Horrors my brother experienced while in Vietnam were etched into his mind, and soul, forever. How does a person forget the sudden life-ending mortar that hits a soldier, a booby trap that explodes, VC coming out of tunnels underground, and the times he witnessed dismemberment and death right next to him? Returning home, Peter chose to bury all of it deep inside his being. It would leak out at times as nightmares, deep sorrow, guilt, and anger at the world to which he returned.
Some Vietnam vets chose to meet up again, continuing as a band of brothers at home through Vietnam Veterans of America, Veterans of Foreign Wars, The American Legion, and other veteran groups. My brother claimed he left all of it behind in Vietnam, he wanted nothing to do with reunions or meeting up with other vets to talk about war. This was his way of dealing with the madness of war, as he called it.
I thought for a long time about whether or not to publish Peter’s letters. It was putting our family out there for the world to read.
But---as I read books about Vietnam and books of soldiers’ letters, I knew Peter’s letters were especially remarkable, descriptive, and well-written, so I persisted.
Remember, in the 2nd blog I talked about meeting Ruth Crocker, the wife of the well-respected captain of Alpha Company, the one who was suddenly killed? This connection was the first amazing synchronicity of this book. Another synchronicity was how Ruth Crocker, author and book publisher, coincidentally connected to a couple vets of her husband’s unit, the 2/22nd Infantry, aka the Triple Deuce. She has since attended Triple Deuce reunions, meeting more of the men who were in her husband’s and my brother’s unit.
Here comes the third synchronicity: I emailed one of the veterans that Ruth is connected to and he happens to be the current president of the Triple Deuce. From there he said my book would be added to the book section of their website and he shared that they also have a section for veterans’ photos from Vietnam. He asked if I had any photos, especially ones that identify soldiers by name. Oh yes! I have photos! My journalist/photographer brother was very organized and captioned nearly all of the photos with first and last names in his extensive photo album. You know, the one that was lost for years and found?
I took photos of his photos, making sure to capture the names written below and sent them for posting to the Vietnam Triple Deuce website. Since the photos and names were posted, I have heard from several vets of Alpha Company who knew my brother. I have received emails saying they were in that battle on p. 68, or page…
One veteran sent me a photo taken after one of the battles and told me reading the book helped him reconcile with what happened in Vietnam. Another veteran said he was stunned to read about my brother’s very rare cancer and that he also was diagnosed with the same, very rare, cancer. I am hoping the book offers some closure and acknowledgement of what our soldiers endured, survived, and have had to live with all these years. For that reason, I am glad I put my brother’s and my family’s story out into the world.
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