He died doing what he felt was right. He has won an Academy of American Poets Prize . So, I guess BobK's answer hits home! Some of the poems are as short asGuns: When the M-16 rifle had a stoppage, And thats the essence of war.. he was the Among his many awards and decorations were 29 for valor. gouged lips, odd tibias, skin flaps, and toes sidling heel and toe in graceful Her hands reaching for the no one And for what? the shrapnel in my thighs Current Location. Vietnam is officially reunited as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. A poet had better keep his mouth shut, he writes in Saying Good-by to Mr. and Mrs. My, Saigon,1972: unless hes found words to comfort and teach. None of his words had "b" in them. Four current veterans one of the Vietnam War and three who served in Iraq explain how writing their experiences down has helped them come to terms with what they lived through. Over their nose***, No jaw . If youve never been a soldier, you cant understand the bond between guys who, like he says, dont even necessarily like each other, but who are willing to be there for each other, Scruggs, 68, said in a telephone interview from Annapolis, Maryland, where he practices law. a way to throw off thedead. Bobrowsky, Cross, and Purcell contribute powerful poems. Climbing It was not the . He came to the United States in 1975. falling in slowmotion[.]. Pasture unfolding before us can denyit. They were fighting for what they believed in. Fink ended up spending a year in Vietnam. Its not Shakespeare, he said, but it says simply and directly what most military people, especially those who served in combat, feel about fellow soldiers.. that have been cut along the way Green as far from the shit They were written by military veterans, former reporters, refugees, and civilians. The American people turned their backs on the war long before it ended. Albuquerque High School, 1962. what do they know back where Never in anything have I found Possession turns on him like swimming ducks, More realistically, one hopes that in writing these poems, the poets might at least have begun to cleanse their own souls of the torment that was and is Vietnam. In Rocket Attack, he first describes the death of a young Vietnamese girl, then criesout: Daughter, oh God, my daughter Until Im covered and theres only one smell, as morning, curling, billows creep across *** But there is finally here, in these poems, a remarkable promise of hope, a refusal to forget the past and go on, willfully oblivious to history or the lessons that ought to have been learned. forcing his touchagain. It sounds like going in you knew this was a battle to the death, said Martin. in his last letter home/said in part/they are all rebels here/who will not stand to fight/but each time fade before us/as water into sand[. got a standing ovation Another collection of his poems,The Great Whirl of Exile, was published by Curbstone Press in 1998. from North Vietnam, mines strapped to their chests: Men fought and died for nameless hills, only to walk away from them when the battle was over. my fate was sealed when I ETS. And 'tho sometimes to his neighbors, his tales became a joke. South Vietnamese government falls. Major John J. Duffy served in special operations groups, often behind enemy lines, during four combat tours in Vietnam. as men whose duty it was to kill me filed by. a yellow fish eating a bird, a truck Equally significant is ex-Marine MacAvoy Laynes novel-in-verse, How Audie Murphy Died in Vietnam (Anchor Books, 1973). But behind the myth of the games creation is an untold tale of theft, obsession and corporate double-dealing. More on the War in Vietnam:The Tet Offensive (Sunday Morning)A promise fulfilled: Filming a story of heroism in battle (Sunday Morning)The lost platoon: Aftermath (Sunday Morning)A war photographers rediscovered images from Vietnam (Sunday Morning). to leave such gold, he thinks. He wrote the poem a few years after coming home, when he was a student at the Seminary of the Immaculate Conception in Huntington. Well enough to earn the nations highest honor and live to write poetry about it.President Joe Biden shakes hands with retired U.S. Army Major John J. Duffy, after awarding him the Medal of Honor for his actions in the Vietnam War, during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., July 5, 2022.SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images. Navy Crosses on my Face. Papers tell of their life stories, from the time that they were young. Who plants his rice in season Be brave my comrades. Love is a breach in the walls, a broken gate, Where that comes in that shall not go again; Love sells the proud heart's citadel to Fate. Saigon falls to northern forces. we fire on. no dead bulb gonna rise this May It's not often (if ever) a recipient of the Medal of Honor is also a published poet. VA benefits were a paltry disgraceand even the little that was offered had to be fought for tooth and nail. As your mucosity dries on my lips turned out to be artillery rounds. Stuck to her dress like jelly, Should you find yourself in danger, with your enemies at hand. "Literary critics may think it inappropriate, but I think poetry is a perfect vehicle for writing about war," Weigl said. So I can keep on living, Two earlier chapbooks had already offered tantalizing hints of Weigls ability, and when A Romance appeared in 1979, it immediately confirmed thatpromise. Who knows what else awaits only the touch of a pen or the favor of apublisher? Those Americans who supported the war couldnt understand why the soldiers couldnt win it. their damp flutes, Apr 6, 2009. Herbert Krohn, a former Army doctor, exhibits particular sensitivity and sympathy for the Vietnamese. upon her gold A third major book to appear during the bicentennial year was Walter McDonalds Caliban in Blue (Texas Tech Press). By the time, the Vietnam war became the longest and the most controversial war in world history. It was a brutal battle; no quarter asked, none given. and the VC would know our position. I lay down in it Watch Video: A Medal of Honor recipients epic poem of war, Major John J. Duffy (Congressional Medal of Honor Society), A promise fulfilled: Filming a story of heroism in battle, A war photographers rediscovered images from Vietnam, The Battle for Charlie' by John J. Duffy, in Trade Paperback and eBook formats, available via. I wrote the poem within a few days of that. front, put the leg down, likeswimming. I wrote a tribute to my son on Facebook for veterans day.but it wasn't poetry. damn, if(typeof ez_ad_units!='undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[970,250],'sandhillsexpress_com-box-4','ezslot_4',113,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-sandhillsexpress_com-box-4-0');CreateSpace PublishingBe brave my comrades. Moments later, a mine exploded. In late March 2003, while standing outside Nasiriyah, Iraq, former Marine Sgt. President Kennedy is assassinated; Vice-President Johnson succeeds Kennedy. with benediction like tiny glaciers. she is burned behind my eyes his cooplike, concrete sentry perched mid-bridge he could promise Somewhere over there was once your home. like sillowy seeds of milkweed pod, I remember a flower, goes off to serve his Country and offers up his life? . think it forgiven Duffy was the lone American advisor to a battalion of South Vietnamese paratroopers sent to hold Fire Base Charlie. he learned to pay much closer watch when it is a lie to speak, a lie to keepsilent. To cross a river meant leeches. ***. His MorningA Death is a masterpiece, capturing at once the new, sophisticated battlefield medicine of Vietnam and the ancient, ageless human misery and futility of allwars: You are dead just as finally they fire on us. Public obscenity likethis[.]. The jungle/loaded, nobody/comes away in one piece. And in Coming Home, henotices: Someone has stacked his books, Air strikes, code-named Operation Rolling Thunder, begin in North Vietnam. . Your wet clothes piled to all things, even small things, He believed in me.". The antiwar rhetoric really hit home with Fink after he heard former nun and antiwar activist Elizabeth McAlister speak at the seminary. In his poem, Duffy imagines the orders the North Vietnamese commander gave his troops: "The big American with the radio on his back, I want him killed, he is controlling the aircraft. We were given orders to fight to the death, Duffy replied. Under such conditions as these, there has been more than enough reason and plenty of time for once-idealistic youngsters to consider long and hard the war they fought, the government and the society that sent them to fight it, and the values they had once believed in. And finger paint the words of who I am He served as a correspondent during the conflict, and some of his descriptions of battle . This famous poem was written here in Huntington. Waiting for the enemy, faces without names; Their bodies mount-up now God's to claim. "A Vietnam Vet at The Wall" and ""He Was a Vietnam Vet" by Susan Raye White "A Soldier's Pledge" by Lynn Hughes "Bob" by Lt. William P. Brandt, Forward Observer, Vietnam "The Wounded Are The Lucky" by Rikki Duncan "I Can't Come Home" by M.L.Carte "Perspective of the Vietnam Memorial" by Judy/T. No one couldve expected more from them. a kite, a mannikin playing the guitar, But retired Green Beret John Duffy turned his trial-by-fire into an epic poem of the Vietnam War. You are twenty-three. Today, comfort and teaching themselves deceive some nights I dig in Nhatrang, in 1962, we just did ourjobs[.]. The dying and wounded moaning softly,Despair and hurt are common:Is this glory? Of a war that he had fought in and the deeds that he had done. No one couldve expected more from them. and ducks that others feed. In the tellingly brutal and straightforward poem, Burning Shit at An Khe, he describes in painful detail the repulsive task of cleaning makeshift outhouses: I tried to light a match never! The Tet Offensive begins on the lunar New Year, causing major doubts regarding US ability to secure the southern region. Powell "Daymare" by Dave King What else can we do? Like the Wall, Scruggs said, Finks poem addresses the loss that so many veterans felt and still feel. tell them shove it, theyre not here, tell them kiss the sad smile she alreadyhas. old counting the year/in days, . Is the greatest contribution, to the welfare of our land. The penis in the air His poetry and fiction have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies. Kill or die is our fate. if ( 'querySelector' in document && 'addEventListener' in window ) { Surely, in the process of trying, the best of them have added immeasurably to the body and soul of Americanpoetry. is to clean up all the troubles, that the politicians start. Im afraid to hold a gun now, wrote Charles M. Purcell, holder of the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry, What if I were to run amuck here in suburbia/And rush out into the street screaming/Airborne all the way!/And shoot themilkman.. President Nixon orders the Christmas bombings, the heaviest US air strikes since WW II. And not the jungle green And zonedresidential[.]. Sign in|Recent Site Activity|Report Abuse|Print Page|Powered By Google Sites. For he lived an ordinary, very quiet sort of life. these were only the mosquitos. Because of his unique situation, however, Balaban brings to his poetry a perspective unlike any other. "God Has Pity on Kindergarten Children" by Yehuda Amichai. the Army, It was a brutal battle; no quarter asked, none given. a nasty curse I should have foreseen. Next time I see you I owe you a big bottle of scotch. if(typeof ez_ad_units!='undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[300,250],'sandhillsexpress_com-large-mobile-banner-1','ezslot_0',117,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-sandhillsexpress_com-large-mobile-banner-1-0');if(typeof ez_ad_units!='undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[300,250],'sandhillsexpress_com-large-mobile-banner-1','ezslot_1',117,'0','1'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-sandhillsexpress_com-large-mobile-banner-1-0_1');if(typeof ez_ad_units!='undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[300,250],'sandhillsexpress_com-large-mobile-banner-1','ezslot_2',117,'0','2'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-sandhillsexpress_com-large-mobile-banner-1-0_2');.large-mobile-banner-1-multi-117{border:none!important;display:block!important;float:none!important;line-height:0;margin-bottom:15px!important;margin-left:auto!important;margin-right:auto!important;margin-top:15px!important;max-width:100%!important;min-height:250px;min-width:300px;padding:0;text-align:center!important}Copy that.Of the 471 men committed,I came out after two weeks of intense battlewith 36 surviving,most of them had been wounded.Duffy started writing the poem a week later, and has been adding to it ever since.No one won on Charlie;Each side managed to lose. It seems like, going in, your position was not survivable., I think probably so, but I was never fearful in the whole battle.. Some of these poems are very personal and dark while others are lighter, but I wanted to make them available to the public as an educational tool to everyone who is interested. got measured, issued new dress uniforms You chose to write poetry. Then the village | Privacy, Coyright, Legal Info | Website Developed by Hollman Media, LLC, class="cbs_national-template-default single single-cbs_national postid-2127832 tribe-no-js wpb-js-composer js-comp-ver-6.10.0 vc_responsive". me home, burning; men running out of theflames. if(typeof ez_ad_units!='undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[970,250],'sandhillsexpress_com-box-4','ezslot_4',113,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-sandhillsexpress_com-box-4-0');CreateSpace Publishing. One could feel enemy eyes Beautiful with herfacts. While thousands note their passing, and proclaim that they were great. A company of NVAs crashing toward you Moreover, for the most part, soldiers will fight and kill willingly only if they find that reason believable. but it never destroyed him., They cursed and killed and wept God knows, Pvt. Month after month went by in the jungles and ricefields and hamlets of Vietnam with nothing to show for it but casualties. South Vietnamese Prime Minister Diem is overthrown. Quintana is on the English faculty at Mesa College, San Diego. Soon it will be here,It seems strange no more.Martin said, Strange no more. From World War II, one can think of only a handful of poems, like James Dickeys The Firebombing, Randall Jarrells The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner, and sections of Thomas McGraths Letter to an Imaginary Friend. Martin said, Strange no more. And your platoon moves out without you, You study the things which start fromscratch. One would like to think that the soul of the nation might somehow be cleansed thereby, but that is hardly likely. 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