Diary Entry August 16, 1968We just finished eating some hot food that was brought to us, we don’t get many days like that. Most of the times we eat out of cans or packaged food from army poaches. We are in the mansoon season whent it rains for three months continuessly and even if they supply us with dry clothes, within the half day we will be soaking wet again.
The letters are wishing me many happy birthday wishes and I guess I’ll lite up this one candle that was sent to me and have my friends here celebrate even if it’s fourteen days late. I haven’t had a day off after so many combat missions so now is as good as any.
Besides, they just spotted some enemy not too far ahead and they are asking for a volunteer group to form a killer team and go seek the enemy and engage. They are too close to our area and we don’t want them hitting our camp area.I didn’t ask for it, but when some of my buddies did, I couldn’t say no to them. We are like one big family that depends on each other for support.
The helicopters are here and we have to load them so that they can drop us off further up north so the enemy will not get a clear view as to where we are at right now. They will watch the helicopters arriving and letting us off while they lay in a low profile to get a fix on us and ambush us later. It’s a game, we know they are there, they know we are coming, it’s just a matter of who ambuses who.
My legs on hanging out from the opening of the helicopter as it vibrates up in the air in the skies. Boy, it’s a lovely sight to see if you like trees and such. I do, and I find beauty even in this hostile enviroment. The hills and the mountain side from here looks like something I have seen in pictures in magazines, but I don’t forget that it is full of hiding places for the Viet-Cong.
I will be the first one to get off the helicopter and I must quickly set myself down and ready to fire my weapon. I must project the ones that will unload after me. I must provide a fire cover if someone begins to shoot at us. I need to put my diary away, make the sign of the cross, say a little prayer and be ready for action. I’ll write later if nothing happens to me.
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Diary Analysis
Unlike the poem War Trauma this diary entry show a bit more hope towards the Vietnam War. Although it begins stating the harsh conditions they have to live by, quote: “Most of the times we eat out of cans or packaged food from army poaches.” It then goes onto talking about the mate ship and teamwork of the writers team, quote: “I didn’t ask for it, but when some of my buddies did, I couldn’t say no to them.” And then later: “I will be the first one to get off the helicopter and I must quickly set myself down and ready to fire my weapon. I must project the ones that will unload after me.” This mate ship gives the reader a great sense of console as it shows how close the soldiers were to each other. Its makes the beginning lines of text talking of bad food and wet clothes seem almost as if none of that matters to the soldiers, as long as they still have their best mates in war.
The diary entry itself was written in 1968 while the writer was a soldier in the Vietnam jungle, the soldier mentions the landscape as “The hills and the mountain side from here looks like something I have seen in pictures in magazines”. The actual soldier that wrote about his experiences is an American citizen named Oscar Elizondo. He fought in the Vietnam War while he was very young and went back to his country to work as a teacher. Oscar posted his diary entry online with the title “August 16, 1968 Wounded On My Birthday” to share memories with possible fellow soldiers. This is one of many diary entries he posted along with the stories he wrote for children. |