January 14, 1969 was a gorgeous day on the coast of Hawaii; the sky was bright blue and the ocean was calm. The United States had been involved in the Vietnam War for more than twenty years. The ship, The USS Enterprise, was massive, and it was larger than a football field. The USS Enterprise had a nickname given to it, for the whole crew called it the Star Trek. It was the the first nuclear war ship, for it carried many nuclear bombs and planes to in order to drop bombs on Vietnam. The crew would launch bombs on our enemies all day and night. I had been on the ship for a about a year, but it might as well been a decade. Time would drag on when there was nothing but a large blue monster surrounding you; that is all I ever saw. No one had expected such an out of the ordinary day. I was standing on the lengthy flight deck, just like any other day, trimming out a plane: checking to make sure the wings, engine, and everything else was working correctly. I heard a loud roar, for it was a terrible explosion. As I turned around, and it was like the …show more content…
I was put incharge of spraying water on the bombs, in order to attempt to save them. I was spraying the bombs like my life depended on it because it did. My crew and I pulled out the hoses, but since no one had inspected these hoses for such a long time, they had filled with salt water, which had rotted them from sitting for so long. As soon as the pressure was applied the hose exploded. People were engulfed in flames, for I thought it was over for me. There was no way I thought I could possibly live through this disaster. There was no where I could turn; I was surrounded by fire and the ocean, nowhere was safe. The captain told me to do something and I did it. It seemed like we were fighting off the fire for an eternity; seconds felt like years, but in all reality it was only a few
In Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried, the readers follow the Alpha Company’s experiences during the Vietnam War through the telling’s of the main character and narrator, Tim. At the beginning of the story, Tim describes the things that each character carries, also revealing certain aspects of the characters as can be interpreted by the audience. The book delineates what kind of person each character is throughout the chapters. As the novel progresses, the characters’ personalities change due to certain events of the war. The novel shows that due to these experiences during the Vietnam War, there is always a turning point for each soldier, especially as shown with Bob “Rat” Kiley and Azar. With this turning point also comes the loss of innocence for these soldiers. O’Brien covers certain stages of grief and self-blame associated with these events in these stories as well in order to articulate just how those involved felt so that the reader can imagine what the effects of these events would be like for them had they been a part of it.
Vietnam was a highly debated war among citizens of the United States. This war was like no other with regards to how it affected people on the home front. In past war’s the population of the United States mainly supported the war and admired soldiers for their courage. During the Vietnam War, citizens of the U.S. had a contradictory view then in the past. This dilemma of not having the support of the people originates from the culture and the time period. During this time period it would be the fourth time Americans went to war in that century which made it tough for Americans to give their supportS (Schlesinger 8). Most Americans did not know why the country was getting involved in Vietnam as well as what the United States’ agenda was. This dilemma ties into the short story, “On the Rainy River” which is a passage from Tim O’Brien’s book The Things They Carried.
“The first explosions were heard on this Island in the evening of 5 April, they were noticed in every quarter, and continued at intervals until the following day. The noise was, in the first instance, almost universally attribut...
On the morning of 3 July 1988, shortly after sunrise, the USS Vincennes moved itself north to investigate "sounds of explosions" as reported by the USS Elmer Montgomery. However, this command decision by CAP...
It was a warm rainy June night the humidity was high which made it even harder to breathe on the crammed boat. My family was asleep on the constantly rocking boat suddenly the boat shook, but my family was still fast asleep. I couldn’t seem to fall asleep so I got up and stepped out on the cold wet steel boats upper deck to get some air. When I got outside I realized that it was pouring bucket sized rain. I saw increasingly large waves crash furiously against the lower deck. Hard water droplets pelted my face, I could taste the salt water in my mouth from the spray of the ocean. Suddenly A massive wave slammed hard against the ship and almost swallowed the boat. Wind gusts started kicking up. I held onto the rail grasping it as if it were my prized possession. Suddenly I was blown
On April 11, 1950, at 9:38 PM, a B-29 took off from Kirtland Air Force Base (AFB) in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The aircraft was on a mission to deliver a Mark 4 nuclear weapon to the 509th Bomb Wing at Walker AFB in Roswell. The aircraft and its crew of 13 were only in flight for approximately three minutes when the plane crashed into a mountain on Monzano Base, Kirtland AFB. All 13 personnel were killed in the crash. Neither the bomb, nor the high explosive material, exploded from the impact. Some of the explosive material was scattered and burned in the gasoline fire that resulted from the impact. The bomb cas...
It is impossible to accurately describe the major events that occurred during the cold war without mentioning the war in Vietnam. From its start, this war has been very controversial concerning its purposes and effects on the countries involved. Both sides of this war lost a great number of soldiers and most of these men and women were not even sure why they were fighting. To this day, there is still a lot of uncertainty about the events that took place during this heated time in south Asia. One of the biggest questions raised is why the United States felt it was their responsibility to ever got involved and what were they trying to gain by sending in their troops. A look at the history of the cold war and its relation to the Vietnam War can answer a lot of these uncertainties. Many of the decisions made by the officials involved in this war would not have been made if it were not the cold war and its effects on the countries involved.
President Richard Nixon once said "No event in America history is more misunderstood than the Vietnam war. Was misreported then it is misremembered now" (Nixon). The Vietnam War was one the longest wars in the world. It starred around 1940's When Ho Chi Minh raised to power. The war didn't just affect Vietnam, it effected the whole world. The United States joined the war around 1960's and ended in 1975. Both the Vietnam War and play Macbeth exhibits the theme of Patriotism. Newly elected president Nixon declared in 1969 that the United states would continue the involvement in the Vietnam War in order to "Help end the conflict and secure peace with honor for the United States" (Nixon). Most Americans thought the Vietnam War as a phenomenon of the 1960's when the US combat troops arrived in Vietnam. The Vietnamese people thought that the conflict started long before that when the Communist-dominated Viet-Minh who was led by the veteran revolutionary Ho Chi Minh, seized power in Hanoi from when he defeated the Japanese at the end of World War Two. After no negotiation returned from Ho Chi Minh full scale war broke out in December 1946. President Washington efforts to intimidated Hanoi failed, Communist leaders were then convinced that the Saigon Region was near to collapse and, North Vietnam stepped up infiltration and ordered a major effort to seek final victory in the south. but when Vie-Cong forces attacked a US camp at Pleiku in early February 1965. Johnson responded with in air-strike called Operation Rolling Thunder this convinced to enter the Vietnam War. The war has been considered a defeat to the United States. But In fact, the issues is not quite clear-cut. As where both Cambodia and Loas were placed under communist rule ...
When the shuttle was launched, everyone was full of joy, but seventy three seconds later everyone became dumbfounded. The shuttle had exploded and seven crew members died.
The message that both of the authors are trying to give us when Saigon Falls is that it’s depressing. First of all, In “The Forgotten Ship” it said,” The South Vietnamese government had fallen, the Communists were in control now…The Kirk set out to save the South Vietnamese Navy, and it ended up rescuing tens of thousands of desperate Vietnamese refugees,” (Shapiro). The tone is lost of hope and a Heroic tone at the end. Lost of hope is when it said “The South Vietnamese government had fallen, the Communists were in control now” and the word “desperate”. It gives a feeling of being a lost soul and losing homes; with nowhere to go. Heroic is when they rescued the refugees. “...ended up rescuing tens of thousands of desperate Vietnamese
The excitement among people was cut short by the unfortunate delay in flight, because of maintenance on one of its engines. The passengers boarded the plane a couple of hours after the scheduled time. Finally, it was cleared for taxi on runway 26-Right. The pilots lined the aircraft parallel to the runway. A tragic accident, however, was about to happen.
The other night I had a dream. I dreamed of a boy whom I had known a long time ago, but since then he had disappeared completely from my life. In my dream, I saw him sitting beside my bed and talking to me. He told me about the trip that he had taken with his parents, his two older brothers, and his sister when he was seven years old. He told me how his parents had been victimized by a man who knew about his parents’ desperate attempt to flee from Vietnam, so he took advantage of them.
The low hum of distant airplanes begin to draw nearer and nearer, but you pay no attention to it. You close your eyes, meditating in the relaxation of the brisk morning air. Without expectation, alarms begin blaring across the harbor. Your eyes shoot open in shock and horror as a ship on the far end of the row explodes into a colossal fireball. You notice the large red circle on each fighter, identifying them as Japanese fighters. One of the most infamous surprise attacks in history had begun.
The explosion caused a fifteen foot wave that was detectable one hundred miles away. Any buildings near by were completely flattened to the ground. Anybody within forty miles away their windows were shattered. The explosion was so great that it sent all of the cargo on board such as peanuts, tobacco, twine, and bunker oil two thousand to three thousand feet in the air. It was so loud that the blast was heard one hundred
The Higgins boat, other wise known as an LCVP (Landing Craft Vehicle Personnel) played a major role in attacks upon shallow beaches throughout the war. The Higgins boat is a very rugged rectangle boat with a bow that lowers down like a ramp in order to deposit troops or vehicles on shore. The LCVP also had a tunnel that protected the propellers for shallow waters and unsuspected obstructions. The boat is 36’3” long and 10’10” wide, even though it is small it could carry 36 troops or 12 troops and a vehicle. The boat didn’t only play a major role in D-Day but in many attack on Japanese islands as well. This boat was a very important innovation because of it’s unique ability to land on any shore imaginable, from sandy bottom to coral reef.