Voices From the Vietnam War: Stories From American, Asian, and Russian Veterans (review)

Xiaobing Li's Voices from the Vietnam War offers the personal oral history accounts of twenty-two veterans of the decades-long and immensely complicated wars in Vietnam. Although most published compilations of veterans' oral history interviews tend to focus on individuals' experiences in combat, Li's contribution is unique and important because it offers a broader and more full account of those veterans not directly involved in the visceral experiences of combat. In addition to this expanded scope, the author also includes interviews he conducted with veterans from most of the major countries involved in the Vietnam wars.

This book's strengths are obvious from the beginning. Li is able to provide an intimate look into the personal histories and experiences of a variety of individuals, many of whom personify a very under-represented population of the wars' veterans. Included in this work are the reminiscences of such varied figures as a U.S. Air Force nurse who was so moved by her experiences caring for wounded soldiers that she returned for a second tour in Vietnam with the U.S. Army, as well as with American veterans involved in logistics and intelligence.

Li's interviews with former members of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) are especially enlightening. All too often characterized by American veterans as being poor fighters and apathetic participants in the conflict, the ARVN veterans provide points of view that serve as important correctives in rehabilitating the ARVN's reputation. Expressing their frustrations with the American military and with the often poor ARVN leadership, the South Vietnamese veterans show the complexity of their feelings regarding the war, especially the way the war ended in 1975. Equally important, these interviews provide insight into the personal lives of these individuals prior to their military service, including their personal aspirations, apprehensions, and family dynamic that is a defining part of Vietnamese culture.

Especially valuable in this work are Li's interviews with veterans from the communist countries involved in the wars. Due to their governments' restrictions—or outright secrecy—regarding all matters related to the events in Vietnam, communist veterans have had little opportunity to make their individual stories known in the West. This has obviously prevented historians from adequately exploring a massive part of the Vietnam experience, and the historiography of the wars has been necessarily American- and ARVN centric. Available in Li's work, however, are the personal memories of various communist veterans, including not only those of the Peoples Army of Vietnam (or North Vietnamese) but also interviews with Chinese and Soviet advisors to their communist brethren in Vietnam. These stories bring to life the personal histories of those individuals who we in the West often view as being somewhat emotionless figures serving in their respective militaries because they were forced to do so. Through Li's interviews, we see that these veterans were often motivated by a very real and potent nationalism, as well as a strong personal desire to bring about the best possible future for Vietnam. The communist veterans also express their desire to advance in their careers through their military service, and they exhibit the same wartime longings for family and home that all veterans experience, regardless of time, place, or political beliefs.

Li is able to bring together these diverse elements into an enlightening and useful whole. He also successfully shows how oral history can be used to help explain larger historical developments, such as his discussion of the intense rivalry between the Chinese and Soviets over control of the international communist movement, especially as it played out in Southeast Asia in the 1960s and 1970s. In fact, because Li is so successful regarding this aspect of the war, it leaves the reader wishing that he had focused more effort explaining how each individual's experiences fit into the larger context of the wars. Each chapter includes an author's introduction...