Folklore (Excluding Folksongs) of Americans in the Vietnam War

Bibliography

Baky, John. “White Cong and Black Clap: The Ambient Truth of Vietnam War Legendry,” in Duffy, Dan (ed.) and Tal, Kali (ed.), Nobody Gets off the Bus: The Viet Nam Generation Big Book. Woodbridge, CT: Viet Nam Generation, 1994.

Beidler, Philip. “Situation Report: The Experience of Vietnam,” in American Literature and the Experience of Vietnam. Athens, GA: The University of Georgia of Press, 1982.

Broudy, Saul P. “Vietnamese Pidgin English,” unpublished ms., 1970.

Chittenden, Varick A. “‘These Aren’t Just My Scenes’: Shared Memories in a Vietnam Veteran’s Art,” Journal of American Folklore, 102, no. 406 (October-December, 1989):412-423.

[Dioramas by Marine combat veteran, Michael D. Cousino, Sr.

——– Vietnam Remembered: The Folk Art of Marine Combat Veteran Michael D. Cousino, Sr. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1995.

Clark, Gregory. Words of the Vietnam War: The Slang, Jargon, Abbreviations, Acronyms, Nomenclature, Nicknames, Pseudonyms, Slogans, Specs, Euphemisms, Double-talk, Chants, and Names and Places of the Era of United States Involvement in Vietnam. Jefferson NC: McFarland and Co., 1990.

Cornell, George. “G.I. Slang in Vietnam,” Journal of American Culture, 4 (1981):195-200.

G.I. slang in Vietnam developed as a specialized terminology and an expression of futility. With glossary.

Dewhurst, C, Kurt. “Pleiku Jackets, Tour Jackets, and Working Jackets: ‘The Letter Sweaters of War'” (note), Journal of American Folklore 101, no. 399 (January-March, 1988):48-52.

Feola, Chris. “The American Who Fought on the Other Side,” New York Folklore, 15, nos. 1-2 (1989):119-120.

Discussion of a legend which circulated among soldiers during the Philippine-American War and the Vietnam War.

Ferris, William R., Jr. “The Enlisted Man: Army Folklore,” New York Folklore, 2, nos. 3 and 4 (Winter, 1976):229-234.

Collected at Ft. Bliss in 1970, copying machine folklore, including “the chain of command” and a short-timer’s calendar.]

Foster, Ted. The Vietnam Funny Book. Novato CA: Presidio Press, 1980.

Gibson, James William. “American Paramilitary Culture and the Reconstitution of the Vietnam War” in Walsh, Jeffrey (ed.) and Aulich, James (ed.), Vietnam Images: War and Representation. New York: St. Martin’s, 1989.

Holm, Tom. “Culture, Ceremonialism and Stress: American Indian Veterans and the Vietnam War.” Armed Forces and Society 12 (Winter, 1986): 237-251.

Jackson, Bruce. “The Perfect Informant,” Journal of American Folklore, 103, no. 410 (October–December, 1990):400-416.

Martin, Charles E. “‘A Good One Is a Dead One’: The Combat Soldier’s View of Vietnam and the Indian Wars.” Kentucky Folklore Record, 26, nos. 3 and 4 (July-December, 1980: 114-132.

Melvin, Ken. Sorry ‘Bout That! Tokyo: The Wayward Press, 1966.

Myers, James E., ed. A Treasury of Military Humor. Springfield IL: Lincoln-Herndon Press, 1990.

Chapter on humor of the Vietnam War

Nusbaum, Philip. “Traditionalizing Experience: The Case of Vietnam Veterans,” New York Folklore, 17, nos. 1 and 2 (1991): 45-62.

Pearson, Barry. “The Soldier’s Point of View: The Experience of World War II and Vietnam as Portrayed in Folklore and Oral History,” unpublished ms., n.d.

Material drawn from author’s collection and the Maryland Folklore Archive, University of Maryland, College Park MD

Pratt, John Clark. Vietnam Voices. New York: Viking, 1984.

Office copier folklore, Saigon graffiti, text of “What the Captain Means…”

Smyth, Cecil. “Unofficial Military Insignia of the Vietnam War: United States Army Special Forces,” Antiques and Collecting Hobbies, 92 (February, 1988):28-30.

Sossaman, Stephen. “More on Pleiku Jackets in Vietnam,” Journal of American Folklore, 102, no. 403 (January-March):76.

Spark, Alasdair. “The Soldier at the Heart of the War: The Myth of the Green Beret in the Popular Culture of the Vietnam Era,” Journal of American Studies, 18 (April, 1984):29-84.

——– “Flight Controls: The Social History of the Helicopter as a Symbol of Vietnam,” in Walsh, Jeffrey (ed.) and Aulich, James (ed.), Vietnam Images: War and Representation. New York: St. Martin’s, 1989.

Tuso, Joseph F. “A Folk Drama: ‘What the Captain Means Is…,’ or That Interview You Never Saw on TV,” Folklore Forum, 5, no. 1 (January, 1972):25-27.

Text of a humorous sketch which circulated widely among pilots in Southeast Asia.

Zidek, Tony. Choi-oi: The Lighter Side of Vietnam. Tokyo: Charles E. Tuttle Co., 1965.

Page updated 30 July, 1999