An Interview With John Whitney In The Vietnam War

Towards the middle of the 20th century, with the intensification of the Cold War, the United States of America placed strict policies on any allies of the Soviet Union. America pledged an alliance with the democratic South Vietnamese, and declared war on the communist allies of the Soviet Union, the North Vietnamese. Led by the communist leader, Ho Chi Minh and his party, the Vietnam War began with the global superpowers America and the Soviets pitted against each other once the North Vietnamese had invaded the South . My grandfather, John Whitney, fought in this war as part of the Fourth Infantry Division deployed to the Central Highlands of Vietnam . I interviewed my grandfather on his life and experiences during the time of this war, and
This interview is a great source of knowledge because it provides first hand experiences and very valuable information other sources may not be able to provide. The interview with Whitney not only provided good information on the war, but also firsthand experiences and his personal feelings. When I am looking for information on a specific subject, I generally will read different articles or history pages that include information on the subject that is ordered and includes only key ideas. The benefit of the interview with Whitney is I was able to acquire this information on key ideas of the Vietnam War, such as how and when it started, and I was also able to hear his thoughts on the war and how he felt about different things. The interview included not only facts, but also opinions and emotion. Whitney described at one point not only why America went to war, but also why he felt like he needed to go to this war. “Yes um, I want I wanted the reason I joined the army was I wanted to be on the ground to be able to interact with, with the people of foreign nations-…somebody had to protect them and nobody was and the bottom line was is people were being exterminated and uh…
An online source like that of HistoryNet is an excellent way to obtain a quick summary and list of facts, such as the locations of the war and casualty counts , but it does not provide more detailed information such as emotions. Emotion is important because it shows how a person is affected by an event. Whitney was shocked by the mass disregard of human life during World War Two, and knew he wanted to do something to prevent that . That anecdote cannot be acquire by any other source other than first person interview, proving the value of taking the time to make an interview. Although my interview is a great source of information, it is not without flaw. One of the problems encountered during an interview is that because it involves asking someone immediate questions, it also requires immediate remembrance of the event in question. Memories can be distorted or falsely remembered, causing some facts to be false. “in World War Two there was uh uh… the Japanese had invaded China there were two armies in China one by Ho Chi Mihn who later turned uh to be a communist uh uh soldier and Chiang Kai-shek who uh… was for the freedom