My father came home from WW II totally crazy. He was a seventeen year old 20 mm ack ack gunner on the Murmansk Run. Three ships sunk, two in one day. Saved by a Russian fishing trawler. I spent the first twelve years of my life with this crazy man on the Hillbilly Highway in Elyria, Ohio where all my whole family from Crossville, Tennessee went to work after the war, Then he was injured at National Tube--fractured skull from pipe they dropped a pipe on his head from a crane. Twenty to forty grand mal seizures a day after that. He was the guinea pig at the Cleveland Clinic for drug trials on seizure medicines. I have no memories of my eighth and ninth years. After the drugs kicked in, he lived a relatively normal life for the next thirty years. I am writing about it in my third book, The Whipping Tree. We reached closure. I realize now I was as damaged by WW II as the kids we bombed in Europe, only our own Navy did it to me :) I hope she finds peace, or, at least acceptance, as I have. And I remember the good times, and there were many. He was just a man, used by capitalism to make money, as was her father. All Hillbillys are pawns of the military industrial complex in one way or another. Like Pete Seager and Woody Guthrie I curse them all--the war makers and those who use war to make money.

There might be a small amount of literal truth to your statement "the kids we bombed in Europe", but come on, you're trying to make it sound like that's why we were there. The only kids we may have bombed were collateral damage in Nazi Germany. By all accounts to world is better off for what we reluctantly did at the time. And we all have great trauma of some kind in our lives. It sounds like you're not dealing with yours very well, and are consumed by your bitterness. I hope you get some help.

couldnt have said it better myself, my father, 6 uncles were all WWII war veterans, the greatest men i have ever known.

Wow. Quite a story.

Looking for attention much?? You were not even born until FOUR years AFTER the war ended. If you are looking for someone to blame, then blame your parents for bringing a child into what they already knew to be an unstable environment. My father was also a WWII vet, who lost a leg in the war. He never let that be the focus of his life, but rather let it be part of what shaped him into a very successful man. He could not stand the other veterans who chose to let their injuries ruin their lives because they lost an arm, hand, or leg and took it out on those around them. You make of your life what you chose. If life gives you lemons, make lemonade...then go on with your life!

It is incredible that government statists like yourselves squint your eyes so that you can find a way to blame "capitalism" for all things bad! Here we have an entirely STATE produced war... massive carnage....and even more carnage from the socialist and communists that we were fighting.... as government actions, and it is capitalism???
Incredible. Fashionable thought, I know, but incredible nonetheless.
That the rich can influence government decision is the fault of those who want a large, "helping hand" type paternalistic government.
Thank you, statists, for un-needed war, croney "capitalism" (which is not capitalism at all), massive deficits and debt (which is massively dangerous to all...especially the poor).

Oh yes. There are two graves I want to visit. Johnson and Nixon. I want to leave a "boquet" for them :)

And now you're nothing more than a pawn of the Federal Government Social Complex

No. I hold a Ph.D. in American Culture Studies, I'm a retired professor, writer, Fulbright scholar, and, yes, still a Hillbilly, but an educated one who recognizes that we are all pawns, because the rich run the government just as Gore Vidal said. And yes, I do drive on the highways and use the water provided by the government--gasp!! And, as Bob Dylan says, "We All Pay Somebody." I try to do as little damage in a world in which I am forced to live that is based on killing---that would be the United States. That is who we are. Oppenheimer was right. "I am become death." Change that to read, "We have always been death." Again. That is who we are in this country. Hard to deny. We've been at war with someone my entire 63 years. They build the submarines in Connecticut, the tanks in Toledo, the bombers in Seattle, the missiles in California, the helicopters in Texas, the nuclear weapons in Oak Ridge, and it is the Hillbilly's job to go and prove those weapons systems work and get killed with all that stuff so they can sell $700 billion a year, more than the rest of the world combined. That is how it works. Now you know. They are now trying to educate Hillbillys since the weapons systems are now so sophisticated. Knowing my people as I do, we will resist all attempts at education, because we have always been exploited by the education system! We shall remain ignorant in self defense! For the first time it may work in our favor! LOL

If you are so upset with the U.S, why don't you leave?

Mike, that's a pretty narrow, petty response. Don't you have anything better, perhaps more original? He has reason to be upset. Most of us do, but, unlike you, we also feel a commitment to this country, a commitment to do our best to keep it from doing to others what it has done to the best of us in the past.

You speak truth to power.

Thank you! I try, but I have paid a high price. An author from Vanderbilt once said he heard another writer say, "What are you willing to give up to be a writer? A football Sunday? Saturday fishing? What." Then he looked at me and said, "What have you given up." I answered without thinking: "Everything."

What was the high price you paid to write a book? Did you serve and with what unit?

Bob Dylan never said that

Excuse me. I think the exact quote from the song is "We all serve soembody."

Dylan said "we all serve somebody"

So did you go to Vietnam or were you in college on a scholarship

This is such a beautiful and heart rending story, followed by a beautiful and heart tugging comment, and this is what you have to add?

Take a hard look in the mirror and get some help. Soon.

A $ $

So, you don't think we should have gone to WWII? My grandfather fought in WWII and he does okay.

One of the harsher parts of being a kid living in a secret bubble is thinking that everyone else is living in another 'normal' world ,
What I use to call the Ozzie & Harriet world .
I later learned that one schoolmates mother used to discipline them by holding their hands on hot electrical stove burners . Her hands still have the large round scars .
Also learning about parents that commit incest was very disturbing .
Reality is that too many kids are living in secret bubbles of horror .

Been going on since people have been parents; there are always the ones who should never, never be parents and yet they are. Some children, the majority, survive to normalcy, some don't.

Being "normal" in America isn't much to brag about. Look where we rank on every objective scale as compared to other people, happiness, child mortality, obesity, education, etc. etc. etc. The myth is we are number one in everything. The reality is that the only thing we are really number one is is in thinking we are number one. LOL

I go to youtube and mildly criticize a pop video there and immediately belligerent fans will jump all over me, profanely challenging me to "fight like a man", etc. using their idols to start vulgar fights, and sounding much like any generic radical Islamist.

Or Christian.

Or Jew.

How can you say "the majority survive to normalcy"? Who the p h u q do you think you are, and what gives you the right to even suggest that? Please post a copy of your phd and evedence that you have a clue. Otherwise.....................

Actually I only use it to get a table at restaurants. When I say Dr. they think I am an MD. Not my fault they jump to conclusions LOL

The comment was for blaster34, not for you.

Sorry.

But I think in this case, her dad didn't mean to get sick like he did. A parent can be damaged AFTER having the kids, and not be able to cope with his traumas.

You are correct in that many are not a fault for their trauma ,
But the repercussions to the child are still there and they keep everything a secret because they falsely think everyone else is living in another good world .
They think they will be shunned if anyone finds out , so there is no help , just hiding and coping .

no body's innocent.... no body's guilty!

I think Ms. Presley needs to do a follow up. "30 Days with my Mother". This is undoubtedly a very painful memory for Ms. Presley but reading her journal entries above, I can't help but think about the "me, me, me" and am somewhat appalled at her lack of any understanding she might have for her mother and the caustic remarks that she makes. I understand that Ms. Presley needs to heal and that her relationship with her father needed care and repair, but I can't help thinking that her mother suffered so much more having to care for a child afraid of her father, a husband wanting to die and her own guilts and fears. Ms. Presley, give your mom a break. She just wants to love you.

It is a journal, the whole point is that it is focused on her.

The so-called Good War of the Greatest Generation also left a few of us scarred by a father with PTSD. He may have had greater economic advantages than that of the Vietnam generation, and the whole society might have been pulling for him, but in fact he was affected by serving in the infantry regiment which had more days of combat than any other in many different venues from North Africa to Italy. I recognize that little girl with the acting out and the problems - they followed staying up and hearing the fireworks of the bingeing and breaking things. The man died, but when I found his trove of correspondence with his parents and measured it against the reality, I realized he tried to deny and bury his experiences right from the beginning, censored as they were. Once in awhile he'd tell a story. He was a pretty successful man, but all of us knew he was very traumatized (and so were we). There was always a dark cloud over our family.

May she and her father both find peace they both need and deserve.

Seems dad has gotten his stuff together. Christal may need a few more sessions with the doctor.

I got the same impression. She says she better but she sounds the same. I don't get ANY sense of healing from what she wrote. Definately no empathy for her father.

Nah, Christal just needs to sell more books and make more money so she can be happy.

Ms. Presley is a PhD. She has her doctorate degree. I think she is making money on her own. She did this for cathartic purposes and to help others.

The Vietnam veterans were spit at, called baby killers, and worse. No wonder so many have permanent 'scars'. Those returning today are greeted with applause and have serves available to help them.

And thanks to the Viet Vets for the homecomings the troops today receive, they deserve it. Its apparently in part to America's collective guilt on how the RVN vets were treated when they came home.

Great movie out there. Letters Home From Vietnam: A Diary. Letters of soldiers read by people like De Niro etc. Also points out that 2.5 million served in Vietnam and 247,000 have committed suicide since returning home. Back then we didn't know enough to separate the warrior from the war. Now we do. I am glad. I lost many friends.

10%, seems kind of high. "The CDC Vietnam Experience Study Mortality Assessment showed that during the
first 5 years after discharge, deaths from suicide were 1.7 times more likely
among Vietnam veterans than non-Vietnam veterans. After that initial
post-service period, Vietnam veterans were no more likely to die from suicide
than non-Vietnam veterans. In fact, after the 5-year post-service period, the
rate of suicides is less in the Vietnam veterans' group." Mortality studies show that 9,000 is a better estimate

All I did was quote what the movie said at the end. I, too, thought it was high, and I don't know where they got their statistics, but that is what it said. Check out the film. It is old, on VHS. Maybe they have it on DVD now, but great! I graduated with Freddy Hassler, and on graduation night of 1968 I asked him what he was going to do after school. He said very matter of factly, "Well I'm going to get married, join the Army, then go to Vietnam and get killed." And all those things happened. He was dead by Christmas. Only lasted two or three weeks in country before he died. So sad. When I was in Canada I was asked by a scholar about the Catholic "just war" theory. I said I thought it was crap. She replied, "Well you just dismissed 600 years of Catholic scholars." I said, "That is because they are wrong.There are no "just wars" there are just wars. I see names and faces of people I knew attached to the dead. For me, it isn't just some sort of idle theoretical premise. I think the Church just sold out to the politicians to keep their tax exempt status." That didn't make her very happy :)

When you were in Canada..? Why do you think it's fair to enjoy the rights and privleges America affords to her citizens but not do your part when called upon? I think draft dodgers are selfish people. Your countrymen that fought when called upon get nothing more than you have from their country. I don't think a pardon should have been granted.

2008. I am also a Disabled Vietnam Era Vet, discharged with arthritis from the Army's Primary Helicopter Training Center at Ft. Wolters, Texas. My cousin went to Canada. Died there as a Canadian citizen. Never came back. Knowing what I know now, I, too, would have gone. Being from Tennessee, however, it wasn't an option at 19. I was educated to be ignorant and ready for the slaughter. That is Appalachia's role in the giant wheel of "death in America and who makes money from it." I regret not learning how to fly helicopters, but I have no regrets about not going to Vietnam. Like my Tach Officer, I was going to volunteer to fly Medivac's (Dustoff). I totally agreed with the pardon. If they didn't make it nearly impossible to get CO status there would have been a lot more people not going to Canada. In my town, all five men on the Draft Board had draft age sons. None were drafted. Wonder how that happened :) Congressman's sons were put in a special Draft Pool, from which not one person was drafted. Wonder how that happened :) Al Gore joined I do believe :) George Bush probably flunked the drug test, thus getting kicked out of the Alabama Air Guard (first in history probably LOL). Cheyney got six deferments then started the Iraq War on a lie. War Criminal. Plain and simple. I want to know how he got a heart transplant. I thought you had to have a heart? Probably bought it in China.

I can appreciate your frustration with the whole situation. I don't think much of those sons of men of influence who weaseled their way out either. In my opinion they also forfeit their right to the privledges enjoyed by American citizens. If you were genuinely discharged for medical reasons, then you served when others did not, anyway you slice it. It's not fair for the one's who ducked out to enjoy the same freedoms as those multitudes of men who put it all on the line and answered their nation's call when summonded. If Canada was their choice, then live with it, as a Canadian permanantely. It's not right for some to be able to avoid it and wind up better off than those that didn't.