Everyone learns, at some point in their life, about the Vietnam War and how it effected not only the soldiers fighting in Vietnam, but the people home in the U.S. Many of us learned how these soldiers were young men, mostly from middle or lower class families and we know how many were African-Americans, a minority that didn’t even have the same rights as other citizens in the U.S. but were still putting their lives at risk for their country. What they failed to tell us, or perhaps what I failed to learn was that many of the soldiers were also Latinos. As I did a bit of research on the internet, I began to get frustrated because non of the links that would pop up would talk about any Latino soldiers. They all failed to mention that Latinos were a part of the war. Finally, I found an interview about Nick Aguilar, a Latino Vietnam Veteran and Laura Varela, the producer/director of the documentary “As Long as I Remember: American Veteranos.” The interview is based on Varela documentary, which is about three Mexican-Americans vets and their stories in Vietnam and what they and the Latino community went through. I have posted the trailer for the documentary and I want you all to notice one thing right at the very beginning of the video, the narrator says ” It’s not my war. It’s not my people’s war…”. A very powerful statement, especially when you learn that Latinos were among the many men that died and suffered from PTSD. Why are their stories not known?
Works Cited:
Burke, Megan, and Maureen Cavanaugh. “Film Explores Legacy Of Vietnam War On Mexican-American Vets.” Film Explores Legacy Of Vietnam War On Mexican-American Vets. KPBS, 10 Apr. 2010. Web. 13 Mar. 2014.