Author's Name: Pamela Haynes

Title: "My Memories of Vietnam"

One of the worst parts was, every day they would tell us how many Viet Cong died the day before and how many Americans died. That hurt a lot. Also, when a man was drafted, I automatically considered him a dead man. You got out of the draft if you were a college student or married. My boyfriend wanted me to marry him to keep him home. I did not want to. I wanted to continue in college. But I didn't want him to get sent over there and die. In the end, I did marry him. Sadly, it did not work out. It saved his life but made my life so much harder. 

One man who came back had enlisted. He would not speak to any man who got drafted. A real bitterness there. 

I never openly protested the war but I hated it for taking so many of our young men. I detested President Johnson at that time. Only much later did I learn all the good things he did.