Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam

Oct 1, 1987

1h 24m

★ 7.1

Addressed to the heart of America.

Overview

Real-life letters written by American soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines during the Vietnam War to their families and friends back home. Archive footage of the war and news coverage thereof augment the first-person "narrative" by men and women who were in the war, some of whom did not survive it.

Genres

Documentary

War

Production Companies

Dear America

GBA Media

Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam Trailers

No Trailers found.

Cast

Mrs. Stocks (voice)

Ellen Burstyn

(voice)

Tom Berenger

(voice)

J. Kenneth Campbell

(voice)

Richard Chaves

(voice)

Josh Cruze

Elephant Grass (voice)

Willem Dafoe

Great Sewer (voice)

Robert De Niro

(voice)

Brian Dennehy

Jack (voice)

Kevin Dillon

Mike (voice)

Matt Dillon

(voice)

Robert Downey Jr.

Raymond Griffiths (voice)

Michael J. Fox

Vietnam War, 1966. Australia and New Zealand send troops to support the United States and South Vietnamese in their fight against the communist North. Soldiers are very young men, recruits and volunteers who have never been involved in a combat. On August 18th, members of Delta Company will face the true horror of a ruthless battle among the trees of a rubber plantation called Long Tân. They are barely a hundred. The enemy is a human wave ready to destroy them.

No Image Available

9.0

Battle of Long Tan

Aug 16, 2006

In the gathering dusk of 18 August 1966, 108 young, inexperienced Australian and NZ soldiers are separated and surrounded, fighting for their lives, holding off an overwhelming force of 2,500 battle-hardened Viet Cong and North Vietnamese soldiers. And, in the pouring rain, amid the mud and shattered trees of a rubber plantation called Long Tan, with their ammunition running out and another Vietnamese battalion massing for the final assault, the digger's situation seemed hopeless. Long Tan is the true story of ordinary boys who became extraordinary men.

No Image Available

0.0

Chicago 1968

Nov 13, 1995

American Experience looks at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago where Vice President Hubert Humphrey won his party's nomination for president amid massive civil unrest and violence perpetrated by Chicago Police and anti-Vietnam War protesters.

0.0

Black Power Salute

Jul 9, 2008

A film about one of the most iconic images of the 20th century, the moment when the radical spirit of the 1960s upstaged the greatest sporting event in the world. Two men made a courageous gesture that reverberated around the world, and changed their lives forever. This film is about Tommie Smith and John Carlos' protest at the 1968 Olympics.

7.1

Birdy

Dec 14, 1984

Two young men are seriously affected by the Vietnam War. One of them has always been obsessed with birds - but now believes he really is a bird, and has been sent to a mental hospital. Can his friend help him pull through?

7.0

Rescue Dawn

Jun 23, 2007

A US Fighter pilot's epic struggle of survival after being shot down on a mission over Laos during the Vietnam War.

6.2

Uncommon Valor

Dec 16, 1983

A group of Vietnam War veterans re-unite to rescue one of their own left behind and taken prisoner by the Vietnamese.

6.6

Hamburger Hill

Aug 7, 1987

The men of Bravo Company are facing a battle that's all uphill… up Hamburger Hill. Fourteen war-weary soldiers are battling for a mud-covered mound of earth so named because it chews up soldiers like chopped meat. They are fighting for their country, their fellow soldiers and their lives. War is hell, but this is worse. Hamburger Hill tells it the way it was, the way it really was. It's a raw, gritty and totally unrelenting dramatic depiction of one of the fiercest battles of America's bloodiest war. This happened. Hamburger Hill - war at its worst, men at their best.

6.6

Catch-22

Jun 24, 1970

A WWII military pilot makes a valiant effort to be certified insane in order to be excused from flying missions. But there's a catch.

7.1

We Were Soldiers

Mar 1, 2002

The story of the first major battle of the American phase of the Vietnam War and the soldiers on both sides that fought it.

4.2

The Veteran

Jan 1, 2006

Thirty years on from Vietnam, a government official is trying to track down soldiers who went missing in action, in the hope that it may lead her to her father. Meanwhile, a war veteran is forced to relive painful memories of how he was left for dead by his own platoon, and the heinous crimes he once committed while in the line of duty.

5.6

A Bright Shining Lie

May 30, 1998

Something in his past keeps career Army man John Paul Vann from advancing past colonel. He views being sent to Vietnam as part of the US military advisory force a stepping stone to promotion. However, he disagrees vocally (and on the record) with the way the war is being run and is forced to leave the military. Returning to Vietnam as a civilian working with the Army, he comes to despise some South Vietnamese officers while he takes charge of some of the U.S. forces and continues his liaisons with Vietnamese women.

5.4

Home of the Brave

Dec 15, 2006

The day after they get the word they'll go home in two weeks, a group of soldiers from Spokane are ambushed in an Iraqi city. Back stateside we follow four of them - a surgeon who saw too much, a teacher who's a single mom and who lost a hand in the ambush, an infantry man whose best friend died that day, and a soldier who keeps reliving the moment he killed a civilian woman.

0.0

Beyond Victory

Apr 3, 1931

Four battle-weary American soldiers under fire reflect on the women they left behind.

7.6

Bullet in the Head

Aug 17, 1990

Three childhood friends from the slums of Hong Kong flee to war-time Saigon after accidentally murdering a gang leader, but their troubles only escalate.

0.0

Ratamata

Jan 1, 1970

A portrait of the diverse opinions of Chicagoans as they reflect on the general state of affairs in America, the war in Vietnam, social and racial conflict, freedom and personal liberty, happiness, and social justice. Ratamata was made by future Tom Palazzolo collaborator Kreines when he was 16 years old, and was an award winner at the Young Chicago Filmmakers Festival.

6.2

Peach Blossom, Pho and Piano

Feb 10, 2024

The film is set in the winter-spring battle that lasted 60 days and nights from late 1946 to early 1947 in Hanoi, the story follows the militiaman Van Dan and his love story with the piano-loving lady Thuc Huong. When others had evacuated to the war zone, they decided to defend the capital that had been devastated by bombs and bullets, despite the dangers that awaited them.

7.2

Is Paris Burning?

Oct 26, 1966

Near the end of World War II, Gen. Dietrich von Choltitz receives orders to burn down Paris if it becomes clear the Allies are going to invade, or if he cannot maintain control of the city. After much contemplation Choltitz decides to ignore his orders, enraging the Germans and giving hope to various resistance factions that the city will be liberated. Choltitz, along with Swedish diplomat Raoul Nordling, helps a resistance leader organize his forces.

5.8

Silent Night

Dec 24, 2002

Fact-based World War II story set on Christmas Eve, 1944, finds a German Mother and her son seeking refuge in a cabin on the war front. When she is invaded by three American soldiers and then three German soldiers, she successfully convinces the soldiers to put aside their differences for one evening and share a Christmas dinner.

6.3

Bat★21

Jul 21, 1988

Lt. Col. Iceal "Ham" Hambleton is a weapons countermeasures expert and when his aircraft is shot over enemy territory the Air Force very much wants to get him back. Hambleton knows the area he's in is going to be carpet-bombed but a temporary shortage of helicopters causes a delay. Working with an Air Force reconnaissance pilot, Capt. Bartholomew Clark, he maps out an escape route.