How Ehrhart Was Viewed as a Student

815 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The impact Vietnam had on veterans

In the fall of 1969, Ehrhart attended Swarthmore College at the age of twenty-one. Also during this time the student body of Swarthmore College “were middle class, academically paranoid, politically aware, and the students were antiwar” (Ehrhart 7). This proposed a problem for Ehrhart because during the spring of 1968, while Ehrhart was still over seas, the college had asked for a picture of him in his Marine uniform. Ehrhart realized that after he sent the photo, it would be used for the school’s Freshman booklet while all the commotion in school existed. He spent most of his days alone to avoid publicity and to keep a “low profile”. By October, however, the reporter for the campus newspaper Phoenix asked if he could interview Ehrhart. Ehrhart went to college to experience a normal life but after he revealed his secret about being a veteran in the school newspaper, he realized that he was only a celebrity.
After Ehrhart was mentioned in the Phoenix newspaper, the effect was so polarizing that students would drop by and check on him. Students would come to his dorm room, the library, and the students would interrupt Eahrhart’s meals. Ehrhart described the event as “instant celebrity” (Ehrhart 9). Ehrhart loved being the center of attention and meeting the entire student body. No one was ever rude to him and students seemed interested in Ehrhart’s story. Ehrhart just wanted the students to understand his hardship and the struggle that went along with being in the Marines for three years, which played a major role in his life because Ehrhart truly wanted to serve for his country. As time progressed, however, Ehrhart realized that a “pattern to the process began to emerge” (Ehrhart 9). Ehrhart began to have doubts abo...

... middle of paper ...

...o get to know that veteran as well. It was all superficial. A veteran isn’t really recognized for their valiant effort to defend their country during this time period, but you have folk hero’s according to Ehrhart. Folk hero’s such as John Braxton. John Braxton was considered to be a hero because he was a senior facing a prison sentence for his open refusal to register for the draft. Basically students such as John Braxton and Bill Ehrhart were just objects during this time. They were both celebrities because society allowed them to be celebrities. The students didn’t really understand why each individual took the route that they did. It was just convenient to support their troops. As a result of Ehrhart disclosing his “secret” identity to the student newspaper, the Phoenix, he lost sight of being a normal person and was only a celebrity or just another figure.

Show More
Related

  • The Boys of ’67 Charlie Company’s War in Vietnam, by Dr. Andrew Wiest

    901 Words  | 2 Pages

    Dr. Wiest used the personal accounts, of the soldiers who fought or of their surviving families, to make this an excellent account of a war so few want to talk about. His exhaustive research and expert writing, lets the reader see the bonds of brotherhood that developed in this division. He shows the soldiers as not just soldiers, but as humans, who suffered both physically and emotionally, both during their year in Vietnam and in their life afterward. He has clearly written a book that is for anyone interested in the Vietnam War. It is a powerful book that shows both the brutality and the humanity of war, through the lives of a group of brothers known as Charlie Company.

    Read More

  • Tim O Brien Quotes And Analysis

    1062 Words  | 3 Pages

    participation as a soldier in the Vietnam War. The narrator offers different tales in which he

    Read More

  • Byron De La Beckwith Essay

    1871 Words  | 4 Pages

    During World War II, Beckwith joined the Marines, where he received the Purple Heart for wounds in action in 1943. Considering a military career, he app...

    Read More

  • Civil War Diary Of Cyrus F. Boyd

    1155 Words  | 3 Pages

    Boyd talks about how everyone was very eager to volunteer to join the military to have fun and to make some money and it seemed to be very easy because the war was expected to be very short. Things started to look a bit different even when, the volunteers got to the first destination to be sworn into duty. They started to wonder why they were being sworn in to service for 3 years when they all thought the war was going to be very short. Boyd and the rest of them figured that the government must know something more than everyone else knows. Even during the beginning of the service the conditions for the service did not look as good as they had expected, and the officer had seen that the volunteers started having second guesses about doing it so they put them into more comfortable quarters to keep them from going home. During the war most of the time the conditions were horrible. There were many problems with the soldiers during the war. Many died from being wounded, being shot, and the worst of all was the disease. The conditions were so horrible that many men couldn't get enough sleep and even when they did get sleep they were sleeping in the rain or in the snow.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Vietnam Bloods By Wallace Terry

    662 Words  | 2 Pages

    Wallace Terry has collected a wide range of stories told by twenty black Vietnam veterans. The stories are varied based on each experience; from the horrific to the heart breaking and to the glorified image of Vietnam depicted by Hollywood. Wallace Terry does not insinuate his opinion into any of the stories so that the audience can feel as if they are having a conversation with the Vietnam Veteran himself. Terry introduces the purpose of the book by stating, “ Among the 20 men who portray their war and postwar experiences in this book. I sought a representative cross section of the black combat force.”(p. XV) Although the stories in this book were not told in any specific order, many themes became prominent throughout the novel such as religion, social, and health.

    Read More

  • Tim O Brien On The Rainy River Hero's Journey

    1728 Words  | 4 Pages

    Tim O’Brien begins his journey as a young “politically naive” man and has recently graduated out of Macalester College in the United States of America. O’Brien’s plan for the future is steady, but this quickly changes as a call to an adventure ruins his expected path in life. In June of 1968, he receives a draft notice, sharing details about his eventual service in the Vietnam War. He is not against war, but this certain war seemed immoral and insignificant to Tim O’Brien. The “very facts were shrouded in uncertainty”, which indicates that the basis of the war isn’t well known and perceived

    Read More

  • Characters in Ralph the Duck

    519 Words  | 2 Pages

    Busch uses the narrator's English professor to represent the ignorant people that always stereotype Vietnam War veterans as somewhat less than human. The narrator obviously despises the professor and pokes fun at him the entire story. The narrator definitely sees his professor as unintelligent. When he has to jump start his professor's car, the narrator thinks to himself "But he couldn't get a Buick going on an ice-cold night, and he didn't know enough to look for cells going bad" (Busch 866).

    Read More

  • Distortion of Truth in Tim O’Brien's The Things They Carried

    743 Words  | 2 Pages

    Several stories into the novel, in the section, “How to tell a true war story”, O’Brien begins to warn readers of the lies and exaggerations that may occur when veterans tell war stories.

    Read More

  • Ethical vs. Logical

    1950 Words  | 4 Pages

    ...display how the average citizen would see war for the first time. Colonel Kelly sees her as “vacant and almost idiotic. She had taken refuge in deaf, blind, unfeeling shock” (Vonnegut 100). To a citizen who even understands the war process, war is still heinous and dubiously justified when viewed first hand. The man who seems to have coldly just given away her son’s life without the same instinct as her has participated in this heinous wartime atrocity for so long, but it only affect her now because she cannot conceive of the reality of it until it is personally in front of her. That indicates a less complete political education of war even among those who war may have affected their entire lives. The closeness and the casualties of this “game” will affect her the most because she has to watch every move that previously could have been kept impartial and unviewed.

    Read More

  • The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien

    762 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...y crying not knowing what to do then he turned and peered back to the Minnesota shore line. “It was as real as anything I would ever feel. I saw my parents calling to me from the far shoreline. I saw my brother and sister, all the townsfolk, the mayor and the entire Chamber of Commerce and all my old teachers and girlfriends and high school buddies. Like some weird sporting event: everybody screaming from the sidelines, rooting me on” (58). This is when he knew he could not turn his back on his beloved country. All the wrong he felt the draft was he could not cross the border to flee from anything or anyone. This whole situation describes the rest of his life, but mainly his years in the Vietnam War. He would have to make decisions, decisions that would be hard but would have to do for the ones he loved.

    Read More

  • Making the Corps

    1412 Words  | 3 Pages

    and Drill Instructors see Boot Camp. Why did he pick the Marines as his topic? Attracted to the Corps perception and morale, Thomas E. Ricks expresses the Marines as the only service still upholding its honor and tradition. Due to society changing into a commercial society with a “me” attitude, civilians focus on how they can splendor themselves with material items—never looking at the big picture at all that we can accomplish as a team if we give our heart and soul to life. Team means everyone on earth, for we are the people that provide for one another with peace and prosperity.

    Read More

  • Chesty Puller Essay

    974 Words  | 2 Pages

    Born in Virginia, to mother Martha Puller and father Matthew Puller, he grew to become a well recognized marine globally (Russell & Cohn, 2012). His father’s dead while he was 10 years did not stop him to achieve a high point career; in fact, his childhood lifestyle of listening to war stories...

    Read More

  • The Character Analysis Of Face It By Yusef Kounyakaa

    978 Words  | 2 Pages

    The character that stood out was the speaker Yusef Komunyakaa 's he is also the writer of the poem called “Face It”. The speaker himself endures mistreatment especially growing up during the Civil Rights Era. It was a privilege for an African-American to be able to fight in the war or to be selected to fight through a draft. He probably had seen everything from segregation between blacks and whites to ever innocent black men losing their lives. It takes a lot of courage to write about his experience during the Vietnam War. The speaker was the voice for the victims and the survivors of the war; he honored them in his own special way by creating this poem, he represented the minority who fought in the war by using his unique character traits.

    Read More

  • The Political Impact Of Political Cartoons On Political Issues

    701 Words  | 2 Pages

    Also portrayed is a black man being held up by his crutches, who has lost his leg in the war. The white men in leadership are supposed to be more trustworthy, but they are simply trying to become her favorite by giving her compliments. However, the black man is not trustworthy even though he gave everything that he had towards his cause, including his leg. Just because his skin is of a different color, his views and opinions are not to be trusted. This image shows how skewed public opinion can be, the man who fought for his county should be considered just as trustworthy as any white man. Nevertheless, soldiers were not considered as highly as they are

    Read More

  • Forgotten Heroes

    1225 Words  | 3 Pages

    Forgotten Heroes They were the best of times; they were the worst of times. The effects on a man’s soul are limitless; when it comes to a bloody game we call war. Whether it is from a movie, novel, or personal testimony, the entire account can never be retold. There will always be facts missing, exaggerated points, or skewed visions. You can never tell when a war story is real or completely made up. You can only close your eyes and pray to god it wasn’t ever that bad. During the Vietnam War, or the ‘unpopular war’, many men faced things unimaginable today. Soldiers kept quiet to avoid the pain and humiliation that American citizens put them through upon coming home. Often times the soldiers discarded their uniforms to avoid public humiliation. They faced rejection and verbal, sometimes physical assault. Needless to say the war was not a welcomed topic. Just as in Tim O’Brien’s short story of ‘How to Tell a True War Story’, the American people were not so supportive. Just after Bob Kiley lost his best friend, Curt Lemon, he decided to write his sister and speak of how great of a brother she had had. He went on how they became brothers and how he was one of the best men he knew. He told her how he had made the war almost fun, and what a great sense of humor he carried. (pg.543) His letter was never given a response. Just as quickly as curt had died; Bob’s letter would be forgotten. There’s a story of two Vietnam Vets from the state of Massachuses who had always felt as if they were forgotten heroes. They heard mention of a war memorial in Washington that would consist of a wall with the names of every lost soul engraved into its granite. As soon as they heard of its release date they hit the open road. In some way they felt as if it were to be a homecoming long denied for the veterans in a black period in our nation’s history. They had hoped their participation in the war would be put into a better perspective, that even though the war was bad, the soldiers were not. To them it was as if the memorial brought the Vietnam War out of the closet, and into the public consciousness.

    Read More

More about How Ehrhart Was Viewed as a Student

Open Document