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Gi Diary
A frank and often touching record of a young soldier's private hopes and fears, his reactions to the experience of killing and the thought of being killed, and his frustrations over army life and attitudes.
138 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1968
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About the author
David Parks
12 books11 followersDavid Parks is an American photographer, film director and author. He is the son of the late, legendary photographer, director, musician and writer Gordon Parks (1912-2006), and the younger brother of the late director Gordon Parks Jr. (1934-1979).
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December 1, 2016
A short diary that can easily be read in one sitting. These are entries from the perspective of David Parks, an African-American from an affluent family from Minneapolis, MN, from the time he was inducted into the United States Army at Fort Dix until his return from Vietnam in September, 1967. Parks divided the diary into two parts: Training and Combat. The former details his time at Fort Riley, Kansas for basic training and advanced individual training, while the latter begins when his unit boards a ship out of Oakland, California for Vietnam and ends when he reaches his DEROs and boards a Trans-World Airlines plane for the United States.
Note: The unit designations and names of comrades are fictitious to preserve the anonymity of those Parks served with. Parks published his diary in 1968 as the Vietnam War was still on-going.
Throughout the diary, Parks is sensitive to how racism influenced his time in uniform and he wrote frequently about how white soldiers from various regions of the United States accepted him, as well as writing about disparities in how punishments were meted out for infractions based on skin color. Parks also believed that unit culture in Vietnam was toxic as Hispanics and African-Americans were preferred for the most hazardous jobs (Point-man, forward observer, radio telephone operator) in the field. Parks maintained an open line of communication with family back home. His father, a notable photographer of the mid-twentieth century, worked assiduously to have Parks' application to the Rochester Institute of Technology accepted so that his son could depart Vietnam early for college. A friend, and potential love interest, "DeeDee" wrote frequent letters that contained newspaper articles relating information about race riots during the summer of 1967, Martin Luther King, Jr.'s emerging anti-war stance, and Stokely Carmichael's pleas for African-American men to dodge the draft. At times, Parks describes his own feelings on the important political and social issues of his day, but maintained a reticence about where he particularly stood regarding the activist ideologies of black nationalism and Christian non-violence in the late-1960s.
Parks' experience in Vietnam is incredible, as his unit remained in the field and in combat during the majority of his one-year tour. He personally served in over twenty airmobile operations, almost all of which resulted in heavy action with the enemy. His diary mournfully records the deaths of several close friends, many of whom were African-American, killed by booby-traps, snipers, and friendly fire. Parks also comments on the darker side of the Vietnam War, mentioning the depravity of men in his unit who began mutilating bodies, and shooting civilians (once or twice, and usually by accident). Parks' mentality changes over the course of the war as he begins to abhor his participation in the conflict and not necessarily from a political point-of-view. Parks' growing anti-war sentiment was grounded in his experience—perceiving that what the men were doing in the war seemed pointless given that domestic turmoil back home seemed more tumultuous than ever and that the United States appeared to be losing or breaking even against (as he perceived it) a group of teenagers in black pajamas.
This diary is rich as a primary source and should be more mainstream. I could easily see this dairy being a component of an undergraduate course on the Vietnam War, or being incorporated into a military history survey as part of an alternating cast of books on the conflict.
Note: The unit designations and names of comrades are fictitious to preserve the anonymity of those Parks served with. Parks published his diary in 1968 as the Vietnam War was still on-going.
Throughout the diary, Parks is sensitive to how racism influenced his time in uniform and he wrote frequently about how white soldiers from various regions of the United States accepted him, as well as writing about disparities in how punishments were meted out for infractions based on skin color. Parks also believed that unit culture in Vietnam was toxic as Hispanics and African-Americans were preferred for the most hazardous jobs (Point-man, forward observer, radio telephone operator) in the field. Parks maintained an open line of communication with family back home. His father, a notable photographer of the mid-twentieth century, worked assiduously to have Parks' application to the Rochester Institute of Technology accepted so that his son could depart Vietnam early for college. A friend, and potential love interest, "DeeDee" wrote frequent letters that contained newspaper articles relating information about race riots during the summer of 1967, Martin Luther King, Jr.'s emerging anti-war stance, and Stokely Carmichael's pleas for African-American men to dodge the draft. At times, Parks describes his own feelings on the important political and social issues of his day, but maintained a reticence about where he particularly stood regarding the activist ideologies of black nationalism and Christian non-violence in the late-1960s.
Parks' experience in Vietnam is incredible, as his unit remained in the field and in combat during the majority of his one-year tour. He personally served in over twenty airmobile operations, almost all of which resulted in heavy action with the enemy. His diary mournfully records the deaths of several close friends, many of whom were African-American, killed by booby-traps, snipers, and friendly fire. Parks also comments on the darker side of the Vietnam War, mentioning the depravity of men in his unit who began mutilating bodies, and shooting civilians (once or twice, and usually by accident). Parks' mentality changes over the course of the war as he begins to abhor his participation in the conflict and not necessarily from a political point-of-view. Parks' growing anti-war sentiment was grounded in his experience—perceiving that what the men were doing in the war seemed pointless given that domestic turmoil back home seemed more tumultuous than ever and that the United States appeared to be losing or breaking even against (as he perceived it) a group of teenagers in black pajamas.
This diary is rich as a primary source and should be more mainstream. I could easily see this dairy being a component of an undergraduate course on the Vietnam War, or being incorporated into a military history survey as part of an alternating cast of books on the conflict.
Displaying 1 of 1 review