The Little Green Army Man: A MN Remembers Vietnam Submission

photo by Library of Congress

This story was submitted as part of Minnesota Remembers Vietnam. We have faithfully reproduced each story as it was originally submitted for the Story Wall, and have not corrected any spelling or grammar errors.

By Trilva Melbo | Hampton, MN

I was in elementary and high school during the war.

What I remember most was every evening we ate dinner, we had the news on t.v. The national news had a little green army man up in the corner of the screen with the number of service people lost during the Vietnam Conflict that day and in total.

I would compare that number to population of our town then larger and larger towns. I wondered how it would be if all of a sudden all the people in these towns then cities were killed.

It puzzled me that the anchors of the news, my parents and other adults did not seem to realize what these number meant. Why wasn’t anyone doing anything about this!! It was like those nightmares where no one will pay attention to the horror around you (explains a nightmare I had as a child that I still remember.. just connected that).

In high school, I spoke against the war, not popular where I lived. Also, I felt it was cruel how the soldiers were treated when they came home even if I was against the war. Now I look at the our returning hero’s and think again about the treatment the Vietnam vets got.

Thanks for giving us this outlet. I am in tears.