Please come to my book talk in Oakton, Virginia!

I want to issue an enthusiastic invitation to you to come hear my talk this week. I'll be discussing my book as part of The Speaker's Series, sponsored by the Friends of the Oakton Library on Wednesday, January 20 at the Oakton library, 10304 Lynnhaven Place, Oakton, Virginia at 7 p.m. The phone number if you want to call to reserve a spot is 703/242-4020. But you can also just show up at 7 p.m.

I wrote this book about my father, who served as a lieutenant in Patton's Third Army and was involved in the liberation of the Ebensee Concentration Camp. His civilian life was plagued by nightmares of combat and the camps. After his death at age 86, I read the riveting WWII diary he kept of the Allied offensive in Europe and was able to incorporate it into my book. I also interviewed family members and fellow soldiers in a rewarding but sometimes painful journey to understand the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder on my father and our family.

I hope you will be able to come - we'll have plenty of time for questions afterwards. There will be books available for purchase and signing also.

Here are just a few of the recent comments I've gotten about the book:

"I was so moved by your scholarship, sensitivity, persistence, insight and wisdom...it had a profound impact on me."

This was from a man whose father-in-law had suffered from dementia for many years: "Thank you so much for the investment of time, talent, and resources you committed to your recent book "The Box from Braunau." You so aptly and appropriately lifted the shadow from the experiences my wife's father had with your father in the 80th Division. Your research has filled a void, for which we are most grateful."

As a postscript to my last blog about Max Cleland, I want to make sure I report that he is doing very well now. Settling into his job as Secretary of the American Battle Monuments Commission, his ptsd symptoms have waned significantly. He commutes between Washington and his home in Atlanta so he can check on and care for his 96-year old father.

The above photo was taken at my talk at Politics and Prose Bookstore in Washington, DC last year.

Max Cleland, Patriot

I just finished reading Heart of a Patriot: How I Found the Courage to Survive Vietnam, Walter Reed and Karl Rove, by former United States Senator and Veterans Administration head Max Cleland. In this moving and often heartbreaking book, Cleland chronicles his life's struggles after being left a triple amputee by a grenade explosion in Viet Nam. Over and over again, he picks up the pieces of his life and his psyche, and rises to "stand tall" among his fellow citizens. He gives his life to public service and becomes the first Vietnam veteran to serve in the Georgia State Senate, then serves as head of the Veterans Administration under Jimmy Carter. Eventually he fulfills his dream of becoming a U.S. Senator.

But during the campaign for his reelection, he was singled out by Republicans as being — incredibly — "unpatriotic." The shattering loss brought on his latent Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. As a result, Cleland returned to Walter Reed Army Medical Center for treatment and, as he says, "cried for two and a half years."

Last year President Obama appointed him Secretary of the American Battle Monuments Commission, which manages the 24 overseas cemeteries where American soldiers are memorialized. I imagine those soldiers would be proud to know that someone with Max Cleland's courage and depth of character is in charge.