interest in the war changes in the month of February. During this month, on a day when Meryl Lee and Holling are cleaning the chalkboards after school together, Mr. Guareschi enters Mrs. Baker's classroom to hand her a yellow telegram that declares Lieutenant Baker to be missing in action near the Khesanh base. By March, Walter Cronkite announces on TV how grim the situation is at the Khesanh base. As many as 5,000 marines were trapped on the base, surrounded by 20,000 Vietcong soldiers, who shot at all helicopters that came to deliver supplies to the troops. The Vietcong also launched 500 mortar shells per day and laid explosives in tunnels they dug. During March, Holling's entire family starts watching Walter Cronkite on the news together, and each time Holling watches, he looks for a "sign, any sign of Lieutenant Tybalt Baker" ("March"). Holling's serious devotion to watching the news on the war and his constant thoughts of Lieutenant Baker show us just how much he has been emotionally affected by the war since growing close to Mrs. Baker and learning about her husband being declared missing in action.

At another point in the story, while visiting Saint Adelbert's Catholic Church with Mrs. Baker, Holling lights a candle and "pray[s] for Lieutenant Baker," showing us just how deeply affected he has become by the loss of the loved one of a person close to him ("May").

By the end of the novel, the war is still not over, and Holling reflects that in just five years time he will be old enough to be drafted, a thought that disturbs him so much he stays awake all night.

In Gary Schmidt's The Wednesday Wars, Mr. Hoodhood is somewhat emotionally affected by the Vietnam War because he sees what terrible losses the war is leading to, but in general, Mr. Hoodhood emotionally distances himself from the war because he is an emotionally distant person, mostly concerned with being a successful businessman.

We can see how emotionally affected Mr. Hoodhood is by the war when, each night, he watches Walter Cronkite on TV reporting the latest news of the troops in Vietnam. By March, rates of casualties are even higher, and Mr. Hoodhood begins voicing his emotions. In March, 5,000 marines were trapped in the Khesanh base. They could only receive supplies from helicopters, and the helicopters were frequently shot down by the 20,000 Vietcong troops surrounding the base. The Vietcong launched 500 mortar shells per day at the troops and filled tunnels with explosives. During the news reports, Mr. Hoodhood would sometimes "shake his head and whisper, 'Five thousand boys trapped. Good Lord. Five thousand'" and reach for his wife's hand, which shows how emotional he was about the news.

As a businessman, Mr. Hoodhood is a conservative who does not oppose the decisions of the government, including decisions to go to war. His greatest desire is to be elected the Chamber of Commerce Businessman of 1967. Because he wants the title, he warns his liberal daughter, who is becoming increasingly involved in the hippie movement, not to do anything foolish to prevent him from receiving the honor.

It is not an honor that is awarded to a man who has a daughter who calls herself a flower child. So go wash your face ("October").

While he finds the war emotionally distressing, Mr. Hoodhood generally refuses to become emotionally involved in the war because his priority is his work.

In Gary Schmidt's The Wednesday Wars, two characters the media coverage of the Vietnam War affects the most are Holling and his sister Heather.

At first, Holling ignores the news coverage given by Walter Cronkite and is annoyed by his father's obsession with the news reports. However, as Holling grows closer to Mrs. Baker, the media coverage affects him more. Towards the beginning of the book, we learn that Mrs. Baker's husband, Tybalt Baker, has been drafted into the 101st Airborne Division. By February of the story, Mrs. Baker receives a telegram reporting that Lieutenant Baker is "MISSING IN ACTION" near the Khesanh marine base, which was surrounded by the Vietcong. Soon after learning Mrs. Baker's husband is missing, Holling begins devotedly watching Walter Cronkite report on the war every night with his family. As he watches, he "hop[es] for a sign, any sign of Lieutenant Tybalt Baker" ("March").
Mr. and Mrs. Hoodhood show some anxiety about the news reports of the war, especially when they learn that five thousand US Marines are trapped on the Khesanh base, surrounded by twenty-thousand Vietcong soldiers; however, Heather, Holling's sister, is the one who is stirred to express the most anger about and fearof the war. As a high school student, Heather is influenced to become involved in the flower child movement, a movement that expressed belief in "peace and understanding and freedom" and protested against the Vietnam War ("October"). At one point in the story, when Holling becomes humiliated enough to think of going to military school, Heather expresses her fear of losing her brother to the war by saying that the "next stop after military school is Saigon"; she continues further to talk about how the news reports "two hundred soldiers" dying in the war every single week ("January"). She ends by saying, "I couldn't stand it if ... " ("January"). Though Heather is unable to finish her thought, we know she is thinking of how dreadful it would be if she lost her brother to the terrible war, and we know her knowledge of the war has been influenced by media coverage.