Fragments

Bruce Berger, the author, finally came home 50 years after the Vietnam war when his memories crystallized into the 34 poems in this chapbook. He shipped to Vietnam as an Infantryman in 1970 but was assigned most of the year to the Casualty Branch of the 101st Airborne Division at Camp Eagle, near Phu Bai. As "next-of-kin" editor, he wrote hundreds of sympathy letters to grieving families back home for loss of their soldier, and sometimes helped gather fallen brothers on battle grounds to begin their long journeys home.

Through this lens, his poems evoke an overwhelming sense of loss on many fronts: the brave American soldiers who gave their lives in the long war; a village of South Vietnamese widows; the thousands of bui doi, innocent but reviled half-breed (Amerasian) children; the empty afterness of battle grounds and burials; the long, deadly reach of Agent Orange and PTSD into veterans' lives still today; and the thunderous silence of missing parades back home. Writing these poems brought him home.

Many of the poems are illustrated with artwork created by members of the Providence Art Club in Rhode Island. All earnings from this book will be donated to the Vietnam Veterans of America.

About the Author

Bruce K. Berger served in Vietnam in 1970 with the Casualty Branch of the 101st Airborne Division at Camp Eagle near Phu Bai. As "next-of-kin" editor, he wrote hundreds of sympathy letters to grieving families back home for the loss of their soldier that year. Today he's professor emeritus, University of Alabama, where he taught for 17 years and was founding director of The Plank Center for Leadership in Public Relations. He has written/edited three books and dozens of articles about leadership. Before teaching, he spent 20 years as a communication specialist working on diverse projects in more than 30 countries for two international companiesThe Upjohn Company and Whirlpool Corporation. Bruce resides with his wife, Joan, and German shepherd, Gretchen, outside Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

Book Review 1:

"This is war as never seen before; raw feelings of senseless loss as never recorded before; a glimpse into the heart of a compassionate soldier, amidst the brutality of Vietnam, as never expressed before. Emotion jumps from its pages and sticks. A mosaic of war's stark realities, then and now, stays with you long after the words sink in. You may put the book down, but you cannot escape its message. Regardless of who you are, this book will move you. For the veteran, expect a return to the killing fields in snatches of memories and rumblings of long-suppressed fear, anger, guilt and loss. For families of those lost during the war comes an understanding your grief does not go unnoticed and your eternal emptiness is understood and respected. And, for the uninitiated, who think of war in terms of a brief sound bite on the evening newsthis is a hard life lesson: A single gunshot in a nameless piece of jungle can claim a life in a second and change countless other lives, half-way around the world, forever. Lastly, this is a courageous, deeply personal, discussion of inner battles many of us face. To many veterans, living with the war for decades after returning is so hard and so easily misunderstood. This book takes a giant step towards that understanding and awareness. All veterans will be better because of it." -- Rick St. John, author of the acclaimed Circle of Helmets and Tiger Bravo's War, and a retired U.S. Army Colonel who led a company of 101st Airborne Division paratroopers in heavy fighting in Vietnam.

Book Review 2:

"Fires in some men, like fires deep in forest roots, can burn for decades. Fragments paints such a fire in the metaphor of a journey for those who flew home but not home after a long, bloody, bitter war in Vietnam that often did not end with a warrior's return to American soil. Berger's pieces are like fragmentary grenades and flashbangs, images and lines th

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