The Truth of War
By Logan Zick
War often bloody, cruel, and unforgiving often this will shape young men into mature and strong adults that people will respect and look up to, but for the Vietnam War, and its veterans it’s a different story. The Vietnam War the first war that was almost fully televised and reported on honesty, and America saw the real side of the war and didn’t like what they saw. 1996 was the start of it when a Vietnamese torpedo boat fired upon The U.S.S Maddox, but not for the reasons the American people were told about. The people were told that the Maddox was in international waters, but the truth was that it was in Vietnamese waters spying, and the torpedo boat had every right to fire on them for trespassing. And thus started a long and drawn out war, and at the end of it, American people were tired of these men being drafted and fighting in a civil war between North Vietnamese and South Vietnamese we really had no right to be in. The American people would end up hating and despising many if not all veterans coming home calling them baby kills and other names because of the actions of a couple of miss understood orders.
This is what our project, and exhibition was based on the events that happened during The Vietnam War. At the Beginning of the project we learned about the events leading up to the war such as the Cold War and the Cuban missile crisis, so that we understood a bit of the background of why america wanted to join the war so that the spread of communism would stop. After this we jumped into Ken Burns Documentary on the Vietnam War, and reading The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien, and taking notes and discussing these two views of the war that were showing us the truth about everything that happened. After this we started doing empathy interviews to try to understand what students teachers, and peers really wanted out of a good exhibition, and after compiling all of these interviews together we looked over the notes we took from them and started making mini prototypes of the exhibition. Once that was done we edited them put them through review and we voted on the best that all of us liked and picked a few out from there and voted again for the final product.
At the exhibition we made a walk through of many of the different sides of the war, going through a living room which portrayed what the American people where being told and what they thought of the war. This was the room I did there where more rooms that showed what the war was on the ground both for the Americans and the Vietnamese. But in my room the living room it was more personal in my opinion because instead of putting up some papers about what we learned or some documents we found on the internet we decided to act out an entire scene of a father talking to his son/daughter about her brother that was in the war and transitioning into a living room to talk to the mother and watch a video that was made by Taylor Grits and Parker Smith. After this, the scene ended and there were lights that came on and shown down onto some letters that were sent back and forth between many high ranking officials during the time of the war. Overall the room worked so well we had practiced our lines many times and the transitions and emotions in the sense because we were trying to portray what it really was like for a family back then.
In conclusion, I loved this project it was fun and interesting and had a great exhibition, in the end, everything we learned about the Vietnam war was as unfiltered as possible so we didn't just see America's side for the war but also the Vietnamese. I personally believe this is an exhibition that I will always remember and think, that we really did a good job. I hope that we can keep out during ourselves each year with a better and better exhibition.
By Logan Zick
War often bloody, cruel, and unforgiving often this will shape young men into mature and strong adults that people will respect and look up to, but for the Vietnam War, and its veterans it’s a different story. The Vietnam War the first war that was almost fully televised and reported on honesty, and America saw the real side of the war and didn’t like what they saw. 1996 was the start of it when a Vietnamese torpedo boat fired upon The U.S.S Maddox, but not for the reasons the American people were told about. The people were told that the Maddox was in international waters, but the truth was that it was in Vietnamese waters spying, and the torpedo boat had every right to fire on them for trespassing. And thus started a long and drawn out war, and at the end of it, American people were tired of these men being drafted and fighting in a civil war between North Vietnamese and South Vietnamese we really had no right to be in. The American people would end up hating and despising many if not all veterans coming home calling them baby kills and other names because of the actions of a couple of miss understood orders.
This is what our project, and exhibition was based on the events that happened during The Vietnam War. At the Beginning of the project we learned about the events leading up to the war such as the Cold War and the Cuban missile crisis, so that we understood a bit of the background of why america wanted to join the war so that the spread of communism would stop. After this we jumped into Ken Burns Documentary on the Vietnam War, and reading The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien, and taking notes and discussing these two views of the war that were showing us the truth about everything that happened. After this we started doing empathy interviews to try to understand what students teachers, and peers really wanted out of a good exhibition, and after compiling all of these interviews together we looked over the notes we took from them and started making mini prototypes of the exhibition. Once that was done we edited them put them through review and we voted on the best that all of us liked and picked a few out from there and voted again for the final product.
At the exhibition we made a walk through of many of the different sides of the war, going through a living room which portrayed what the American people where being told and what they thought of the war. This was the room I did there where more rooms that showed what the war was on the ground both for the Americans and the Vietnamese. But in my room the living room it was more personal in my opinion because instead of putting up some papers about what we learned or some documents we found on the internet we decided to act out an entire scene of a father talking to his son/daughter about her brother that was in the war and transitioning into a living room to talk to the mother and watch a video that was made by Taylor Grits and Parker Smith. After this, the scene ended and there were lights that came on and shown down onto some letters that were sent back and forth between many high ranking officials during the time of the war. Overall the room worked so well we had practiced our lines many times and the transitions and emotions in the sense because we were trying to portray what it really was like for a family back then.
In conclusion, I loved this project it was fun and interesting and had a great exhibition, in the end, everything we learned about the Vietnam war was as unfiltered as possible so we didn't just see America's side for the war but also the Vietnamese. I personally believe this is an exhibition that I will always remember and think, that we really did a good job. I hope that we can keep out during ourselves each year with a better and better exhibition.