Nice Essay

Do you like to be entertained when you read an essay? I know that I want to be entertained, but the way I am entertained in reading an essay is I like it to be informative. I believe this is true for a lot of avid readers. The essay Solatium by Philip D. Beidler, is very informative on the things that went on during the Vietnamese war, and the feelings that he had toward it. In this short essay he tells a story of a little boy, and how the U.S. Government shows their compassion for the injuries of Vietnamese people. Beidler, as a writer and an English teacher, explains to the readers just how bad the experiences were and what they have done to him mentally. This was one of the best essays that I have read though out my entire life because I could relate with a lot of the military aspects and because he was really informative in his writing style.

Did you know that a solatium is money given to family or relatives, for the loss or injury of a loved one. When I read the essay about the solatium and why it was given to the boy, I was in shock. I had no idea that when the military did harm to another family during war they would give them money. I also didn’t know about the kind of things that had been going on in the Vietnam war. I also could understand why the government would pay for the tragic loss of a foreign family member. During the war they would give the family or relatives fourteen dollars and forty cents for children under the age of fourteen and thirty-five dollars to children over the age of fourteen. It seems like so little money to be given for the tragic loss of a loved one. The more I thought about it, I felt that maybe thirty-five dollars was a lot to the Vietnamese people back in the time that this war had happened. The author also informed the readers of what happened to a little boy when his company was in the boy’s town. He talked of how a boy had a concrete block dropped onto his head, he then told of how he tried to help the boy, but despite his efforts the boy died. The author felt somewhat responsible and tried to help the best that he could. In the essay he also told me a little about how the army was back in those days. He explained the rank structure from a S-1 to a S-5 and what they did in the army as officers. This essay showed me the compassion that the author has and also showed me about the casualties of war.

Originally, the S-1 was personnel; S-2,intelligence; S-3, operations; and S-4,supply. In Vietnam S-5 was the officer for civil affairs, providing civilian medical and dental care, repairing damaged property, and find Vietnamese civilians who have lost a loved ones in accidental combat and arrange solatium payments.

Solatium appears in the Vietnam glossary as “Grievance Payment”, “Compensation Payment”, and “Go-Minh Money” The Americans thought they were doing a good deed by giving the Vietnamese solatium, but the vietnames just thought the Americans were cold hearted.

When the little boy dies in the hospital the S-5 did the paperwork for the boys family to receive compensation for the accident. The S-5 was something the Army had added during the Vietnamese war. Many people came to the boy’s ceremony including officers and the boys family. When the boy’s family would bow to there son, the Americans showed compassion and bowed with them. Along with the money, the boy’s family received packs full of candy and snacks and toilet items and ten cartons of American cigarettes.

When Beidler went home he used his G.I. Bill to go back to school to get his Ph.D. in English. Beildler has a wife and daughter and always thinks something is going to happen to them. He began taking an excessive amount of medication to let go of those fears. He finally went to a VA psychologist. The psychologist tells him that the dead Vietnamese boy was what he was thinking about . Still he wonders why the boy is still in his head and not all the other dead people he had seen. Maybe it’s because he has a child now and is afraid that something bad will happen to her. But everyday he sees the little boy in his mind. He doesn’t know why he sees the boy and not the other casualties that he had seen during the war.

I know there are a lot of Vietnam Veterans that feel the same way as Beidler does. He is still trying to reason with himself with what he had done in Vietnam. He will never be able to forget this tragedy. But this essay was very informative and interesting to me. I know about the solatium payment from the government and I also learned a lot more about the Vietnam war. I feel sorry for the author and his experience with the boy, but I feel that as a writer he has helped share the experience with the readers and help us better understand the Vietnam war.