BLAME ON BOTH SIDES:
AMERICA AND THE VIETNAM
WAR
“I was either too crazy or too stupid to act otherwise
but I always felt I could not let my fellow comrades
down, so I did what was necessary, but I have always
considered this the dark time in my life. I did not enjoy
taking the lives of other people, I did not see them as
the enemy, just people, just like me caught in the middle
of that disaster. So I took steps to distance myself from
that time and place and went underground so to speak
and became invisible to the rest of the world.”
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Brief Explanation on Anthony Calamito
Brief Overview on American Involvement in Vietnam
General Quotes on Crimes Against The Vietnamese
Casualties of War
American Views on the War in Vietnam
Quotes on American Treatment and Torture
Jeremiah Denton
Conclusion
Me
Dad
MY FATHER:
ANTHONY
CALAMITO
Anthony Calamito
was a helicopter pilot
with the United States
Army. He served with
the First Calvary
Airmobile Division,
in the 227th Aviation
Battalion.
AMERICA AND VIETNAM
 1961-President Kennedy offers military assistance to Ngo Dihn
Diem and sends the first U.S. advisors to South Vietnam
 August 1964-U.S. Congress passes the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution,
which allows President Johnson the use of any means necessary
to prevent North Vietnamese aggression
 February 1965-Viet Cong attacks the U.S. air base at Pleiku
 March 1965-Operation Rolling Thunder begins over Vietnam
 March 1965-The First U.S. combat troops are sent to Vietnam
IT WASN’T UNCOMMON
“The policy
here is
anyone
killed is a
Vietcong so
(they don’t)
care who
you are if by
chance you
get shot;
they say he
was
‘Vietcong.’”
“I talked to
the
battalion
and they
said that as
far as they
were
concerned, if
he’s dead
and
Vietnamese,
he ‘s VC.”
“THEY JUST SAID VC, VC. THEY OPENED FIRE
ON THE LOCAL CIVILIANS, THEY WERE ONLY
OLDER WOMEN AND CHILDREN.”
CASUALTIES OF WAR
 On November 18th 1966 Private First Class Sven Eriksson went on a patrol
with four other soldiers
 That morning the patrol kidnapped a young girl later known at Phan Thi
Mao
 Phan Thi Mao was raped by the four other members in the patrol; Eriksson
refused to participate
 Mao was later murdered by two soldiers in Eriksson’s patrol party
 Eriksson vowed that Mao’s kidnap, rape and death would come to light and
that the men responsible would be held accountable
 After speaking to his Lieutenant and a commanding Captain, it took a Army
chaplain to bring Mao’s abduction, rape and murder to light
THE VIEWS ON VIETNAM
http://www.history.com/topics/vietnam-war/vietnam-warhistory/videos/coming-home?m=528e394da93ae&s=undefined&f=1&free=false
THE PAIN CAUSED BY THE VIET CONG
“Four marines from another
regiment were captured and later
discovered in a common grave,
also tied up with their skulls
blasted open by an executioner’s
bullets.”
“Men would tell me how they would be talking
to a buddy one minute and watching him die
the next. Or wake up in the morning and see a
friend hung from a tree by hooks in his
armpits with parts of his body shoved in his
mouth.”
U.S. Navy Pilot who was
taken as a POW on July
18th, 1965 and spent the
next seven years and
eight months as a POW.
During his time in
captivity Denton made
history by blinking out
the word TORTURE in
Morse code using his
eyes. Confirming for U.S.
suspicions that American
POW’s’ were being
tortured in North
Vietnam.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgelmcOdS38
WORK CITED PAGE
 Calamito, Anthony. "My Fathers Time in Vietnam." March 20th, 2014.
 Hillstrom, Kevin, and Laurie Hillstrom. Vietnam War Biographies. A-K. Vol. 2. Edited by Diane
Sawinski. Detroit, MI: The Gale Group, 2001.
 Horne, A.D. The Wounded Generation. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: The Washington Post Company,
1981.
 Lang, Daniel. Casualties of War. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1969.
 Munson, Glenn. Letters from Viet Nam. New York, NY: Parallax Publishing Co., Inc, 1966.
 http://vietnamwarfacts.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/tet-offensive-young-victim.jpg
 http://images.moviepostershop.com/casualties-of-war-movie-poster-1989-
1020469753.jpg
 http://www.veteranstoday.com/2010/07/13/gordon-duff-vietnam-decades-of-liars-
blacken-the-names-of-real-heroes/vietnam_soldiers/
 http://images.fineartamerica.com/images-medium-large/anti-vietnam-war-protestors-
calling-everett.jpg