The Ghosts of Vietnam
Author: Jim Stewart
Publisher: iUniverse
Reviewer: Bill McDonald President of the MWSA
A Touching Memoir by a Vietnam Veteran MP
In The Ghosts of Vietnam, author Jim Stewart reminisces back on his
life, which included 4 years in-country. It is not your normal combat action
story but actually a warm and at times tender loving story of a young man
seeking to find himself during the war and the years afterwards. It is about
a journey and not just a diary of where he has been and what he has done.
You get inside his heart, as well as his head.
There is a touching scene from his experience as an MP in the Saigon
area when he witnesses a little girl on a bike get killed by a truck. He
never forgot that little girl, nor the image of her lying on the ground with
half her skull missing. It haunts him in the background of his heart; and
in a strange twist of fate, that tragic scene gets played out again later
in life when he seeks to find his own daughter whom he left behind in
Vietnam.
This book is both funny and sad. It is at times, spiritual as well
as being very worldly but it is always entertaining. It reads very easily
and for people who do not like typical war books, this is the one to read.
This is not one of those blatant I am a hero with blood and gore
stories. This book shows a different side of the warthe kind where
crime, black markets and life behind the battle lines in Saigon and the cities
are the focus. It is also about love and the loss of love.
This is a story of a man who never really got to enjoy being a father
to his daughter; a man who lost his youth many years ago in a far-a-way place
that still dreams inside him at night. Yes, there are still ghosts of Vietnam
within him but he is finally at peace.
OUTSTANDING BOOK! TOP RATING FROM THE MWSA!
2005 Distinguished Honor Award! |