Private E-1 Jerome Jackson's letters, hurriedly handwritten on muddy paper to his mother from jungles and sandbag bunkers, tell the true, first person, contemporary account of a combat medic, rich with the details of how soldiers survived day to day in a life-threatening landscape. They reveal Doc's rage against the mismanagement of a military fiasco during what Jackson considered a senseless war. The letters were discovered in his mother's estate. Interspersed are related recollections as told from his wheelchair to co-author Constance Emerson Crooker, who adds commentary to give context. "A testament to raw human courage, the will to persist and survive, even to find grim humor in the absurdity of his fate. A remarkable and truly honest book about war." -- Rebecca Pepper Sinkler, Former editor in chief, The New York Times Book Review "Fascinating letters from a frontline medic with a need to shield his family from war's horrors and dangers while relating daily details of army life." -- Peder Bisbjerg, Environmental Engineer, twenty years experience living and working in Vietnam "This book is a must read for any politician who is thinking of sending young Americans into the carnage of war with the foolish idea of reshaping another country." -- John A Wetteland Jr., A Battery, 1/83d ARTY March 1969-May 1970 "Doc Jackson's legacy of truth is recorded in his letters sent home--history that would become a treasured time capsule." --Mike Hastie, Army Medic Vietnam, 1970-71
About the Author: Jerome J. Jackson: Oregon born Doc Jerome J. Jackson, 1968 combat medic with the Fourth Infantry Division in Vietnam, awarded Combat Medics' Badge for providing medical aid while under enemy fire, wrote letters home to mother, Hazel Jackson, a schoolteacher and Oklahoma dust bowl exile. Tells wartime recollections to author Crooker. B.A. in architecture, career as project manager, formal study to become a skilled oil painter. Late in life calling to the ministry led to becoming a Masters of Divinity trained part-time preacher. Post-traumatic stress disorder casualty, and wheelchair bound victim of Parkinson's disease caused by exposure to the toxic defoliant, Agent Orange. Four times married and divorced. Father to Blane, Chris, and Tim. Intentionally reclusive life in mountains with chickens, ducks, goats. Son and daughter-in-law, Tim and Mary his caregivers, and his granddaughter Chelsee his perpetual motion comic relief. Rescue dog, Eli the cuddly companion of his lap and bed. When between wives two and three, Jackson had intermittently been a mercurial paramour of Crooker. Constance Emerson Crooker: Oregon resident, author, retired lawyer, raised in four of the New England states, Crooker's Emerson ancestry is in the Ralph Waldo Emerson family tree. Reed College B.A. in art history. J.D. and career as a bilingual (English/Spanish) lawyer dedicated to giving voice to the voiceless in the face of crushing power. Author of books and articles on outdoor travel, coping with failing health (www.melanomamama.com), and legal subjects such as gun rights and gun control. During Chris and Tim's childhoods, caring mother figure during allotted child custody weekends with Jackson, their peripatetic father.