Veteran's Day

Recounts the story of a young combat medic in Vietnam and his never-ending battle with the memories and nightmares the war left him

Kane served as a combat medic in Vietnam (1965-66) and was in such bad shape on his return to the U.S. that his home appeared to him as an ambush site. After a prolonged period of boozing, brawling, job-hopping and multiple car-wrecks, he realized he needed help, joined a group-therapy program at a VA hospital near Washington, D.C., and began the process of recovery. "It's easy to go off to war," he remarks. "It's just so damn hard to come back from one." In 1985 he achieved a profound catharsis by taking part in the Welcome Home Parade in Washington, D.C., visiting the Wall on the Mall and mingling with men he knew in Vietnam. It took him some 20 years to come back from the war, and the story of how he did it is memorable and moving. Kane, a talented writer with an original voice, has produced a memoir that expresses grief for the dead and survivor's guilt with mad humor.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

As an 18-year-old combat medic, Kane witnessed the horror of war up close. The narrative of his subsequent physical and psychological breakdown upon return to the States occupies the major portion of this troubling memoir. Kane has frequent flashbacks, recurring malaria, and outbreaks of chloracne from Agent Orange exposure. He drinks excessively to facilitate falling asleep and ease continual nightmares. Finally, after years of torment, he voluntarily enters a VA hospital and joins Alcoholics Anonymous, which starts a beneficial healing process culminating in the dedication of the Vietnam Memorial in 1982. The writing is rich and evocative, at times suggesting insanity, and the description of Kane's group therapy with other Vietnam combat veterans is especially well done. Camp had a similarly difficult assignment as commander of an infantry company of Marines, yet he never seems to lose control. His methodical, almost businesslike narrative reveals a first-rate officer, with exemplary leadership qualities who can inspire men to accomplish the impossible in combat. He's a typical hard-nosed Marine, a model husband, and an intelligent leader. This book could serve as a training manual for Marine officers, though the combat sequences, which include the siege of Khe Sanh, are described with such precision and simplicity that anyone can understand the tactics involved. These two memoirs make an obviously striking contrast. Why are some men wrecked by the trauma of combat, yet others endure and go on to productive lives? It's a haunting, unanswerable question vividly posed by these two excellent narratives. Both are highly recommended.
- Richard W. Grefrath, Univ. of Nevada Lib . , Reno
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.