A Journey From War To War

By Bill Powell

TIME (edisi Asia) · TIME edisi Asia, 9 Mei 2005 (3 halaman). Bagian dari entri majalah TIME (Asia) 9 Mei 2005 · 2005-05-09

Identifier

KBA-KLP-2005-0003

Type

Kliping

Publisher

TIME (edisi Asia)

Date Issued

2005-05-09

Bibliographic Citation

TIME edisi Asia, 9 Mei 2005 (3 halaman). Bagian dari entri majalah TIME (Asia) 9 Mei 2005

Creator

Bill Powell

Subject

Perang Irak Pertempuran Fallujah Perang Vietnam Jatuhnya Saigon Pengungsi Vietnam Diaspora Tionghoa Warga Vietnam-Amerika

LC Classification

DS79.76 — Perang Irak 2003–2011

LCSH Subject

Iraq War, 2003-2011 -- Casualties Vietnamese Americans Refugees -- Vietnam Vietnam War, 1961-1975 -- Influence

BISAC Category

HIS027170 HISTORY / Military / Iraq War (2003-2011)

Language

Inggris

Description

This clipping contains Bill Powell's article "A Journey From War To War" from the Asian edition of TIME magazine, 9 May 2005. The scan consists of three colour pages with several photographs, including a photograph of Vietnamese people climbing into an American helicopter at the fall of Saigon, a photograph of the Lu family with a portrait of their late son, a photograph of Victor Lu at Camp Pendleton, a photograph of a memorial in Iraq, and a photograph of Victor with his unit. The article's subtitle notes that Victor Lu was proud of the country of his birth, just as his Vietnamese-born parents wished to forget the trauma of their homeland, until he was killed in Iraq. This entry is linked to the parent entry for the 9 May 2005 Asian edition of TIME in the same collection. The article was published to coincide with the thirtieth anniversary of the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975, when the last American helicopter left the roof of the United States Embassy compound and the image of Vietnamese people scrambling to board helicopters became an icon of American defeat. Powell uses the anniversary to connect two wars, Vietnam and Iraq, through the story of one family. For some circles in America, according to the author, the memory of Saigon was a reason to stay the course in Iraq so that history would not repeat itself, while for critics of the war, the resemblance between the two wars was precisely a warning. For the Lu family, the two wars bracketed the tragedy of their lives. The opening part of the article recounts the last conversation between Lance Corporal Victor R. Lu of the United States Marine Corps and his mother before he left for his second tour in Iraq in September 2004. Victor, the fourth of six children and the eldest son, joined the Marines after the attacks of 11 September 2001. According to his family, he changed from a teenager who was not very serious about school into a mature young man. He promised that on returning from Iraq he would take on the responsibility of being the man of the house, so that his father, who had worked hard at several jobs at once, could rest. His unit was then deployed to the Fallujah area, and that was the last meeting between mother and son. Powell then traces the history of the Lu family. Xuong Lu and his wife, Nu, were ethnic Chinese living in Cholon, Saigon's Chinatown. Xuong worked as a skilled machine technician, and his expertise led the South Vietnamese army to ask him to accompany them to combat zones to repair equipment, sometimes for weeks at a time. While he was away, Nu sold cigarettes on the streets of Saigon to support the children. Like many ethnic Chinese in Saigon, the family was deeply worried about the possibility of a communist regime coming to power. After Saigon fell, Xuong's younger sister quickly fled and eventually arrived in the United States, then worked hard to sponsor her siblings to emigrate. The Lu family left Vietnam in 1981, landed in Seattle with limited English, and then settled in eastern Los Angeles. Victor was born in the summer of 1982. The final part of the article describes Victor's life in the Marines, the nickname "Buddha" given to him by his comrades because of his large and calm figure, and the departure of his unit on the eve of one of the most decisive and deadliest battles of the Iraq War, namely the assault on Fallujah in November 2004. Victor was killed in that battle. Powell closes his piece with the voice of a family that is grieving but proud. His father insists that he is not interested in politics and that his son's death is not merely a tragedy, because Victor died doing what he loved, even though his life was far too short. The value of the article for researchers lies in the way it shows the connection between the history of war, migration, and the formation of citizens' identities. The Lu family represents hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese refugees, including many ethnic Chinese "boat people", who left their country after 1975. Their children grew up as Americans and some chose to serve in the military, so this story shows how the refugee experience and second-generation citizenship are intertwined. The article can be used in studies of the Chinese diaspora in Southeast Asia, the history of Indochinese refugees, and military sociology. For readers in Indonesia, the story is also a reminder of a nearby regional history. Thousands of Vietnamese refugees who fled by boat in the late 1970s and 1980s were once housed in a refugee camp on Galang Island, Riau Islands, before being resettled in third countries, including the United States. Thus the journey of families such as the Lu family is part of the humanitarian history of Southeast Asia, not only of American history. From a journalistic standpoint, Powell uses a narrative writing technique that links major events with personal experience. The anniversary of the fall of Saigon and the battle of Fallujah are connected through the biography of one family, so that readers are invited to understand the human cost of war. This approach is emotionally powerful, but readers should be aware that the article is not intended as a policy analysis of the Iraq War or a systematic comparison with the Vietnam War. The comparisons between the two wars mentioned briefly in the article, for example regarding flawed initial strategy and poor intelligence, need to be pursued further in the academic literature. The article is also relevant to the study of the Iraq War more broadly. The second battle of Fallujah in November 2004 is known as one of the fiercest urban battles faced by American forces since the Vietnam War, with heavy casualties among American troops, armed groups, and Iraqi civilians. Victor Lu's story gives a human face to those casualty figures, while reminding us that many American soldiers come from immigrant families with their own histories of war. The clipping also contains an interesting gender and family dimension. The role of the mother who sold goods on the streets of Saigon, the role of the sister who sponsored the migration of the whole family, and the expectation that the eldest son would become the head of the household show patterns of family roles among Chinese-Vietnamese families carried over to America. Researchers in the anthropology of the family can use this story to discuss how traditional values persist, change, and clash with the life choices of the second generation in a new country. The author of the article, Bill Powell, is a senior TIME correspondent who served in Asia for a long time, so his attention to the traces of Asian history in the lives of American citizens is strongly felt in this piece. Physically, the scan consists of three colour magazine pages with three-column text and a number of photographs. The quality of the scan is good and the text is clearly legible. The full text of the article is not reproduced in this catalogue because its copyright belongs to the author and the publisher; this note is a curatorial description to help users understand its content, context, and research value. Suitable search subjects include the Iraq War, the battle of Fallujah, the Vietnam War, the fall of Saigon, Vietnamese refugees, the Chinese diaspora, Vietnamese Americans, and the United States Marine Corps. For citation purposes, the reference can be written as follows: Bill Powell, "A Journey From War To War", TIME (Asian edition), 9 May 2005.

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Collection

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