48 pages • 1 hour read
Cynthia KadohataCracker
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2005A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Background
Historical Context: The Vietnam War
French colonial control of Vietnam ceased in 1954, after the French defeat in the First Indochina War. From the resultant power vacuum, two distinct groups rose to power: the Army of the Republic of Vietnam in the South and the Viet Minh in the North. The Vietcong, a military group who were sympathetic to the Viet Minh and their communist aspirations, initiated guerrilla warfare in the South of the country. The goal of the Vietcong and the Viet Minh was to unite the country under universal, communist rule. Meanwhile, the United States, strongly opposed to the spread of communism, ideologically favored the democratic ideals of the South (although the governing democratic body was clearly corrupt). In 1965, the US entered the Vietnam War, also known as the Second Indochina War, to support the South in the suppression of the Vietcong. American troops were joined by allies from Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Thailand, and the Philippines. The war was predominantly fought in Vietnam; associated conflicts also took place in Cambodia and Laos.
Engaging in direct conflict with the Vietcong was challenging as Vietcong soldiers intentionally disguised themselves in jungles, among civilians, and in tunnels. The American-led war against the Vietcong largely took the form of “search and destroy” operations, which aimed first to locate and then to engage and destroy Vietcong targets. Millions of Vietnamese civilians were killed, injured, or left without homes due to the unbounded nature of this war. This, as well as the role of television, impacted the way that veterans of this war were received. Unlike previous conflicts, many engagements in this war were captured on film or in photographs. Anti-war protesters angrily condemned the actions of veterans, whom they branded as murderous. This compounded the trauma and stress of reintegration for Vietnam veterans, many of whom were conscripted into the war and did not voluntarily enlist.
America established the Vietnam War Crimes Working Group in response to alleged war crimes by US soldiers. Many claims made to this investigative body were found to be true, including cases of horrific torture by waterboarding and electrocution, as well as massacres of civilians such as the My Lai massacre. During this massacre on March 16, 1968, American soldiers murdered somewhere between 347 and 504 innocent civilians as well as raped and mutilated women and children. America’s intervention in the Vietnam War remains contentious both domestically and internationally, particularly given the eventual withdrawal of America and its allies in 1973, resulting in the successful capturing of South Vietnam by the Vietcong and Viet Minh and the institution of communist rule in Vietnam in 1975. Vietnam remains a socialist republic led by the Communist party (Levant, Victor: “Vietnam War.” The Canadian Encyclopedia, 2011).
Cultural Context: Canine Forces in the American Military
Dogs have a long history in American warfare. During the Civil War, dogs were used as mascots to raise morale, as well as to listen for and signal the presence of enemy soldiers and deliver messages. In World War I, millions of dogs served with both the Allied and Central powers, delivering messages in trenches, warning human handlers of incoming attacks, and providing spiritual and psychological support to exhausted and traumatized soldiers. The US Army did not have an official army dog division at this time, but the stray dog Stubby joined the 102nd Infantry Regiment, which was stationed on the Western Front. Stubby was invaluable to the soldiers, alerting them to gas attacks and even allegedly identifying and attacking a disguised German spy. Furthermore, the dog Rin-Tin-Tin, who had been trained by the German military, was adopted by American soldiers when they took over a German line. Rin-Tin-Tin attained celebrity status in America for his role as a protector and mascot (“The History of K9 Corps in the U.S. Army.” U.S. Army Airborne and Special Operations Museum).
In 1942, the US Army officially began to recruit and train dogs. The dogs’ division became known as the K-9 Corps. These dogs were trained to act as scouts, sentries, and bomb sniffers. Chips, an American Army dog in the K-9 Corps, attacked enemy machine gun troops in Sicily during World War II; he is credited with saving the lives of his handler and the accompanying American soldiers (“Four-Legged Fighters.” U.S. Department of Defense).
At least 4,000 dogs worked during the Vietnam War. Dogs are particularly invaluable in guerilla warfare because their sharp senses allow them to identify disguised traps—like the trip wires and punji pits depicted in Cracker!: The Best Dog in Vietnam—and hidden enemy soldiers. American military dogs are credited with saving 10,000 human lives. However, at the war’s end, most of these dogs were classified as surplus military equipment; many were euthanized or given to the South Vietnamese Army. Military dog handlers experienced significant distress at the Army’s indifference toward these dogs, which had served loyally and bravely. After the Vietnam War, military policy was changed so that war dogs always came home, either to handlers’ homes or to American military bases. This policy is known as No Military Working Dog Left Behind (Kadohata, Cynthia: “Author’s Note.” Cracker!: The Best Dog in Vietnam. New York, Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division, 2007).
Military dogs continue to serve with the US Army and have been involved in major conflicts like the Korean War, The Gulf War, and the Iraq War. In these wars, they specialized in bomb and mine detection, as well as in identifying and attacking enemy targets.
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