Betrayal Exposed in Vietnam Perkasie, By Ehrhart Essay -- Vietnam War

The Vietnam warfare was a controversial troth that plagued the United States for many years. The loss of life caused by the war was devastating. For those who came spine alive, their lives were profoundly changed. The impact the war had on servicemen would affect them for the rest of their lives individually soldier may have scarcely played one subaltern(a) part in the war, but the war played a huge part in their lives. They went in note one way, and came home feeling completely different. In the book Vietnam Perkasie, W.D. Ehrhart describes his change from a proud fresh Ameri offer Marine to a man filled with immense confusion, anger, and vice over the atrocities he witnessed and participated in during the war. Growing up, Ehrhart lived in a small town called Perkasie, where he had a very safe and comfortable life. He had always felt prideful of his kingdom. He would ride nigh with red, white, and blueweed crepe paper hanging from his bicycle and was brought to tears by the ceremonies on Memorial Day. As a baby bird, he played war with his friends and love the battery powered toy gun he got one Christmas. It only seemed natural to him that he would join the service someday. His pride and loyalty to his country came to a peak when John F. Kennedy was assassinated. That year he wrote on his notebook computer ask not what your country can do for you ask what you can do for your country (page 8). This instilled in him a need to do something more, a need to serve his country. When it came to choose a college, he decided he would rather join the Marines. When describing his decision he said, I guess it assortment of means something to me- you know, that old lump in the throat when you hear the Star- glint Banner (Ehrhart, 60). He felt that he enlisted... ...f his stay in Vietnam, he had wished he had never heard that word. He became horrified by this war. The erstwhile proud American was no longer so proud of his country. The Vietnam War was not like the movies he saw as a child the screams were real, and when men fell down they didnt get up, and the sticky wicked substance splattering against your leg was somebodys intestines (Ehrhart, 246). Although he had his family and friends around him upon his return home, it seemed that Ehrhart was alone in The World. Unless someone was there, they could not possibly picture the thoughts and memories he had to live with. The gruesome memories from Vietnam had permeated him completely they engraved into his mind and would undoubtedly scar him forever.Work CitedEhrhart, W.D. Vietnam Perkasie. University of Massachusetts Press second translation edition (June 9, 1995)