The world is my school, today my classroom was the War Remnants Museum, Ho Chi Minh City used to be called "Exhibition House for US and Puppet Crimes" and before that, Exhibition House for Crimes of War and Aggression. I also went to the Cu Chi tunnels.

This is a paper that shows the two perspectives of this war, the Vietnamese perspective and the American perspective.

I am a Vietnamese Palm tree and have been through a lot. One of the worst times for me was the American war. It started off with a war between South Vietnam and North Vietnam. There was lots of killing, then more and more Guerrilla's came running through to hide when the Americans started to attack us because South Vietnam asked them for help. A Guerilla even climbed my trunk and watched an American tank get blown up. I am lucky to be alive because Agent Orange poisoned a lot of trees. The Americans used this because the Guerrillas hid in the jungle so they wanted to get rid of all the hiding spots. The war started in the 1950's and the Americans came around 1965. It is now 1967. Agent Orange is starting to be spread so I watched the Guerrillas dig tunnels to get away from it. My roots got in the way of the tunnels so they got cut. The Agent Orange is coming towards me now, I wish I were underground.

One year later…

Agent Orange has gotten to me, I am dead.

I am an American oak tree and I live in Pennsylvania. This year has been a very sad year for me. Many of the families near me are very sad because their family members have been sent to war and came back dead. I have seen a few black body bags and many dog tags being carried up to their doors. All I remember is a boy climbing me, then he left for two years and when he came back he was scared of everything. When a balloon popped he would run and hug me. Here is what he says: "War was terrible, I was sent to Vietnam and I didn't want to go. I hate the agent orange, when it would make babies deformed and be born with out arms and legs, I really hate killing people. Not only did this chemical effect the trees and forests but it effected people too. I didn't want to kill so many people but we didn't know the difference between an innocent villager and a Guerrilla so sometimes accidentally killed them both. Even when I'd walk past a kid he might pull out a gun and shoot me. I could trust no one. I am so glad I made it out alive."

He would also always tell me about his 3 friends that went with him and were all killed by falling into a bamboo trap where the Guerrillas dig a hole in the ground then make a platform that would go on top of the hole and when someone accidentally steps on it they would fall into the pit. The nasty part about this is that in the bottom of the pit there were sticks of bamboo that were sharpened like spheres and when someone would fall they would bleed to death. This happened to all 3 of his friends. When he walked down the street all he'd say to people was, "South Vietnam asked for help so we gave them soldiers and equipment. I could tell you right now nobody wanted to go. We just wanted to help." Then he'd always finish off by saying: "I love you tree, and sometimes I feel like you're the only one that doesn't spit on me when I go outside the house."

Two years after he came back, he died from a heart attack when he heard a gun go off.

War is a nasty thing, what is it good for?

Peace on Earth

World Rings Bell