The Vietnam War Interviews

One of the most infamous reasons as to why the war was so unpopular was the My Lai Massacre. Committed by the Charlie Company, 11th Brigade, it was the massacre of hundreds of unarmed Vietnamese civilians, mostly women and children. In January, 1968, the 11th Brigade was informed from military intelligence that the 48th Battalion of the National Liberation front had retreated to My Lai village. A number of hamlets within the village were suspected of harboring members of the 48th Battalion and offensives were planned to get rid of them. On the eve of the attack, the Charlie Company was convinced that villagers who did not leave to go to the market by 7 a.m. are either members of the Viet Cong or sympathizers of them. They were ordered to destroy the entire village and when the captain was asked whether to include women and children, there were different accounts of his briefing.

As a result, Lieutenant Calley ordered the murder and rape the civilians there. “I was shocked at this,” said Mr. Johnson in the interview, “it was really horrifying that such a thong would happen.” Like most other Americans, Mr. Johnson was incredibly shocked at the massacre. This massacre fueled the anger of the American peace movement and they demanded that troops be removed from Vietnam and that there would be better volunteers to provide better leadership. More importantly, it changed the attitude of the American public towards a more anti-war attitude. The horrific stories of the soldiers were taken more seriously and more atrocities came to light. This is one of the main reasons why the Vietnam War was so unpopular.

Another reason the war was so unpopular were the large number of protests involved. While I interviewed him, Mr. Johnson told me about his experiences from the protests of the Vietnam War. He told me that although he never participated in any protests against the war, he had quite a few friends who did. Despite that protests were small and slow at first, it quickly grew and can be credited for removing the troops from Vietnam. By 1973, due to the escalating number of casualties and success of the Viet Cong, most people felt that the war could no longer be won.

Many anti-war supporters argued that the war was immoral, that there was no clear objective, and that South Vietnam lacked political legitimacy. Mr. Grant, being a veteran, was unlikely to participate in protests against the war and did not. However, he told me, “At the time, I felt angry at the protestors for protesting while we where fighting for our lives in Vietnam… I later realized that had there not been protests, then the war would have been longer and there would have been more deaths.” There were quite a few veterans that protested against the war and on June 1st, the Vietnam Veterans Against the War was founded. Protests were a major reason as to why the war was so unpopular.

Possibly the last major reason as to why the war became so unpopular was the American lose, the only war lost in the history of America. On April 30, 1975, Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam, was captured by the North Vietnamese army, thus marking the end of the war. “It really saddens me that we came thinking we were fighting for the right thing, but in the end, we ended losing.” Mr. Grant was not the only one saddened by the end of the war. Although it finally brought an end to the killing, it was the first lose in American history and an embarrassment as well.

After interviewing both Mr. Johnson, a music teacher, and Mr. Grant, a Vietnam War veteran, I was able to learn many fascinating ideas and experiences from them. However, after the to interviews, I noticed something in common from both interviews, that they were both rather negative about the war. Though Mr. Grant had a more positive feeling about the war than Mr. Johnson, it was, nevertheless, quite negative. Through the research, I learned many fascinating facts about the Vietnam War and the many examples of anti-war sentiment. Indeed, Vietnam was very unpopular but like all wars, in the words of someone else, no body truly wins. In the end, everyone loses something.