Vietnam War

THE GREAT WAR By: Melani

Hi, my name is Han. I am 10 years old and I live with my two best friends Dung and An. My name means “faithful and moral”. My parents are both currently fighting in the war. My mom is a nurse in the Viet Cong army - her name is Bich which means “Jade”. She takes care of the hurt soldiers. My dad’s name is Long and that means “Dragon”.My best friends and I are only children - we have no siblings so we have become each others’ brothers and sisters. Life is very difficult for us at the moment since the war is taking place very nearby.

Hi there - my name is Dung. I am 11 years old and my name means “beauty or nice appearance”. Sadly, I lost my mom when I was only 7 years old from sickness.

Ever since then, my dad has been taking care of me. However at the moment, he is out there in the jungle fighting in the war. His name is Tu, which means “ Earth”. My dad does not have any special position or role to play in the guerrilla warfare - he just fights as a simple soldier for the Viet Cong army. I am very scared he will get hurt badly or even killed. Then I will be all alone.

Hi everyone, I am 9 years old and my name is An. My name means “peace”. I used to live with my grandmother - her name is Giang which means “river”. When the war broke out, she sent me away to live with Han and Dung because she thought I would be safer with my friends. She was worried she would not be able to take care of me. I was very sad when I left my grandmother because I was not sure if I would ever see her again. But when the war is finally over, if my grandmother is still alive, I will go back to live with her again. But if she is no longer alive, I will stay here with Han or Dung.

One sunny bright day, I was collecting food near to our house, and playing with Dung and An, when suddenly An heard people talking nearby and he stopped dead in his tracks.

“Can you guys hear people talking?” An asked Dung and I. We all turned our ears towards the noise and listened carefully. “It dose not sound like our language,” said An. “Shhhhh!” said Dung as she nudged An in the ribs.

“Would you two please stop fighting.” I said as I turned around.

Suddenly An pointed down the hill with a scared expression on his face. At first I did not know what An was gesturing about - but then I understood that he meant we should start moving down the hill so we wouldn’t get caught.

“He’s right,” I whispered to Dung. “Their voices are getting louder by the second.”

As we all turned to see where the people were coming from, we saw that the uniforms they were wearing were American soldier uniforms. I nearly started to scream but Dung covered my mouth so that I would not make a noise.

We slowly and carefully made our way down the hill so the soldiers would not see us. We entered the jungle scared at the bottom of the hill. It was scary, dark and wet.

I felt sad, sad that now the only thing I had of my dad were all the good memories we had together. All my things had been left inside our house which the American soldiers were now probably searching.

We did not have to walk for long. After just half an hour of searching we found a rather big cave that we all fitted perfectly in.

We decided to go looking for food. I found some fruit trees just near the cave. All the plants were filled with loads of delicious fruits including bananas, coconuts and pineapples. But in the middle of picking the fruits I heard a loud gun shot near by.

Obviously the others had heard it too because when I ran back into the cave they were both already there.

Just as we were leaving the cave Dung got a huge cut on her arm from a sharp twig, and from the look of it was very deep we could almost see the bone. We slowly made our way back up the hill towards my old house because I remembered my mom had some old medical supplies and a first aid kit. As we approached the house I saw that no one was watching the house so we carefully crept forward.

When we got to the house I got the first aid kit and An stayed with Dung to keep her calm. It took me half an hour to wrap Dung’s arm because it was so deep - I could practically see the bone. I had to pour water and dab alcohol on Dung’s arm to prevent it from infecting.

In the corner of my eyes I could see a letter with burnt edges. After cleaning and wrapping Dung’s arm I gently picked up the letter and I read the bottom - it said “love, dad” so I started to read.

Dear beloved Han, I might not make it back from war, but I want you to know that no matter what happens I will always love you. The Americans are hard to fight but I think we stand a good chance. Tell Dung that her dad is doing great. The tunnels down here are pretty good - we have everything including a hospital. But the tunnels smell of pho and fish sauce and we find loads of bugs everywhere.

Love, Dad When I looked up I think An and Dung both saw that my eyes were watery. They asked me what happened so I gave them the letter. After they read the letter they both hugged me.

Dung said “What if my dad doesn't make it back either ? What would I do?”

An looked up “What would we all do?”

I looked at him confused “What do you mean what do we all do?”

An looked into my eyes with that is it not obvious to you look “I still don’t get it do you Dung?”

Dung looked at me and said “ An is right we all might not have our parents or grandmother, I think we should build a new house near this one and live there all together.”

I said “Good idea Dung but for now lets go back to the jungle and get some rest.”

Everyone agreed so we headed down the hill . As we went down the hill An dodged a bullet just missing it by a inch. An found a little cave on the side of the hill we all quickly ran in to the cave.

Who knew that high above the hill was a little helicopter that detected movement in the cave they started to fly low as they shot a missile right into the cave that eventually was blown up. To this day no one can find the slightest trail of either of us.