The Cruelty of Wars Depicted in Memoirs

War and Violence has been a constant part of the human history and affected many lives around the world. When we think about being exposed to traumatic events during a war, we think about what soldiers experience. However, often forgotten in the war are the innocent civilians affected. Civilians who are not directly involved in the war also faces many detrimental war related stressors.

Some typical civilian stressors may include life threats, being bombed, witnessing the brutality and losing a loved one or family member, or suffering from financial hardships. Both Marcelino Truong’s memoir Saigon Calling: London 1963-1975 and Kao Kalia Yang’s The Song Poet portrayed that exposure to war has a significantly negative effect on civilian’s psychological health.

Specifically, the “Indochina Wars” were a series of wars fought in Southeast Asia (1946-89) that involved not only Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia, but also France and the United States. The First Indochina War from 1946-1954 was known as the French – Viet Minh War. The Viet – Minh and French fought for the control of Vietnam. The French bombed the port of Haiphong in 1946 and “the attack caused heavy casualties among the civilians who tried to flee the city.

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The total casualties were approximately 20,000, including 6,000 deaths.”[1] The amount of casualties lost not only happened in Vietnam, but also in Laos and Cambodia. During the war in 1953 and 1954, the “regular Viet Minh forces invaded Laos and in 1954 Cambodia. They supported the previously established Pathet Lao resistance government in Laos and a Khmer resistance government in Cambodia, paving the way for a major Viet – Minh effort at the subsequent Geneva Conference to gain general international recognition for them. Indochina was thus a battlefield.”[2]

After a long battle, even with the help from the United States, the French lost the war to the Viet – Minh and Vietnam gained its independence. In 1954, the Geneva Accords agreement was signed and it temporarily split Vietnam into Communist North and Non-Communist South on the 17th parallel which lead to the Second Indochina War.

The Second Indochina War often referred to as the “Vietnam War” was one of the longest and bloodiest war occurred from 1954 to 1975. The Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV) and the National Front for the Liberation of Vietnam, known as the communist Viet Cong were uniting as a team to dominate the entire nation under a communist system. The opposing side were the Republic of Vietnam from the South which were supported by the United States.

The United States trained the Army of the Republic of Vietnam that helped aid in combating the Communists. One of the main events that occurred during this time was the Tet Offensive where major cities, towns, and military bases were attacked by North Vietnam and the Vietcong guerillas. This event “was a military turning point in the war, but it was far more than in its painful demonstration of the limits of American power in Asia and in the psychological impact it was to have on Americans at home.”[3]

The psychological pain does not stop here. The Battle for Hue (1968) was one of the longest battles during the Tet Offensive which lasted 30 days and destroyed most of the city leaving many lives dead. A battle that also took a high toll on civilian lives. The “civilians who had been hiding in their homes would appear from time to time and dash down the street, hoping to escape the battle zone. Sometimes they made it. Sometimes they didn’t.”[4] The impact of war takes a toll on individuals who witnessed violence, death, and home being destroyed.

The destruction of the Vietnam has taken a toll on both sides with high casualties considering the large amounts of cities and towns being bombarded and long battles that took place which lead the Americans to slowly opt out of aiding South Vietnam. Lastly, South Vietnam resorted to surrender and Communist North Vietnam seized the power of the entire nation.

The Third Indochina War known as the Sino – Vietnamese War occurred in 1979 when the People’s Republic of China attacked the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Turley and Race stated, “In February 1979 Beijing invaded northern Vietnam to punish Hanoi for its invasion of Cambodia. Although it withdrew its troops, China has left several hundred thousand men on Vietnam’s border.

Hundreds of thousands of people who have fled their homes by boat from Vietnam and by land from Laos and Cambodia are cooped up in squalid refugee camps in poor and hostile neighboring countries, waiting for someone to take them in.”[5]  Though this war was short, many suffered from the attack and commemorations should provide justice to those civilians who suffered psychologically and witnessed death right in front of their eyes.

War has affected many lives and impacted individuals in different ways. Mental health issues not only occur for soldiers who fought in those wars, but also impacted the innocent civilians who undergone the consequences of war, torture, and devastated traumatic experience. Individuals who have experienced war is often severely traumatized developing psychological disorders such as post – traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression. PTSD is the “psychiatric disorder that can result from the experience or witnessing of traumatic or life threatening events such as terrorist attack, violent crime and abuse, military combat, natural disasters, serious accidents or violent personal assaults.”[6]

According to the American Psychiatric Association, “Depression (major depressive disorder) is a common and serious medical illness that negatively affects how you think and how you act. Depression causes feelings of sadness….it can head to a variety of emotional and physical problems and can decrease a person’s ability to function at work and home.”[7] The relationship between trauma and war can be seen as a state of emergency for innocent civilians who suffered from violence that destroys, hurts, and kills. Surviving a war can be a disturbing experience that leads civilians to experience stressors such as PTSD and depression that can affect their daily life and psychological functioning.

Particularly,in Marcelino Truong’s memoir Saigon  Calling: London 1963-1975, Truong (nicknamed Marco) and his family moved from from Saigon to London in order to escape the war from Vietnam. In London, his father struggles to build a new life for his children and wife, Yvette, who faced PTSD and depression from witnessing a traumatic experience of war when she was younger. Yvette and her family fled during the American raid against Germany – occupied France during WWII which left her traumatized. Marco described “Saint – Malo, August 1944. The battle for the liberation of France was raging. The Germans ordered the fortified city be evacuated. The population tried to find some refuge in the back country. My mother and grandmother were part of the exodus.”[8]

Ever since her experience, Yvette experienced constant nightmares, “I had a terrible nightmare! I was in Saint-Malo during the war and … (sob).”[9] She’s also witnessed the first military weapon used Napalm, when her father excitedly states they’re watching fireworks from the front row seat, which lead Yvette to claim, “I HATE bombs, guns, and WAR!”[10] Yvette’s encounter with war has affected her daily life demonstrating that she experiences nightmares and expresses her hatred towards the violence of bombs, guns, and wars. She is solely a civilian who faced psychological challenges despite the fact that she has no military role in combating physically in the war. This shows that war has a negative psychological effect on civilians. War exposes terrible damage to the hearts, minds, and souls of individuals who witnessed or experienced in war.

At the same time as the Vietnam War, another war occurred in Laos. Laos was involved because the North Vietnamese utilized the Ho Chi Minh trail to transport war materials during the Vietnam War. During this time, the Communist party, Pathet Lao, was fighting the Royal Laotian Party from the Non-Communist side, which was backed by the United States. In the shadows of the Vietnam War and Laotian Civil War, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) organized a Secret War in Laos to prevent Communism from spreading further in Southeast Asia.

According to a review by Kevin Ruane, “the United States successfully recruited the Hmong to their ‘Secret War’ in Laos. The ensuing aerial bombing of the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos was a largely American-run show. Between 1965 and 1973, Hmong losses were in the region of 35,000.”[11] The CIA trained Hmong individuals to help fight North Vietnam which resulted in more lives lost. In between all the destruction, “thousands of Hmong civilians swarmed the dirt-paved runway, hoping for a miraculous chance to shove their way into a cargo aircraft and evacuate in time.”[12]

The bombings during the Secret War forced civilians to flee from their homeland to keep their lives. Hoping to be alive, the civilians experienced extreme trauma and fear trying to escape while witnessing the tragedy of their homeland being destroyed. Being placed in a devastating setting makes civilians vulnerable and cause them great pressure facing a life or death situation.

Similarly, in Kao Kalia Yang’s memoir The Song Poet: A Memoir of My Father, Yang retells the life of her father, Bee Yang, a Hmong refugee who was forced to leave his homeland in Laos with his family because of the American’s Secret War. Some of his family made it to the refugee camps, but unfortunately some, such as his cousin Shong’s family did not and faced even tougher hardships while witnessing his child shot and being captured and tortured during the Secret War.

While trying to escape, Shong was carrying his two years old son on his back, until a bullet hit his son’s head. Shong knew exactly what happened “when he felt the boys head fall heavily on his shoulder and his hand drop on either side of his body. Hot liquid began to seep between the child and himself.”[13] Witnessing his own child being shot has already caused him a great amount of pain. Shong and his family decided to stay behind where they were captured by the Pathet Lao and experienced brutal physical and psychological violence. Shong went through physical torture where “They beat him some more and then they inserted more hot needles into his vein. Shong’s family watched from their open hut; too afraid to yell or cry. The heat of the day gone, they shivered as blood and sweat turned them cold.

Shong was tortured for two weeks. [His wife] felt the tightening of his body, the smashing of his muscles, and the cracking of his ribs as she heard his cry of pain.”[14] The immense torturing changed Shong’s psyche forever and suffered severe PTSD and depression because “Shong went crazy after the torture.”[15] After the effects of torture, the real horror remains in his mind and his psychological thinking was never the same as before. According to clinical psychotherapist Edward Ticks, “War teaches hard lessons. What we lose, we lose.

After war or other traumatic loss, we are different forever. We can neither get the old self back nor return to a state of innocence. We have been through a psychospiritual death.”[16] Torture is an inhumane act during war that decrease Shong’s ability to think which is one of the reasons why Shong went “crazy”. Shong was an innocent civilian who suffered through psychological and physical pain because of war that left him traumatized enough to lose his personality. War causes unnecessary psychological pain for innocent civilians. For those who suffer PTSD and depression, the negative memories from the traumatic events do not end after the event is over, leading individuals to feel that they have no center or reason to go on living.

Interpersonal relationships are an essential part of our lives, however, exposure to war can negatively affect civilian’s interpersonal relationships, especially withmarital relationships. When one experiences or witnesses a war event, negative psychological emotions may arouse. According to Solomon, Dekel, and Zerach, “War captivity is a highly traumatic experience. Angry and painful feelings aroused by hurt can lead to deterioration of marriage and of the emotional well-being of  both spouses.”[17] War increases the likelihood of negative emotions which in return affect one’s marriage.

The struggle from the exposure to war can be a straining factor on civilian’s emotional well-being which changes their interactions with others. Having a negative relationship with the person you love may be another stressor on top of already suffering from psychological problems. Flashbacks may occur in their daily lives that trigger them to have conflicts in their relationships because traumatic memories are not just a memory; they are memories with meaning that can make one vulnerable and bad temper can be easily triggered.

The deterioration of interpersonal relationship can be seen in both memoirs Saigon Calling: London 1963-1975 and The Song Poet: A Memoir of My Father. For example, in Saigon Calling: London 1963-1975, since Yvette faced PTSD and depression, she often shows signs anger towards her family, especially her husband. Yvette’s husband “often ended up the main target of [her] anger. He would suffer through a bombardment of blame.”[18]

Yvette would express, “I’m sick of being the maid in this lousy house! I’M FED UP!”[19] The cause of Yvette’s actions comes from her PTSD and her husband faces has an obligation to calm the storm. The home environment may turn into a depressing place to be in rather than a happy place. Similarly, in the memoir The Song Poet: A Memoir of My Father, after Shong faced his brutal torture after being his captured, his relationship with his wife deteriorated as well. Shong “recoiled from the touch of his wife and the affections of his children. He never said he didn’t want them near, but he stopped himself from being too close to them.”[20]

Shong has become emotionally detached from his marital relationship and family. He simply does not want talk about his experience as a mean to protect himself from becoming overwhelmed and avoiding those who are close to him. Withdrawal from his relationships may make him feel safer and more in control of his own psyche. The psychological effects from war can be hard to adjust in marital relationships as seen in Yvette and Shong. The trauma that they both went through couldn’t simply be “healed,” and forces them to carry the baggage of negative experience on their shoulder.

War has caused an increase of forced migrations around the world. Exposure to war can have direct and indirect effects of pre-emigration and post-emigration stressors among Southeast Asian refugees. According to Nicholson, “One pre-emigration factor, experienced trauma, and two post-emigration actors, degree of current stress and perceived health, directly affected all mental health outcomes. Current stress, which measured the degree of stress created by acculturative tasks such as learning a new language, seeking employment, rebuilding social supports, and redefining roles, was the strongest overall predictor of mental health.”[21]

Southeast Asian refugees were forced to flee their homeland against their will leading them to experience extremely stressful conditions. War forces civilians to migrate and resettle in a new place where they face stressors such as language barriers and the difficulty of finding a job, or even if they find a job, it is not the safest. The stress that civilians undergo during migration is one of the most severe. They must adapt to their new environment whether if they like it or not while re-establishing a new home and identity. Those who experiences PTSD and depression seem to be particularly vulnerable population.

In Truong’s memoir, Saigon Calling: London 1963-1975, Yvette faced a language barrier when her family moved to London. Truong described that language was an obstacle that Yvette faced. Yvette asked the building supervisor, “Excuuuse mee, ouaire izz zee underteker pleez?” and the supervisor replied with, “I’m sorry?! The undertaker?! Has someone passed away?! Surely, you must mean the caretaker?”[22]  It was difficult for Yvette to adapt due to her language barrier. It was even difficult for her to adapt to the music and weather she was exposed to in the new place and made her resort to medical pills.

Walking down the streets, she states, “Such depressing weather! I’ll take a Valium when I get home. That’ll give me a lift.”[23] and when she hears the music around her neighborhood, she yells, “My goodness! They’ll drive me mad with their hoodlum music!”[24] With mental health issues on top of language barrier can create addition distress for civilians. Having a language barrier leads refugees to struggle to communicate on what they want or need. Language can be seen as a key to a person’s self identity and without it, one may experience distress. Those who experience language barrier may have difficulty obtaining information and stresses them out because they are unable to relay their message.

Refugees’ working environment may not be the safest either. In Kao Kalia Yang’s memoir, The Song Poet: A Memoir of My Father, her father, Bee Yang, works as a shift polisher in America. Bee Yang knows the danger of his job, but he continues to work in order to provide an income for his family. Bee Yang states, “Each night, we are careful to take off our uniforms, get into the factory showers, and scrub with lava soap before going home to the wives and children who wait for us. We all know that we work with carbon particles. We know that carbon particles cause hard-metal lunch disease.

Each of us is aware that the glittering particles in the air of the factory are dangerous” (124).[25] Refugees’ desperately need an income to support their family, therefore, like Bee Yang, they would take any job opportunities they can, even if they know that the job is dangerous. The struggle of working in a dangerous environment can cause refugees a serious amount of psychological issues. The constant worry of their health may can make them depressed and anxious, not knowing when the cancer or disease will appear in their body. With exposure to war, civilians suffer through many obstacles in order to support themselves and their family.

Overall, the effects of war can be devastating to a person’s psychological health. Those who were exposed to war suffer from mental health issues for a long period of time and can affect their daily lives. Through Marcelino Truong’s memoir Saigon Calling: London 1963-1975 and Kao Kalia Yang’s The Song Poet: A Memoir of My Father, one can see that exposure to war creates long term stressors such as PTSD and depression on innocent civilians.

War causes civilians to lose their lives, loved ones, and most importantly, their identity when they become a refugee. Civilians often face similar psychological issues as soldiers, but are well underrepresented at times when we think about the effects of war. A mental health approach is necessary to support the affected civilians who were exposed to war. Even though war can help nations reach their goals in peace, freedom, and justice, the negative outcomes on the psychological side for civilians or humans per se are far more extreme.

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