Hart-1 Emily Hart Mrs.

Simon ELA 3-4 H October 2, 2013 Narrative Essay I remember when my brother was one of the 648,500 soldiers who were drafted into the Vietnam War to fight (veteranshour.com). Although I was the young age of seven, I still remember when he left. I felt abandoned, like Id gotten my big brother taken away from me. I cried for days after he left, feeling confused and alone. At the time I didnt fully understand the importance of the situation I was apart of. I had grown up hearing stories about my grandfather and uncle fighting in World War II; my uncle had a rifle and samara sword he took from soldiers he captured, and my grandfather had photos of some of the battles he was in, like Guadalcanal. So as I was growing up I always thought of war being as an adventure, and my brother was just going on his adventure. After he left the reality of it all set in and I realized that war is not some adventure, you lose people you love. I remember watching the news when over a hundred Prisoners of War were released off of the airplane in California (History.com), and all I could think about was, when was my brother going to come home? Before he had gone to war my brother was one of the funniest people I knew and he could always make me laugh. He treated me lovingly and would always play with me despite our age difference of fifteen years. But, when he came back he just wasnt the same anymore. He was tense and serious. I felt distant from him, like I couldnt joke and play like we used to when we were younger.

Hart-2 Our whole family was affected by him being sent to war but, not all of it was bad. We had heard of other families whos loved ones went through much harder things like posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, etc. We were lucky enough for him to even come back alive. We cherished every day we had with him when he finally came home and you could tell he really enjoyed the fact that we showed how much we loved him. In the end Im grateful he didnt have to go through worse times and Ill cherish the moments we had together for as long as I can. Ill always be happy I have my older brother there for me even after everything hes been through.

Hart-3 Works Cited "Release of U.S. POWs Begins." History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 02 Oct. 2013. "Vietnam War Statistics." Vietnam War Statistics. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Oct. 2013.