GOD GO WITH THEM
This is a work of fiction based on the
truth. The author was an Area Director for The American Friends Service
Committee during the turbulent decade of the sixties.
"GOD GO WITH THEM" is the lead story in a TRILOGY of that era.
The real tragedy of the times was not the war in Vietnam itself, but the untold
story of the pain inflicted on the many parents of young boys who had to decide
between being a conscientious objector, join the thousands who left their
country, go to jail, or go to kill or be killed. Tough decisions for an eighteen
year old man/boy.
If ex-Secretary McNamara (in a large way responsible for the deaths of over
fifty thousand American boys) admits in his book that, "We were wrong, terribly
wrong," then isn't it time to honor the soldiers of peace who were right,
terribly right? Now, at middle age, they ask for no medals. They ask only to
have their dignity and honor restored by their countrymen. Today, as the media
reports a long stay in Iraq, they fear a reintroduction to the Draft. Will their sons and daughters have to go?
From the book. . . He took one step up into the police bus, then glanced back
just in time to see a policeman grab Nancy by the hair and pull her limp body up
so he could get a grip under her shoulders. Her kerchief was knocked to the
ground...."Leave her alone you no good son-of-a-bitch," Mark screamed, spinning
in the bus doorway and stepping past the guard toward Nancy.
The little golden flecks that danced before his eyes mingled with the blue
circles, then parted as shapes of other heads began to materialize. The warm
feeling in the back of his head turned to a dull throbbing. "Jesus Christ," a
voice penetrated the throbbing. "This guy needs stitches. For god's sake can't
somebody get him to a hospital?"
In the wake of the devastation of Kosovo and the almost daily bombing of Iraq,
this book is not only relevant, but an important read for all young Americans.
David Truskoff's work is always written with BOOK STARVED LIBERAL readers in
mind, many of whom have lived through the downsizing, dehumanizing, divorce
causing, artery hardening, corporate world and are reaching for a reminder of
"The Way We Were."