for The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien

Abbie Hoffman – a social and political activist who co-founded the Youth International Party (“Yippies”), an anti-authoritarian and anti-war youth group

bleeding heart – someone overly sympathetic to a cause; liberals who wanted the US out of the Vietnam  War were dubbed “bleeding heart liberals”

CO – conscientious objector (someone who refuses to fight in war on religious or moral grounds)

Diem – Ngo Dinh DIem, first president of the Republic of South Vietnam; an authoritarian ruler who was assassinated in 1963

dink – military slang for a recruit in training

dust off – helicopter used for medical evacuation

Gary Cooper – Hollywood actor who starred in over 100 films from 1924-1961; known for his roles in Westerns

Gene McCarthy – In 1968, McCarhty unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination for president; he ran on an anti-Vietnam war platform

gook – derogatory slang for Vietnamese person

hawk – someone in favor of war

Jane Fonda – Hollywood actress who starred in the 1968 movie Barbarella; anti-Vietnam protestor whose visit to Hanoi during the war angered many

LBJ – Lyndon Baines Johnson, US President from 1963-1968

LZ – landing zone

mama-san – a woman who works in a supervisory role, usually in a bar or house or prostitution

Radio Hanoi – a propaganda radio station run by North Vietnamese Army

recon – reconnaissance, a military exploration to gain information

SEATO – Southeast Asia Treaty Organization, a group of southeast Asian countries who aligned in 1954 to try to block the spread of Communism

VC – Viet Cong

Westmoreland – General William Westmoreland, commander of U.S. military forces in Vietnam from 1964-1968.