Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam Page #3

Synopsis: A documentary featuring letters written by U.S. soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines during the Viet Nam War to their families and friends back home. Archive footage of the war and news coverage thereof augment the first-person 'narrative' by men and women who were in the war, some of whom did not survive it.
Director(s): Bill Couturié
Production: HBO Films
  Won 2 Primetime Emmys. Another 5 wins & 2 nominations.
 
IMDB:
7.9
Rotten Tomatoes:
100%
PG-13
Year:
1987
84 min
5,395 Views


Jeez, you know,

this is an 'in' war,

one of the hippest things

in this whole world.

I've read where officers

were quoted as saying,

'This is the only war

we've got.

Don't knock it.'

This war is not going to end

by any one single battle

or combination of battles.

It could be a situation

that could drag out for some time.

Certainly, as the war gets

more intense...

and I feel that it will

in coming the months...

we will suffer

more American casualties.

"Dearest Bev,

last night we had the V.C.

all around us.

Bev, don't ever tell

Mother this,

but at times I feel

I will never come home.

The V.C. are getting

much stronger.

So I think this war is going to get

worse before it gets better.

The days

are fairly peaceful.

But the nights

are pure hell.

I look up at the stars

and it's so hard to believe

that the same stars shine over you

in such a different world

as you live in.

All my love, Al."

"Hello, dear folks.

It's going to be hard

for me to write this,

but maybe it will make me

feel better.

Yesterday

my company was hit

while looking for V.C.

They told me that they needed

someone to identify a boy

they'd just brought in.

It was very bad they said.

So I went into the tent

and there on the table

was the boy.

His face was all cut up

and blood all over it.

His mouth was open.

His eyes were both open.

It was a mess.

I couldn't really

identify him.

So I went outside

while they went through

his stuff.

They found his I.D. card

and dog tags.

I went in and they told me

his name...

Rankin."

"I cried, 'No, God,

it can't be.'

But sure enough,

after looking

at his bloody face again,

I could see it was him.

It really hit me hard

because he was one

of the nicest guys around.

He was

one of my good friends.

No other K.I.A. or W.I.A.

hit me like that.

I knew most of them,

but this was the first body

I ever saw.

And being my friend,

it was too much.

After I left the place

I sat down and cried.

I couldn't stop it.

I didn't think I ever cried

so much in my life.

I can still see

his face now.

I'll never forget it.

Today the heavens

cried for him.

It started raining

at noon today

and has now

finally just stopped

after 10 hours of the hardest rain

I've ever seen.

Love, Richard."

What we've just seen,

men fighting for their lives

in the jungles

of South Vietnam,

is what has aroused

such apprehension and debate

throughout the world.

War is brutal,

and the reaction to it is strong.

This week hundreds of people

demonstrated against it.

Others have voiced

their concern by question and dissent.

Public opinion polls

indicate

that the dissenters are

in the minority,

Rate this script:5.0 / 1 vote

Richard Dewhurst

Richard Dewhurst (May 26, 1826 - October 13, 1895) was an American lawyer, judge, banker and lumberman from Neillsville, Wisconsin who served in the Wisconsin State Assembly for four single discontinuous terms over four different decades (from the 1850s to the 1880s) under four different political party labels (Republican, Union, Liberal Reform and Independent); and was defeated twice when running for election on the ticket of a fifth party, the Democratic. more…

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Submitted on August 05, 2018

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