Timmy Johnson's Life-Personal Narrative

I firmly believe that such memorials are extremely valuable to veterans. It has been said of veterans that they seldom talk about their military experiences; however, in my thinking, that is not an accurate appraisal. We think about those times; nonetheless, it’s difficult to find, even among loved ones, those with whom one feels at ease to share those memories and feelings. YET, standing in the solitude of these memorials, a soldier’s thoughts flow freely as he/she reminisces

It was a soldier’s death, and just what he would have

In the accounts of the unit’s Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Colonel Tom Kunk, was not seen as a great leader if one at all by the accounts of his subordinates. A memorial service was held for Three soldiers

“Facing It”, written by Yusef Komunyakaa, tells a story of the long list of names on the granite Vietnam Memorial in Washington D.C. The speaker is able to show a great deal of emotion which was able to bring forth emotions in me. After reading this poem I was filled with feelings of gratefulness, sadness, and pride. My grandfather is a veteran of the Vietnam War and I remember when I was a young child making visits to my grandparents house seeing my grandfather in uniform posted in frames on the walls. I remember seeing an American flag folded and laying peacefully in a glass box.

Within multiple occasions, the writer adds the emotional effect to grab the reader’s attention and to make one aware of the sacrifice the first responders contributed. Now that the writer has caused the audience to feel emotional or uneasy of the matter, the writer then states, “I showed him a photo of my brother, FDNY Capt. Billy Burke, Engine Co. 21, who perished in the North Tower after refusing to leave

Yusef Komunyakaa, the author of “Facing It,” is a Vietnam Veteran who appears to write as a means to express his grief, pain, and postwar experiences. Being a Veteran myself and having been to the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, D.C. several times, I empathize with Komunyakaa. The first thing I noticed upon walking down the path to the monument was how quiet and peaceful it was, yet the sorrow and pain was deeply rooted. I located the names of family, friends, and the MIA Marine’s name “CAPT RICHARD R. KANE” on my MIA/POW bracelet. This experience sent chills throughout my body and was emotionally overwhelming.

In light of the 10th anniversary of the Iraq war, Tomas Young, a former veteran on hospice writes “The Last Letter” (2013). In Young’s letter, he elucidates that the war was anything but necessary. He asserts that the lives of veterans, the family of those veterans, and even those in Iraq and America, will be spent in “unending pain and grief.” His purpose in persuading the audience, in this case George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, to change perspective of the war, its many deaths, and disappointments, to call out their reasons for initiating the war and to call out the injustice of what the Iraq war has done to millions of people, is successfully achieved in Young’s letter with the use of a tremendous amount of figurative language and appeals

Comfort is provided in saying “Your loved ones were daring and brave, and they had that special grace, that special spirit that says, ‘Give me a challenge and I’ll meet it with joy’” (Reagan). He praises their loved ones to banish any negative thoughts of cowardice and pain. He brings comfort in the form of acknowledging that their loved ones were impactful, intelligent, and courageous heroes while submitting to a tone of grief yet also pride.

This made me think how hard it must to be keep being reminded the lost of someone near and dear to your heart, and I can relate with my own family. One quote that made me wonder is the quote “ … where there were more troops, more deaths, more headlines” I was wondering why was there more deaths, troops and headlines.

I guess in a way a Soldier can always understand the life of another Soldier. The people really never change, just the times. It caused me to reflect on my military experiences greatly; the pain, the suffering, the life and the death. The man who once resided at that marker might not have been much different than me. Maybe he had a wife, kids, and aspirations.

It’s revolting. Evil. The history and the memories between us were truly unbelievable, and we were there for each other all the way. I’m just so distraught, overall, I feel as my tears are going to smudge away the writing, but it’s so difficult to control the inexorable breakdown that’s coming right now. I feel ashamed, ripped away from the world, I do not feel like a soldier.

You left your family and friends into a bloody war you could of died but you didn’t mind. You took your life for mine. You made things in life better then if you didn’t go into the war. My papa went into the war and he made it out safe. Those stripes and stars in our flag came from you.

Throughout Kyle’s ten years of being a SEAL, He has had to go through some tough trials. His whole life was dedicated to protecting the lives of all Americans. The worst hardships were his losses and the people he failed to protect. “My regrets are about the people I couldn’t save—marines, soldiers, my buddies.

( Swanson 57). Each action taken that night by so many made a big difference, and it saved the lives of some, and alerted the nation of the next threat it was to face. So many facts of that night have since been forgotten… this book provides readers with a chance to discover the real facts of

These soldiers devote their lives to the war, and sadly they are easily forgotten. But for Tim O’Brien and various other authors, “We kept the dead alive with stories” (239). These stories are a way for dead friends and family members to seem alive again. The stories reveal their character and many of their best moments alive. O’Brien utilizes storytelling to cope with the death that surrounds him, and to keep their memory burning on