Return to Vietnam: An Oral History of American and Australian Veterans' Journeys
Between 1981 and 2016, thousands of American and Australian Vietnam War veterans returned to Việt 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 Việt 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 Việt Nam, the country. Veterans drew from wartime narratives to negotiate this displacement, performing nostalgic practices to reclaim their sense of belonging.
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Return to Vietnam: An Oral History of American and Australian Veterans' Journeys
Between 1981 and 2016, thousands of American and Australian Vietnam War veterans returned to Việt 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 Việt 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 Việt Nam, the country. Veterans drew from wartime narratives to negotiate this displacement, performing nostalgic practices to reclaim their sense of belonging.
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Return to Vietnam: An Oral History of American and Australian Veterans' Journeys

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

by Mia Martin Hobbs
Return to Vietnam: An Oral History of American and Australian Veterans' Journeys

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

by Mia Martin Hobbs

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Overview

Between 1981 and 2016, thousands of American and Australian Vietnam War veterans returned to Việt 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 Việt 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 Việt Nam, the country. Veterans drew from wartime narratives to negotiate this displacement, performing nostalgic practices to reclaim their sense of belonging.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781108972666
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Publication date: 05/23/2024
Series: Studies in the Social and Cultural History of Modern Warfare
Pages: 289
Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 1.25(h) x 9.00(d)

About the Author

Dr Mia Martin Hobbs is an Honorary Fellow in the School of Historical and Philosophical Studies, University of Melbourne. She has held fellowships and awards from the University of Melbourne, Australian Historical Association, Freilich Project, and Contemporary Histories Research Group Award, and has published prize-winning research on veterans and war memory.

Table of Contents

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. Việt Nam: 4. Relics and Remnants; 5. Meeting the Enemy; 6. Remembering the American War in Việt Nam; Part III. Legacies: 7. Revisiting Vietnam; 8. Veteran Legacies in Việt Nam; Conclusion; Appendix One: Veteran Subjects; Appendix Two: Interview Questions; Bibliography; Index.
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