The War in Vietnam

Recently, I was watching a movie set in Tibet about the search for the reincarnation of a revered lama.

In one scene, a monk and the presumed reincarnation, a 2-year-old boy, are flying in a helicopter. It’s a peaceful moment, with spectacular scenery. But for me, the rhythmic chop, chop, chop of the helicopter blades immediately evoked the Vietnam War.

Admittedly, I’ve watched my share of movies about this war. But I was still surprised to discover that sound association so deeply embedded. This tiny glimpse of a post-traumatic trigger naturally put me in mind of the war and its veterans.



War seems a constant inspiration for literature, and the Vietnam War is no exception. “Matterhorn: A Novel of the Vietnam War” by Karl Marlantes is now appearing on best-of-the-year lists, as did Denis Johnson’s “Tree of Smoke” in 2007.

Reviews of recent fiction on Vietnam tend to include two common elements.

First, the reviewer wonders if we really need another novel about this war. Having answered this question with a triumphant yes, he then proclaims this necessary new work THE novel of the war, implying that no more will be required. And then another comes along.

I personally found “Tree of Smoke” to be unreadable. “Matterhorn” though, will achieve canon status.

Veteran Marlantes spent 30 years writing this novel, which has been described as coming as close to the war experience itself as is possible. In the words of Sebastian Junger: “It’s not a book so much as a deployment, and you will not return unaltered.”

Marlantes seems poised to join Tim O’Brien, Robert Olen Butler and Graham Greene in the Vietnam War literature pantheon.

Some of the lesser-known authors are worth remembering as well.

John M. Del Vecchio, for example, wrote “The 13th Valley” about a two-week infantry operation in the mountains near Laos. Detailed military action, combined with a probing look at the hearts, minds, souls and bodies of the special infantry “grunts,” turns a tale of one operation into a sweeping epic of the war.

Joe Haldeman, famous in the world of science fiction, is another veteran whose work was profoundly influenced by his wartime experience. His “Forever War,” which he later turned into a series, and which Ridley Scott is adapting for film, won two of science fiction’s most prestigious awards.

He also wrote one “straight” novel, “1968.” It was the year of the Tet Offensive, escalating anti-war sentiment, the assassinations of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy, and the election of Richard Nixon as president. Haldeman explores this tumultuous year through the experiences of Spider, a new soldier on the ground in Vietnam, and Beverly, the girl he left behind.

Horror writer Stephen King also jumped genre and wrote a novel about the war, although he himself did not serve. “Hearts in Atlantis” is composed of five interconnected novellas and an epilogue. Despite a few weird moments and occasional creepiness, this is not a horror novel. Though the war is not even mentioned until halfway through, it is most definitely a Vietnam novel, one of unusual perception and poignancy. Many consider this to be King’s masterpiece.

Some more recent novels have addressed the war from quite different perspectives.

James Janko’s “Buffalo Boy and Geronimo” explores the effect of war on the natural world through the converging stories of an Army medic and a Vietnamese peasant boy.

“Of Rice and Men” by Richard Galli takes a darkly humorous look at the Army personnel assigned to teach the peasant farmers of South Vietnam how to grow rice and peanuts, a little-known aspect of the army’s role in Vietnam.

Dave King’s “The Ha-Ha” tells the story of Howard Kapostash, who was injured by a land mine on his 16th day in Vietnam. Left with an odd-looking head and the inability to produce words either spoken or written, Howard’s re-integration into civilian life is slow and painful, both for him and those around him. This is an unflinching but ultimately hopeful tale of one of the “lucky ones” — those who were only wounded.

Today is the 45th anniversary of the Battle of la Drang, the first major engagement between the United States Army and the People’s Army of Vietnam. “We Were Soldiers Once … and Young” by Harold G. Moore and Joseph L. Galloway tells this story. In 45 years, many stories have been told. Many more are still to come.

Photo from the U.S. Army (Creative Commons)