Fallen Angels
By Walter Dean Myers
"Vietnam don't mean nothing, man." Johnson said. "We could do the same thing someplace else. We just over here killing people to let everybody know we're gonna do it if it got to be done." (page 149)
A black seventeen year old boy named Richie Perry is uncertain about his future and goes into the Vietnam War. He enlists in the United States Army and makes some friends right away. Their names were, "Peewee", Harold, Gates and Jenkins. His friends become apart of his squad, in which they progress through the war and are faced with destruction and brutality. Richie begins to question the whole war and the bad and good forces become ambiguous to him. He realizes the war is more complex than it seems. Richie then is faced with a difficult question, what will he do when the war is over?, ....if he survives.
Dog tags
Dog tags were worn by U.S. soldiers. They would wear these for Identification. You would wear two tags. If a fellow soldier dies, you would take one and leave the other. 100% of the soldiers would wear these.
The battlefront
The war was in Vietnam. The region was very overgrown and damp. It is mostly jungle through the entire country. These conditions of the area would be a hard adjustment for the U.S. soldiers.
Stress and Depression
Deaths and brutal conditions was a little too much for some to handle. This made some soldiers loose their mind and sometimes end their own lives. There is a way to get through these conditions, and it lies with trust in your squad, and being brave for your fellow soldiers.
An awsome book
This was an amazing book and it showed many lessons in it. It talks about life and how precious it is. You should read this book and recommend this to others.
- Comment from a teen reader
We were soldiers speech (Moore's Speech) video
This is a short speech in the movie "We Were Soldiers", it seemed to fit the book very well. The whole movie was focused on a battle during the Vietnam War. It is a very moving speech.
(sorry about the mouse cursor in the video, but this was the most emtional video I could find, and sometimes you wont even notice it.)
We were soldiers - Moore's Speech (Full 1080p HD)