak-47 blazing during the last hours of the tet offensive? what was the name of the marine that shot him/ her? what was the name of the last refugee to get on the last helicopter from the roof of that same embassy five (?) years later? thousands of troops amass themselves to watch the drama unfold on balboa with NVA flags flying bikes packed with tons of literally tons of gear and a big bamboo stick roped to the handlebars , two guys pushing it through 3 feet of mud uphill. no one remembers that the cops were hit with sandwich baggies full of shit and piss and the mc5 they were tearing across the park in the van with their gear. hello my big big honey. what was the kids name who broke his leg when he fell off that statue what was the cops name who pulled his pant leg and cracked his head open? was your dad in the vietnam conflict? my dad dreamnt he was there flatfeet the guy that sang tighten up archie bell and the drells from houston texas were gonna do a little dance we call the tighten up he was sitting in a foxhole when adrian croenauer announced the big hit from the states, on radio saigon, his band stateside? He's in the frontline with transistor radio.or what was the guys name who, in the beginning of the war, was dropped by helicopter into a meadow. a meadow that was at the foot of a mountain. ten thousand NVA lie waiting, silently under and in trees, in the great hollowed out bowels of the mountain a million chinese, I know, I seen 'em. there ain't no 6 foot gooks, they had to china men the clothes didn't fit and they had different eyes. and he had to take a dump he had to mel gibson made a movie about hundreds dead under the gun no toilet paper- like the french at dien bien phu in 54 (?).

"In the very near future the undersigned will be among your midst dehydrated and demoralized to take our place again as human beings with well known forms of freedom and justice for all."

-----

I remember a newscast during the Vietnam war that happened on Christmas day. I remember soldiers standing around a tree that looked sort of like a Christmas tree and they were praying and had stopped fighting for a few minutes. And I remember thinking...why would they start up again?

-----

there was a comic book called "the 'nam". It was published by marvel comics. It seemed to be in bad taste.