The Angel from Vietnam

Written by Bernie Weisz Vietnam Historian Pembroke Pines, Florida e mail:[email protected] June 27, 2010 Title of Review: "It's Hard to Leave" I defy the reader of this book not to read this in one sitting! It's almost impossible to put down. The author, Jim Stewart, in his writing debut, expresses himself so clearly, emotionally and graphically, you get visual pictures in your mind of the descriptions you read! There is a part of everyone's life experienced that the reader will be able to identify with within the pages of this book. This is a story where Stewart looks back on his life, sadly interrupted by the Vietnam War, the loss of his lover, his daughter (and later, he finds out his son, too!) and the sadness of excommunication from his family because of his choices. Originally written as "The Ghosts of Vietnam" (renamed "The Angel of Vietnam" to improve marketability, the book starts off with a prophetic quote:"Do not remember the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions for your name's sake, O Lord, pardon my iniquity, for it is great. Look at my affliction and my pain, and forgive all my sins". You are forewarned that a "heavy story" is coming up. Stewart was never in combat or was fired upon by the enemy, but he certainly was a psychological casualty, as his "wounding" in many ways hurt much more than a physical wound. Stewart starts off this book asserting that most Vietnam Vets today, aside from those involved in some of the unfortunate tragedies of the war (the My Lai Massacre, for instance) don't regret their tours of duty and wouldn't change any of it, whether positive or negative. They very much resent the undeserving and false stereotypes heaped upon them, such as "baby-killer, "junkie" and "loser" heaped upon them for many years after the end of the war. Stewart has the intelligence to look back at it philosophically and sum up the American Experience, and his personally as:"to me there are no "bad guys", it was a nation at war, and although I may not have understood it much then, I have come to realize that it was a country fighting for it's future. We were part of their struggle whether we accepted that fact or not. Individually we had a tremendous impact on the country and it's people. After all, we were there for a long time and were going to be there forever, weren't we? We wouldn't turn tail and run. We wouldn't be pushed out and be defeated by the Communists like the French. We would stay and build. We would always be in Vietnam. Of c

שנה

2007

שפה

English

הוצאה

PublishAmerica

מהדורות

1

עמודים

250

ISBN

9781413723182

מקור הנתונים: Wikidata