The Legacy of the Vietnam War
Reading for
Information
• Book Excerpt, page 217
• Letter, page 220
• Timeline, page 222
What’s the Connection?
Chaim Potok
that name.
to be called by
when he began
began running.
e couldn’t remember to call him Zebra when he first
Zebra.
Perhaps they started when they started to call him
running
Or maybe he began and he loved to run.
where he
took him to a zoo,
He loved the name
young, his parents
creatures, like stubby
When he was very time. They were odd-looking
first
white stripes.
saw zebras for the thick-necked, with dark and
,
about Africa, and
horses, short-legged went with his parents to a movie
a grassy plain, dust
Then one day he
thundering across
them,
of
he saw zebras, hundredsclouds. a
boiling brown
10 rising in
192
Examine the
What
photograph.
identify?
images can you
a
CHARACTER
PLOT
AND
know
What do you
about the character
Zebra so far?
point of view
character and
unit 2: analyzing
Use with “Zebra,”
page 192.
RI 2 Determine central ideas in a
text and analyze their development
over the course of the text; provide
an objective summary of the text.
A
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In “Zebra” you read about a veteran of the Vietnam War. In the
following selections, you will learn more about the war and the
Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
Standards Focus: Summarize
Have you ever seen a news report about something, such as
digital music, and then read about that topic in a book? Even
though they were on the same subject, it is likely that the news
report and the book each had a different main idea, the most
important thing that a writer wants you to know about a topic.
As you read the book excerpt and the letter, you will identify the
main ideas and the supporting details, which are examples or facts
that help you understand the main ideas. After finishing these
selections, write a summary of each of them, a brief retelling in
your own words. Use a chart like the one shown to record the
information and write each summary. Follow these steps:
• Break down the selections into parts, such as paragraphs
or sections.
• Jot down the main idea and supporting details in each part.
Think about the overall meaning—the writer’s message.
• For the summary, write a topic sentence explaining the overall
meaning of the text. Then provide the most significant details.
Part 1 Main Idea
Part 2 Main Idea
Part 3 Main Idea
• detail
• detail
• detail
• detail
• detail
• detail
My Summary: Overall Meaning + Significant Details
216
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Reading for Information
A Wall oƒ
Remembrance
F
OCUS ON FORM
Th is an excerpt
This
from a nonfiction
book about a
historical event.
The purpose of a
nonfiction book is to
provide interesting
information. Unlike
a news article, it does
not need to focus on
current events.
By Brent Ashabranner
10
The outpouring of messages and
mementos left at the Vietnam
Veterans Memorial is unique; no
other national memorial has
evoked such a response. On special
days the tokens of love and
remembrance are many, on rainy
or snowy days perhaps only a few,
but I have never been to the
memorial when there were none.
I am sometimes puzzled by the
mementos left, sometimes deeply
touched, always reminded that
behind the names on the memorial there were and are mothers,
20
30
fathers, wives, children, grandchildren, friends, and sweethearts
who still love and miss those who
did not return from Vietnam.
What is the meaning of a tattered
dollar bill beneath panel 24E? An
empty red glass beneath panel
14W? A can of sardines, a teddy
bear, Tinker Toys, a soccer ball
beneath other panels? Only
the person who brought the
remembrance can know what it
means to him or her and what it
would have meant to a special
name on the wall.
reading for information
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217
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a
SUMMARIZE
Choose a phrase or
sentence from lines 1–45
that sums up the most
important idea of this
section. On your chart,
record that phrase or
sentence and the main
idea.
40
b
BOOK EXCERPT
Reread Ashabranner’s
thoughts about the wall.
Then reread Focus on
Form on page 217. What
makes the wall such a
good topic for a book
excerpt?
218
Notes and letters left at the
memorial are different. You understand, at least in part, the
emotion behind them. And I remember a card left at the wall by
a woman whose husband’s name
was on one of the black granite
panels. She had put the card there
on what would have been their
silver wedding anniversary—
twenty-five years. It reminded
me of how long the Vietnam War
had been over—and of how long
the important memories are part
of our lives. a
I long ago decided it was all
right to read the messages left at the
memorial. They are expressions of
50
60
private grief and love, but I think
that the people who leave them
do not mind sharing their thoughts
and feelings with others; perhaps
they want to share them. b
More than 55,000 remembrances of all kinds have been
left at the wall since it was dedicated, and that number does not
include tens of thousands of
flowers, wreaths, and other floral arrangements. Organic material is not saved, but National
Park Service rangers collect all
other items left at the memorial.
The remembrances are gathered
up at the end of each day and
sent to a warehouse known as
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Reading for Information
the Museum Resource Center.
At the center every item collected
gets a bar code and is placed in a
70 plastic bag.
David Guynes, former director of the center, once said to
me: “There are so many questions, so many mysteries, in these
memorabilia. So many stories
are in them, so much feeling,
emotion, heartache. What can
be learned about America and
Americans from these things
80 they have brought? Altogether,
these materials make up a very
important part of the story of
the Vietnam War. This is the
material of social history.” c
90
100
Duery Felton, curator of the
National Vietnam Veterans Collection at the Museum Resource
Center, told me that the number
of memorabilia and messages being left at the wall is increasing on
special days. During one three-day
period in 1997—Memorial Day,
the day before, and the day after—
park rangers collected 2,300 items
that had been left at the wall.
And yet, in a certain sense, each
of the thousands of things left at
the memorial is unique. The reason, of course, is that the person
who left it and the person whose
name is on the wall had a relationship that was theirs alone. d
This black beret (left) and
Purple Heart (right), along
with the other items shown
were all left at the wall.
SUMMARIZE
c
Reread lines 54–70.
Identify a phrase or
sentence that gives the
main idea of the section.
Then do the same with
lines 71–84.
RI 2
d
SUMMARIZE
Keep in mind that a
summary is a brief
retelling in your own
words. In a summary
that you prepare for
evaluation, the main
idea and supporting
details must be stated
as clearly as possible.
For the book excerpt,
review the main ideas
and details you’ve
recorded so far in your
chart. Considering the
entire book excerpt,
what are your thoughts
about its overall
meaning? Start your
summary with a topic
sentence and include
any details you think
are significant.
reading for information
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A Mother’s Words
e
SUMMARIZE
Mrs. Eleanor Wimbish of Glen Burnie, Maryland, is the mother of William
R. Stocks, who died in the Vietnam War. For years she left letters to her son
under his name on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D. C. e
Carefully read
the headline and
introductory text at
the top of this page.
These will help you
understand the main
ideas of Eleanor
Wimbish’s letter.
10
20
220
Dear Bill,
Today is February 13, 1984. I came to this black wall
again to see and touch your name, and as I do I wonder if
anyone ever stops to realize that next to your name, on this
black wall, is your mother’s heart. A heart broken 15 years
ago today, when you lost your life in Vietnam.
And as I look at your name, William R. Stocks, I think
of how many, many times I used to wonder how scared and
homesick you must have been in that strange country called
Vietnam. And if and how it might have changed you, for
you were the most happy-go-lucky kid in the world, hardly
ever sad or unhappy. And until the day I die, I will see you
as you laughed at me, even when I was very mad at you,
and the next thing I knew, we were laughing together.
But on this past New Year’s Day, I had my answer.
I talked by phone to a friend of yours from Michigan, who
spent your last Christmas and the last four months of your
life with you. Jim told me how you died, for he was there
and saw the helicopter crash. He told me how you had flown
your quota and had not been scheduled to fly that day. How
the regular pilot was unable to fly and had been replaced by
someone with less experience. How they did not know the
exact cause of the crash. . . .
He told me how, after a while over there, instead of a
yellow streak, the men got a mean streak down their backs.
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Reading for Information
30
40
Each day the streak got bigger and the men became meaner.
Everyone but you, Bill. He said how you stayed the same,
happy-go-lucky guy that you were when you arrived in
Vietnam. How your warmth and friendliness drew the
guys to you. How your lieutenant gave you the nickname
of “Spanky,” and soon your group, Jim included, were all
known as “Spanky’s gang.” How when you died it made it
so much harder on them for you were their moral support.
And he said how you of all people should never have been
the one to die. f
How it hurts to write this. But I must face it and then
put it to rest. I know after Jim talked to me, he must have
relived it all over again and suffered so. Before I hung up the
phone I told Jim I loved him. Loved him for just being your
close friend, and for being there with you when you died.
How lucky you were to have him for a friend, and how
lucky he was to have had you. . . .
They tell me the letters I write to you and leave here at this
memorial are waking others up to the fact that there is still
much pain left, after all these years, from the Vietnam War. g
But this I know. I would rather have had you for 21
years, and all the pain that goes with losing you, than never
to have had you at all.
f
SUMMARIZE
Reread lines 24–35.
What supporting details
does this paragraph
reveal about Bill’s
personality and his
influence on others?
Use your own words
or brief quotations to
answer.
g
SUMMARIZE
This paragraph contains
one of the main ideas of
the letter. What is it?
reading for information
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Timeline: U.S. Involvement in Vietnam
The seeds of the Vietnam War were planted in 1858 when France
attacked Vietnam for control of the government. After decades of
frustration under foreign rule, many Vietnamese began supporting
the Communist movement against the French. Meanwhile, the United
States struggled against the spread of communism worldwide.
1950 The United States sends
economic aid to the French forces
in Vietnam.
VIETNAM
1954 The French are defeated. Vietnam
divides into Communist North and nonCommunist South.
1957 Communist rebels (the Viet Cong)
fight for control of South Vietnam.
1965 Antiwar
protests become
widespread.
1965 The United States bombs North
Vietnam. The first U.S. combat troops
arrive in South Vietnam.
ns
1968 U.S. citizens
begin to think the war
cannot be won.
1968 The number of U.S. troops in
Vietnam reaches its peak. The North
Vietnamese and the Viet Cong launch the
Tet offensive, a series of surprise attacks.
1970 Four students are killed at an
antiwar demonstration in Ohio.
1973 All U.S. troops leave Vietnam.
1975 South Vietnam surrenders
to the Communists. The U.S. Embassy
in Vietnam is evacuated.
1970s
1960s
1950s
USA
1990s
1980s
1978 Thousands of refugees flee Vietnam
to escape poverty and punishment for
aiding the United States during the war.
222
1982 The Vietnam Veterans Memorial
is dedicated in Washington, D.C.
1986 The Vietnamese government begins
economic restructuring.
1995 The United States and Vietnam restore full diplomatic relations.
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Reading for Information
After Reading
Comprehension
1. Recall When did the last U.S. combat troops leave Vietnam?
RI 2 Determine central
ideas in a text and analyze
their development over the
course of the text; provide
an objective summary of the
text. W 2 Write informative/
explanatory texts to examine a
topic and convey ideas.
2. Clarify What kind of person was Bill Stocks?
3. Clarify In general, how would you describe the remembrances people
leave at the Wall?
Text Analysis
4. Analyze In the book excerpt, the objects left along the Vietnam Veterans
War Memorial are described as “expressions of private grief and love.”
Why do you think the writer lists specific examples?
5. Identify Main Idea Think about the main idea of Eleanor Wimbish’s
letter. Describe this main idea to a friend or relative.
Read for Information: Evaluate a Summary
writing prompt
Write a one-paragraph evaluation of a classmate’s summary of
the letter.
Exchange your summary of the letter with a classmate’s. Read it carefully.
Then review it as you check “Yes” or “No” to answer the checklist questions.
Finally, write your one-paragraph evaluation, basing it on your checklist
responses.
• Is the summary presented in a clear, well-organized manner?
• Is the summary brief?
• Does the summary touch upon the main ideas and supporting details of
the selection?
• Does the summary convey the overall meaning of the selection?
Yes No
✓
Summary
Checklist
Evaluation
reading for information
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