Letters, Medals, Roses

About the Book

This book of poetry was written as a result of many hours of conversations with Vietnam veterans at the Chicago Welcome Home Parade on June 13, 1986, and at several Vietnam veterans' reunions held in Crawfordsville and Kokomo, Indiana over the last several years. For the reader who is not a veteran, I hope that these poems will give you a better understanding of the problems these veterans faced in the past and are still facing today. For the veteran who reads this book, I hope that my poems will somehow help you as you try to heal the emotional and physical scars caused by this war..

The following is an overview of the collections of poems in this book related to the Vietnam War. These Memories Will Last is a poem that describes how a solder felt on his way to Vietnam, his fears, his thoughts, his experiences and the impact they would have on his life in the future. All That I Can Give is a poem about the nurses in Vietnam and their dedication to nursing the many wounded soldiers in Vietnam. Missing You is a poem about a boy whose father was killed in Vietnam before his birth. The boy is missing his father and reflecting on how it could have been if his father were here with him today. Other topics covered in my war poems are Agent Orange, veteran suicide, the POW/MIA issue, and the Welcome Home Parade in Chicago, Illinois.

About the Author

Marjorie A. Brockman started writing poetry in her senior year at Lyons Township High School in LaGrange, Illinois, with encouragement from her high school English teacher. Since then, she has dabbled in writing poetry but never felt that the poems were good enough to show anyone. After getting involved with the Vietnam Veterans Welcome Home Parade in Chicago in 1986, she began writing poetry to describe the many emotions expressed and issues raised by the Vietnam War and the veterans' experiences. The author has a B.S. Degree in Business (1985) from Elmhurst College, Elmhurst, Illinois, and an M.B.A from DePaul University (1989), Chicago, Illilnois, and a Certificate of Completion in Managed Care from Benedictine University, Lisle, Illinois. She is currently employed at Argonne National Laboratory, a DOE owned, contractor operated research and development laboratory.