Fallen Angels: A history for the setting ~ The Vietnam War
English 30-2 Novel Study
FALLEN ANGELS by Walter Dean Myers
Fallen Angels is a war story set in Vietnam during the last stages of the
American occupation of Vietnam. In order to understand better the horror the main
characters feel, we need to understand something of this country and the war which
destroyed it and its people
Vietnam, in South East Asia lies to the south of China. Its neighbors to the
west are Laos and Cambodia. On its ocean side, you will find the South China Sea
and the Gulf of Siam. Vietnam is primarily an agricultural country with the main
crop being rice which is grown in wet, slough like fields called “paddies” These
paddies which are on flat plains are surrounded by mountainous jungle. The
climate is a monsoonal tropical climate which means it is hot (35 - 40 degrees) and
wet (from 1524 - 4064 mm precip/year) most of the time.
The Vietnam war officially began in 1945 with the end of W.W.II. Previously
the French occupied the area, but the nationals (Vietnamese) were violently
opposed to the French presence. They set up groups of resistance to try to regain
their independence. One of these groups was called the Viet Minh whose leader was
Ho Chi Minh. He was a communist who wanted an independent Vietnam. In 1945,
Ho Chi Minh took over the government from the Japanese, but the French came
back. In 1946 war broke out between the Viet Minh and the French.
America was initially in favor of Ho Chi Minh’s resolve to win independence for
Vietnam, but when it found out that he was a communist, it withdrew its support.
The Americans helped the French set up a government in the south of the country
which was welcomed by many Vietnamese because they were promised full
independence by the French. The war between the Vietnamese and the French
dragged on until 1954 when a peace conference was signed. The French agreed to
leave, and Vietnam was divided in two. Ho Chi Minh was a bit “ticked off” He did
not want Vietnam divided, so he ordered war against South Vietnam. The
Americans were afraid that Ho Chi Minh would win this war, and by doing so
spread communism. Because they were afraid of the “domino effect” America joined
the war to try to contain communism. The Americans were very afraid that
communist China might try to take over southeast Asia just like the Russians had
done in Eastern Europe. At first America only sent weapons and advisors to
Vietnam, but by the late ‘50’s and early ‘60’s thousands of American troops were
sent as well.
Fallen Angels: A history for the setting ~ The Vietnam War
By the early 1960’s it was clear that the Viet Minh were winning the war. Ho
Chi Minh had an army of 100,00 guerrillas called Vietcong who controlled large
areas of South Vietnam. Ambushes, terrorism, and torture were common tactics
used by the “cong” to control the territory . Peaceful villages were attacked.
Women and children were tortured and killed, and ambushes were set up in these
“ghost villages” to try to kill as many Americans and South Vietnamese as possible.
The Americans found fighting these guerrillas extremely difficult and frustrating.
They had had no experience with this type of warfare, and did not know how to
attack an enemy they could not see. Frustration levels among the Americans were
extremely high because they knew they were losing the war, but could do nothing
about it.
In 1968, President Johnson of the U.S. had a difficult choice to make. He could
pull out of Vietnam and write off his losses, or he could continue to fight the spread
of communism by staying there and fighting more. In spite of public outcry, he
chose to stay and fight, and sent even more troupes (500,000) to try to counteract
the money, weapons and soldiers sent to Ho Chi Minh by Russia and China. “Draft
dodgers” left America to come to Canada because they did not feel they could fight a
war they did not believe in. These people were banned forever from returning to
their homeland. They were “traitors and cowards” in the eyes of the government
and those who were brave enough or patriotic enough to go fight. (General amnesty
was awarded after the war, so their exile was short-lived.)
In Vietnam two techniques were used (out of frustration) to try to stop the
Vietcong: the use of Napalm and Agent Orange. Napalm was a jelly which was
sprayed from the air. Upon contact with humans, it would literally burn the flesh
off the living bodies. Agent orange was a defoliant which killed millions of acres of
vegetation. When these tactics made little difference, Johnson order the bombing of
cities in North Vietnam.
The media reported the atrocities of the Vietnam war around the world, and
public outcry was deafening. The horror and cruelty of the war was seen and
recognized by millions of people who began to see the Americans as monsters
concerned with killing and maiming innocent victims of the war. Protests and
demonstrations were staged all over America; Johnson could do very little about
the situation. He was trapped between destroying America’s good name, and
allowing communism to spread unchecked across Asia. The American citizens
accused Johnson of sending young men to their deaths in a war that could not be
won. They also were horrified that he would continue to wage a war on innocent
Vietnamese women and children. When Johnson left office in 1969, he handed the
whole mess to Richard Nixon who continued the war because he did not want to
admit that the great “American War Machine” had been beaten by Communists.
Fallen Angels: A history for the setting ~ The Vietnam War
The Vietnam war began “winding down” in 1973 when Henry Kissinger,
Nixon’s foreign affairs advisor, had secret talks in Moscow with the North
Vietnamese. In return for a ceasefire, he offered to withdraw all American troops.
When the North Vietnamese were slow to agree, he bombed more North cities to
persuade them to hurry it up! By January 1973 the agreement was signed, but
Americans soldiers did not leave until March. However, the fighting between the
North and South did not completely stop until May 1975. The communist tanks
rolled into Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam, and the Communists officially took
over South Vietnam. Their first act of control was to change the name of Saigon to
Ho Chi Minh City. The cost of the war was enormous. Between 1965 and 1973, the
Americans had spent more than 120,000 million dollars and had lost 58,000 men.
The French lost 74,000 men and the Vietnamese had 2 million casualties. This does
not include men who were sent home with permanent emotional and physical
disabilities. The really sad part of this is that the Americans were so embarrassed
about the whole episode, that
most of these vets were
ignored, and were not given
the financial and emotional
support and assistance they
were entitled to. The War
Veterans had to fight their
own government when they
got home to get the help they
so desperately needed. Many
of them never forgot or
forgave their country’s
leaders for the terrible
injustices done to them.