Presentation info

This is an example of what I do when I give presentations at colleges. Each school comes up with its own approach -- panels, discussion groups, questions and answers afterward. I have learned a great deal on each occasion, from a host of interesting people. One panel had a college prof who survived Vietnam; he turned to art as a way to cope with his experiences. He introduced me to the Vietnam Veterans Art Museum in Chicago. Another panel had a photographer whose brother had come home from VN only to commit suicide some time later. Her photography is an attempt to understand.....Another session included a talk by a woman who was fourteen and in the Middle East when bombs were blowing up outside her home....
I look forward to the GA College event.
Here is the link:
http://www.gcsu.edu/adp/warletters.htm.

Interesting question

The best part of any presentation I give is the Question and Answer section. At one venue, a person in the audience followed me outside to ask one more question: "What do you think Donn would say today about you?" I thought about it a minute, and then gave this answer: "I think he would be sorry that I have been sad for so long."
Donn was more like our mother: upbeat, carpe diem, and if there's a party, let's go! He had the sign over his tent in Vietnam that said, "Smile! That's an order!" It is tough to find a picture of him without a big smile on his face.
I never had that joie de vivre. Must be a hardwired component that I missed out on. But Donn had it, and he spread it wherever he could. His letters sparkle with his humor and his fondness for his comrades and for the South Vietnamese people. He was, as one soldier wrote to me, "One of the best human beings I have ever known."

Do you know this soldier?

That is Donn on the right. Does anyone recognize the soldier on the left? This picture was taken near Dong Ha, sometime between Sept.'67 and July '68.

Donn's Namesake!

I have received a lot of mail and e-mail since the book came out in January of 2008, but nothing made my jaw drop on the floor like one I received in spring of '09.
A man wrote that his dad had been with Donn at Fort Sill, when they were in OCS. His dad and his mother, who lived near the base, became good friends with Donn. And when his parents had a baby boy in 1969, they named him Steven Donn.
The writer told me that he had never known much about "the guy he was named after," other than that he had been killed in Vietnam in 1968.
Steven Donn thanked me for the book, saying that he finally had some context for his name after forty years. And that he finally had an explanation when people continually ask him, "Is it Donald? Why two n's?"
My sister, my mother, and I are absolutely flabbergasted that there is someone named after Donn. We never would have known!

Donn Stories

Do you have any good Donn stories? He was a wild and crazy guy, and smart and funny. Here is a place on the blog to share some stories.

Taking Chance

A few months ago my husband told me he had watched an HBO movie called Taking Chance.
He thought it was very good, and he recommended it to me with some reservations. It is a movie about a military escort for a young man killed in Iraq.
When I watched it, I was amazed at the care and honor given the young soldier who died in war. Details of how his body was handled at Dover AFB and then put on its journey home for burial were fascinating. How those soldiers at the morgue cared for their fallen comrades, and with such tenderness and respect. Kevin Bacon stars as the military escort, and he does a beautiful job of showing the difficult tasks of that position. From one vehicle to another, from plane to plane, the young soldier is given the greatest respect.
I remember the young escort that our family had. I don't know how far he had accompanied Donn. I do know that he was a kind and gentle person who helped our family go through the tragedy. I wonder if every Vietnam casualty was given the extraordinary care that the soldier in Taking Chance was given. There were so many casualties from Vietnam.....Could there possibly have been that much consideration for every one?
Soldiers who returned from Vietnam were not given respect at that time. I was asked by a veteran to sign his book, "Welcome Home." He said that is what VN vets want to hear...at long last.

Donn's Favorite Care Package

Last spring I was delighted when my sister Joan gave me this photo of Donn's favorite care package. Our aunt and uncle had mastered the sending of Scotch in a loaf of bread. In Donn's letters, his words fairly leap off the page when he receives this particular gift, which didn't come nearly as often as he would have liked. On his last mission, he was planning to return to base and "devour it completely, label and all." He didn't get to do that; maybe a guy in his unit did.

Donn also wrote about drinking warm beer and how much he hoped Mom would forward his Playboys to him. A reporter for the Schenectady Gazette has e-mailed me that he now sets up two beers and some Playboys from the 1960s every Memorial Day on his patio. One beer for him, one for Donn. A fitting tribute!

Patti Porsche

Many readers have told me how much they enjoy Donn's comments about his beloved Patti Porsche. Here is just one Patti story. I was giving a talk to a class that had read His Name Was Donn as part of their college English curriculum. One guy in the class asked me numerous questions about Patti. He was as enamored of her as Donn was. When I told him that I once had let Patti's engine freeze up because I had not given her adequate quantities of oil, he just glared at me. (I haven't really forgiven myself, either.)I assured him I had had her repaired by a wonderful Porsche mechanic, and that I had kept her for many years after that. "Past tense? You don't have her now?" I explained that when we were in graduate school in the early 1980s, we couldn't afford to insure her OR keep her properly maintained. This young college student was crestfallen. When I signed his copy of his book, I signed it, "Sorry about Patti." We can only hope that the doctor in Texas who bought her for his son appreciates her even now.

His Name Was Donn

When I wrote His Name Was Donn, I had no inkling of what might come from my work. I had carried his letters around with me for nearly forty years, and I just had a deep feeling that I had to look at them. Prior to that, even looking at his handwriting would send me into another spiral of depression and grief. As I looked into his letters, I actually found myself laughing. Those of you who knew him no doubt remember his wit and hilarious sense of humor. His letters contain that, along with so many other aspects of his personality and life.

There has been a call for a blog, so here it is. I hope you will contribute to it! I am working now on a second book, but I will undoubtedly be checking in on this blog daily. I have received many e-mails and letters from people who knew Donn, who served with him, and many who have also been grieving since 1968 when he was KIA. A heroic death, to be sure (Yes! I am beginning to understand the importance of the Silver Star), but one that I still have great difficulty accepting.