What are some photos that represent grunts’ (infantry) true struggle in the Vietnam War (American and VC/NVA)?
I have used the top photo a few times for my Quora writings. To me this photo shows the infantryman's war. It shows a US Army soldier dead on his feet just putting one foot in front of the other, probably catching a few winks while he's doing it. I've seen these guys in this way many, many times in troop support ops.
I give these guys all the respect I can muster because these guys, that boy you are looking at included, faced hell with only the shirt on their back. They bore the brunt of monsoon season with only a helmet on their head, faced snakes, spiders, centipedes, leeches, wild animals of all kinds plus the vicious NVA regulars and the VC. Again, all this with only a sweat filled, grungy shirt on their back. My God what men these were!
This photo was taken after a long hard ops and they are on their way back to base camp. This boy, someone's son, brother, is all beat in, but he's there doing his job. He might not want to be there, but he's there.

Comments
Post a Comment