Was the Vietnam War Justifiable? Personal Memories and Family Legacies

Was the Vietnam War Justified? A Family’s Intimate Struggle and Legacy

The Vietnam War started in 1954 and ended in 1975; it was a war that was very long and costly. The Vietnam War was started by the united states present Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1954. He was the president of the united states of America and sent 2,709,918 army men to fight in the Vietnam War.

There were between 200,000 and 250,000 people who died in the Vietnam War. My personal connection to this is that my papa served in the Vietnam War. My papa’s name was Harold William Robinson Sr. It affected my family by when he was fighting in Vietnam. They had to smoke cigars, which made his lungs bad, and he did not have long to live.

When he died in 2009, it really put a hole in our hearts. The orange spray that they used caused a disease called Ramsay Hunt Syndrome. I do not know if my papa had this disease, but I do know that he did have a lot of problems with breathing because they smoked to keep calm during the Vietnam War. He had been on oxygen since 2005; I was only four years old when he had to get on oxygen. Before he was on oxygen, we would, as a family, go camping, and we would go on his pontoon boat and go and fish for any fish that we caught. If it was legal, he made us put it in an ice chest full of water, and we had to put in the ice chest and close it, and then we had to bait our own line with whatever bait that we wanted to put on the line and if a fish breaks your line you had to rehook it because he would not re hook it for you unless you do not know how to hook your line.

Cherished Memories: The Enduring Impact of a Grandfather’s Love and Legacy

Since 2005, we do not go camping as a whole family anymore, but sometimes my family, like the ones that I live with, go camping and kinda do what he did. If it was raining and it was very cold outside, and the fishing spot was open, he would go and fish and catch a lot of fish. We would go over to his house on our birthdays and holidays to visit because it was hard for him to get out of his house to come and visit us. We made it easy as possible for him because he had to stay indoors and rest all the time. Every time when he tried to stand up, he would get very tired, and he would not be able to walk. He was a man that did not care how bad of shape he was in; he only cared that his grandchildren go to see him and get to know him. Every time it was your birthday, he would give as many spankings as how old you were turning as. He is a man that you will never forget. He was very funny and scarring at the same time. Even now, I do not know that well, he still is in my heart, and I do love him very much. When he passed, it tore my heart because he was the only real grandfather that I had at the time, but I did have a step-grandfather. He was the only one that had because my dad’s dad passed, so now I only have my step-grandfather left today.

References

1. Karnow, Stanley. “Vietnam: A History.” Penguin Books, 1997.
2. Herring, George C. “America’s Longest War: The United States and Vietnam, 1950-1975.” McGraw-Hill, 2013.

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