Return to Vietnam
An Oral History of American and Australian Veterans' Journeys

Since the 1980s, thousands of American and Australian veterans have returned to Vi?t Nam. This oral history tells their story.

Mia Martin Hobbs (Author)

9781108832663, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 14 October 2021

300 pages
23.5 x 15.8 x 2 cm, 0.57 kg

'Return to Vietnam is excellent and is a significant addition to our understanding of the veteran experience, the Vietnam War, and its aftermath in Vietnam.' Tom Richardson, History Australia

Between 1981 and 2016, thousands of American and Australian Vietnam War veterans returned to Vi?t Nam. This comparative, transnational oral history offers the first historical study of these return journeys. It shows how veterans returned in search of resolution, or peace, manifesting in shifting nostalgic visions of 'Vietnam.' Different national war narratives shaped their returns: Australians followed the 'Anzac' pilgrimage tradition, whereas for Americans the return was an anti-war act. Veterans met former enemies, visited battlefields, mourned friends, found new relationships, and addressed enduring legacies of war. Many found their memories of war eased by witnessing Vi?t Nam at peace. Yet this peacetime reality also challenged veterans' wartime connection to Vietnamese spaces. The place they were nostalgic for was Vietnam, a space in war memory, not Vi?t Nam, the country. Veterans drew from wartime narratives to negotiate this displacement, performing nostalgic practices to reclaim their sense of belonging.

Acknowledgements
A Note on Spelling
List of Abbreviations
Introduction
Part I. Return: 1. Reconciliation, 1981–1994
2. Normalization, 1995–2005
3. Commemoration, 2006–2016
Part II. Vi?t Nam: 4. Relics and Remnants
5. Meeting the Enemy
6. Remembering the American War in Vi?t Nam
Part III. Legacies: 7. Revisiting Vietnam
8. Veteran Legacies in Vi?t Nam
Conclusion
Appendix One: Veteran Subjects
Appendix Two: Interview Questions
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Military history [HBW], 20th century history: c 1900 to c 2000 [HBLW], Australasian & Pacific history [HBJM], History of the Americas [HBJK]