“The Journal of Patrick Seamus Flaherty” is one book in a series entitled “My Name is America,” which takes incidents in history and dramatizes them to make them more accessible to a younger reader. I’ve had the chance to read several volumes in this series and found each of them to be well-researched, touching, and educational without being heavy-handed.
This installment of the series tells us about a young man who enlists in the Vietnam War shortly after his graduation from high school. His father gives him a journal to take with him, and asks him to keep a record of his experiences so he will be able to remember it later. That journal becomes the vehicle through which we see Patrick’s experiences in Vietnam.
The book is written in a conversational tone of voice, with all the insecurities and false bravado you would expect from an eighteen-year-old boy facing down a mortal enemy. We learn about the food, the climate, the Vietnam countryside, and Patrick’s struggles to overcome his greenie status and be accepted as one of the guys. Most touching to me was the friendships he developed with the men in his squad as they face death together and try to stay focused on life.
Midway through the book, Patrick’s unit is sent to defend a hill in what would be known as the Siege of Khe Sahn. This incident, which took place in 1968, is one of the more famous incidents in the war and is detailed for us from Patrick’s viewpoint. He loses many of his good friends and in the end, takes a hit himself, and we feel his pain as the doctors care for him and try to save his life.
Although Patrick is a fictional character, this book is gritty and real. There is some language, as you might expect from a book about soldiers in the military who are called upon to face the atrocities of war, but there was no usage of the f-word, which was a refreshing change from most other literature of that era. All in all, I think this book is an excellent read for teenagers who want to learn more about the Vietnam War or who are interested in reading about the experiences of someone close to their own age.
(This book was published in 2002 by Scholastic.)
Note: Vietnam was never an officially declared war, and there are those who call it the “Vietnam Conflict” rather than “Vietnam War.” I feel that paints a pretty face on the real situation over there and devalues everything that our veterans and POWs went through, and this is why I choose to call it a war rather than a conflict.
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Author Interview: Michele Ashman Bell, part two
Faith of My Fathers — John McCain
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder