War Lessons: How I Fought to Be a Hero and Learned That War Is Terror [Paperback]

Military memoirs abound, but few prove to be trustworthy accounts free of spin, bravura, or military glitter. John Merson’s War Lessons takes a rare reflective approach to this pressing issue of our time. In vivid, unadorned prose, he interweaves his own experiences in war with thoughtful assessments of how to prevent it. He highlights the daily experience of combat from the perspective of both the foot soldier and the villager in whose home the war is being fought. When he leaves Vietnam, Merson begins an odyssey that brings him back eight times. The book limns this process as a poignant personal voyage and the author struggles to understand why young people are drawn to war, how it changes those who fight it, why its destructive effects persist on both sides, how former enemies reconcile, and how soldiers wanted to be treated and remembered by the citizens who send them to war. War Lessons also offers hope, suggesting strategies for young people to help the world reclaim its humanity through healing actions such as participating in UN peacekeeping programs, working to prosecute war crimes, and protecting refugees.Foreword by Ken Bacon ix
Acknowledgments xv
One: Learning to Be a Soldier 1
Two: Policy versus Results 11
Three: Support the Troops 25
Four: "Take Me in Your Arms, Rescue Me" 35
Five: Health Care 43
Six: Death and Remembering 51
Seven: Massacre at Dai Loc 59
Eight: Heroism 71
Nine: The Weight of Memory 81
Ten: Mentoring 87
Eleven: Doing the Blend 93
Twelve: How Long Is a War? 99
Thirteen: Home at Last 105
Postscript 113
Appendix 1: United States-Vietnam Timeline 121
Appendix 2: Personal Timeline 123
Appendix 3: Map of Vietnam 125
Related Books and Movies 127
Reader's Guide 131
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