An Interview with John Merson, Author of War Lessons

In his timely and original military memoir War Lessons: How I Fought to be a Hero and Learned That War is Terror, John Merson gives an up-close, illuminating account of his experiences in Vietnam, first as a Marine in the Vietnam War, and later, as a concerned citizen who revisits the country eight times. With deep respect for people on all sides of conflict, Merson ties his experiences to lessons he has learned about the nature of war, those who fight it, and those who survive it.

_____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____

As a college junior at Amherst College in 1965, choosing to drop out, enlist with the Marines, and voluntarily serve in Vietnam must not have been a typical decision for most of your peers. Why did you make the choice you did?

Serving in the military was a family tradition, as well as a rite of passage that I believed I needed to complete to become a man.

What was your experience of Vietnam during your tour of duty? What truths about the nature of war became clear to you during your time as a soldier?

As a soldier, I concentrated on trying to survive the war and the military—both were threats to me. The war was a threat to my life, and being in the military was a threat to my personality. Everything about the military told me not to think for myself, yet my core personal trait was independence.

I saw the destructive impact we were having on the villages we patrolled through. Everything we did made it harder for villagers to remain in their homes and farm their land. At times we were forcibly relocating villagers, turning them into refugees in their own country. I also thought about the way war was changing me and my fellow marines, making us both less and more human as it brought us into closer contact with death.

What was it like to return home? What truths about war became clear to you as a veteran?

I soon realized how divisive the war had become and learned that the less I said about it the better it would be for me. It helped to talk with other Vietnam Vets, but there were few of them around when I returned to college and then went on to graduate school. I tried not to think too much about the war since it seemed like such a waste of lives and money. As books and movies about the Vietnam War began to appear, I was able to talk about it with friends. This helped me begin to question what I had done and then to question war itself.

Since the war, you have returned to Vietnam eight times. What inspired your first trip back and what was it like? Why have you continued to return?

As a soldier in Vietnam, I used to tell my fellow marines that someday we would all return to Vietnam. They thought I was crazy, yet many Vietnam veterans felt the same need to visit Vietnam. I wanted to see that Vietnam as a country was recovering from the war. I also felt that seeing the Vietnamese people thrive would somehow help me to feel less guilty about having been part of the war.

What truths about war did you learn from the citizens of Vietnam?

I learned that war’s destructive effects—physical and emotional—last many decades. At the same time, when the fighting stops, people can begin to rebuild their lives even while continuing to experience the pain of losing family members. I learned that many Vietnamese feel a strong bond with Americans because of the war, and because so many Vietnamese have friends and relatives living in the U.S. For many Vietnamese, America is as much an aspiration as a country, just as for many Americans, Vietnam is as much a war as a country.

After all your experience, you have come to the position that war is generally unnecessarily destructive to everyone involved in the conflict and not necessarily valuable as a foreign policy tool. What are the most effective alternatives to war? Why are they more successful?

Diplomacy is the most effective deterrent to war. I believe that if leaders can truly understand each other’s goals and motivations they will resort to war less often. Robert McNamara talks about realizing how poorly he understood his foes. Making greater use of international organizations is another way to avoid war. UN peacekeepers are now in dozens of countries around the world and are frequently requested by nations eager to avoid war. Unfortunately, there are too few peacekeepers to meet all the requests. In addition, peacekeepers cannot be very effective after fighting has started since they often get caught in the middle.

What is your view of the U.S.’s current involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan? In your opinion, what are the best outcomes and what kind of policies are most likely to encourage these outcomes?

The U.S. is not accomplishing its objectives, either in Iraq or in Afghanistan. Military force is not reducing the level of terror in either country. In fact, civilian deaths are almost certainly increasing the level of hostility toward the U.S. and toward other factions. Civil war is taking place in both countries. Elected leaders will need to negotiate with their enemies in order to bring them into a coalition government. The presence of the U.S. military is one the greatest obstacles to negotiations, since it tilts the table in favor of one side. Also, the U.S. tends to portray its ally as “good” and the other side as “evil”; this, too, hinders progress. The longer these wars continue, the more intransigent both sides become as a result of the loss of life on both sides. Political leaders use the loss of life to justify continuing the war.

Pulling troops out of combat is a dangerous process; more lives can be lost during the process of disengagement. Since the U.S. has not achieved peace in either country, we cannot hand control to another power. We should ask our local allies to begin negotiations and, if they do not, we should quickly withdraw all U.S. troops. If peace can be achieved, then there might be a role for UN peacekeeping forces in maintaining a buffer zone between opposing aides during extended negotiations.

The title of your book makes reference to your fight “to be a hero.” Which acts in your memoir feel most heroic to you? When do you think many soldiers feel most heroic and gratified?

I felt most like a hero when I disobeyed orders and took my team into friendly villages where we could avoid killing innocent people. I also felt heroic when I walked “point” in my platoon and saved others from this job. I felt least heroic when I failed to protect the other men in my team, and when I failed to protect villagers from our violence.

I think soldiers feel most gratified when they can see that something good has come from their sacrifices. All too often, soldiers must find their own heroic moments since war itself rarely provides them. Seeking heroism is a dangerous mission: we make heroes of the dead, since we want to believe that they did not die in vain. For those who survive, heroism is equally dangerous. After all, heroes don’t need help and don’t ask for it. Yet soldiers coming back from a war usually do need help. Moreover, returning veterans soon discover that they must fight a second war: in trying to recover from the wounds of war, veterans must often fight a war against their own government. The military requires veterans to prove that their injuries—psychological or physical—are the result of military service. This is often impossible. We need not only a new GI Bill but also a GI Bill of Rights, a system that puts the burden of proof on the government to show that soldiers’ wounds were NOT the result of military service and in the meantime gives veterans all the help they need to get on with their lives.

What is your advice for Americans who disagree with current U.S. foreign policy, but want to support those who have chosen to serve in the military? What kinds of support do soldiers need the most?

Citizens need to see soldiers as men and women trying to help themselves get out of the house, off the farm, out of the neighborhood, and into a job. Soldiers rarely give much thought to the goals of war, since they have no way of knowing if the stated objectives of war are the real ones or if these objectives will ever be achieved. Soldiers only go to war when our elected officials declare war and vote to fund it. We need soldiers to do their job well, to treat each other with respect and consideration and to treat civilians and prisoners just as well. When we talk with soldiers, ask them how they’re doing and how they think the effort is going. Someday our soldiers might actually be defending our homes against invaders. Or they might be helping us recover from an earthquake or hurricane. We want our soldiers to treat civilians and prisoners the way we hope they would treat us if they were on duty here in the U.S. Above all, soldiers need us to do the one thing they cannot do, and that is to question the policy that sends soldiers to war, to make sure that the war we are sending them to is absolutely necessary.

_____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____

John Merson is currently a member of the Military Order of the World Wars, Veterans for America, and the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. Merson left Amherst College at the end of his junior year to enlist in the Marine Corps. After completing boot camp, he volunteered for Vietnam and returned home completely changed after thirteen months as an infantryman in Vietnam. Using the GI Bill’s educational benefits, Merson finished college at UNC Chapel Hill with a BA in Economics, and graduate school at Harvard with a MBA in general management. Merson travels to Vietnam once a year to meet with government officials, veterans, business executives, and friends and speaks regularly to student and church groups on the subject of war, the experience of soldiers, and their attitudes toward war. Merson runs his own restoration project for historic homes on Nantucket Island, MA, where he lives.

CLICK HERE to order a copy of War Lessons.

An Interview with Louise Steinman, Author of The Souvenir

Louise Steinman’s American childhood in the fifties was bound by one unequivocal condition: “Never mention the war to your father.” That silence sustained itself until the fateful day Steinman opened an old ammunition box left behind after her parents’ death. In it she discovered nearly 500 letters her father had written to her mother during his service in the Pacific War and a Japanese flag mysteriously inscribed to Yoshio Shimizu. Setting out to determine the identity of Yoshio Shimizu and the origins of the silken flag, Steinman discovered the unexpected: a hidden side of her father, the green soldier who achingly left his pregnant wife to fight for his life in a brutal 165-day campaign that changed him forever. Her journey to return the “souvenir” to its owner not only takes Steinman on a passage to Japan and the Philippines, but also returns her to the age of her father’s innocence, where she learned of the tender and expressive man she’d never known.

What follows is a thoughtful look into the eloquent, creative mind of Louise Steinman as she explains what motivated her to write The Souvenir and shares stories about how the book has been interpreted by diverse audiences.

_____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____

When you found your father’s letters, how much did you know about his experience in the Pacific War?

I knew next to nothing about the Pacific War when I discovered the letters. I’d never been interested in war stories, war films. Reading the hundreds of letters my father wrote from Luzon, I became obsessed with learning not just about my father’s experience and how it had changed him, but with the entire history of the Pacific War, and with the phenomenon of war and how it irreparably affects combatants.

Your father was reluctant to talk about his combat experience. Why did you break that silence?

I wanted to know how my father’s silence had affected the life of my family. I knew he was troubled by his memories. There were few taboos in my family so the admonition “don’t ask your father about the war” stood out. Just before I found the letters, I dreamed of seeing my father. It was powerful—chilling. He was angry at me because I wasn’t listening to him. Reading his letters and writing about his experience was a way of listening and understanding what he’d been through in combat. It was a healing experience. I consider The Souvenir a posthumous collaboration with my father; writing it was my way of honoring him.

What was most surprising in your father’s letters?

I was surprised at how lyrical and emotional the letters were. My dad never wrote more than a shopping list that I could remember! In his letters he poured out his soul to his wife. He was so expressive.

Secondly, I was shocked at some of the racist language my tolerant and liberal father used to refer to the Japanese enemy. That discovery led me to study more about the racist nature of the Pacific War—on both sides—that led to its extreme brutality. My dad’s language came out of the war propaganda at the time. John Dower writes in his landmark study, War Without Mercy: Race and Power in the Pacific War: “As World War II recedes in time, it is easy to forget the visceral emotions and sheer race hate that gripped virtually all participants in war.”

It was a huge undertaking to find the family of the Japanese soldier. What compelled you?

In war, combatants and civilians are dehumanized. When someone is dehumanized they no longer have a face, a family, a history, a reason to be alive, or a reason to allow them to be left alive. In contrast, once I knew that my father’s enemy had a name, was indeed a human being, he became human. When I learned the name—Yoshio Shimizu– written in Japanese calligraphy on the flag, it brought a shade to life. I was not just in possession of a flag, I was in possession of a name. That name belonged to a person with a family and a history. The possibility that I might actually make contact with that family and that history ignited both my imagination and my determination.

One vet told you that if you returned the Japanese flag, “your father would be rolling over in his grave.” What would your father have thought of your returning the Japanese flag to his enemy? What did your siblings think about it?

My dad mentioned in five different letters how much he regretted sending home the flag, he even said it was “the worst mistake” he made during the entire war. That’s a strong statement! He told my mother he would apologize to her in person, that he wasn’t a “souvenir hunter.” My gut feeling was that the flag didn’t belong to me; it didn’t belong to my family. I believe my father would have approved of my returning it. My siblings were in agreement.

Why do you think that reconciliation often falls to later generations?

I interviewed a number of Pacific War vets for my book. Several of them had fought in Luzon, some in the same long battle (Balete Pass) in which my father fought. As I learned more about the brutality that the Japanese inflicted on both their enemies, POWS, and the civilian population, I could understand the bitterness these veterans still feel toward their former foes. The Japanese officers taught their troops contempt for anyone who surrendered and that contributed to the horrendous brutality of the conflict.

I didn’t suffer as those veterans suffered. I didn’t lose close friends the way my father and other veterans did. I didn’t starve like the Japanese villagers in Suibara nor did I suffer the living hell of Hiroshima, Nagasaki, the Tokyo firebombings. As Donald Shriver points out in his book, An Ethic for Enemies, the process of reconciliation—rehabilitating broken human relationships– is long and many-sided. Meeting the Shimizu family in Suibara to return Yoshio’s flag was one vital hopeful step on a long road to understanding our mutual history. When I was last in Suibara, one of the Shimizu elders was showing one of younger generation the flag I’d brought them. The reconciliation process continues.

Schools have chosen The Souvenir as curriculum reading. Why is this book important for students to read?

One college professor who recently taught the book wrote me that adapting the book to her curriculum worked because “The Souvenir is relevant, challenging and very human in its approach.” The Souvenir takes a personal approach to history and suggests that the reader could do the same. The book is an immersion and introduction into the history of the Pacific War as well as a cautionary tale about the ongoing effects of combat and the transgenerational transmission of trauma. The narrative of returning the flag raises a lot of questions in students’ minds, as it should. One student I met told me that her stepfather thought my returning the flag was just dead wrong. She listened to his argument, then told him she “respectfully disagreed with him.” “Your book not only helped me find and define my views of war and peace but put an understanding in my heart that I did not have before,” she wrote to me afterward.

We are currently at war in Iraq. How does this change readers’ interpretation of The Souvenir?

My father’s generation came home from war and immersed themselves in the efforts to rebuild their country, to start families and careers. They also carried their unexplored war trauma into their postwar lives. My father carried his war with him for nearly sixty years. Every day now, young men and women are returning home from combat in Iraq and Afghanistan with life-altering injuries—psychological, physical, and moral. The Souvenir reminds us that their war won’t be over any time soon. It suggests that we—the community—need to grieve with and listen to these former soldiers as part of a national healing. The Souvenir can be a vehicle by which a community is able to come together with veterans to talk about our current war. This is what happened this past spring in Eugene, Oregon when the book was part of a community reads program. People needed to talk about Iraq, they needed a way to talk about Iraq. I believe it was a very powerful experience for all who participated over several days of reading, panels, community dialogue.

You’ve been involved in outreach to war veterans and their families. What sort of response have you received?

I facilitate a writing workshop for veterans at the Los Angeles Public Library. We follow the precepts Maxine Hong Kingston established in her “Veterans of War, Veterans of Peace” writing workshops. We do sitting and walking meditation together. We write together. We listen to each other’s writing and we give feedback to one another. We try to do this as mindfully as possible and thereby we create a sense of trust and safety. “Tell the truth, and so make peace” is the motto of the workshop.

There is a great sense of relief in sharing stories that must be told but which are difficult to tell. I’ve been very moved at the grace and generosity the veterans extend to one another in sharing their writing. One young woman—the sister of an Iraq vet—wrote about how profoundly her much-loved brother had changed when he came home, and how that affected her and the rest of her family. He would never be the same. She needed to tell that story.

_____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____

Louise Steinman is a writer and literary curator. She has a M.A. in Interdisciplinary Arts from San Francisco State University and a B.A. in Literature from Reed College. She studied writing and performing arts at Naropa Institute. The Souvenir: A Daughter Discovers Her Father’s War, was first published 2001. The book won the 2002 Gold Medal in Autobiography/Memoir from ForeWord magazine and has been the selection of all-city reading programs in San Jose, CA and Eugene, OR as well as the all-freshman reading program at Penn State University. As Cultural Programs Director for the Los Angeles Public Library, Steinman has curated their award-winning ALOUD lecture, performance, and author series at the downtown Central Library for fourteen years. Steinman lives in Los Angeles with her husband, sculptor Lloyd Hamrol.

CLICK HERE for more information about Louise Steinman
CLICK HERE to visit Louise Steinman’s blog.

Great New Books Available This April

Hello. Talia Shapiro here, Publicity Coordinator for North Atlantic Books. All of our authors have been hard at work perfecting their latest masterpieces. I am proud to announce that we have a great selection of new books available this month. Please read on.

To order, please visit www.northatlanticbooks.com

_____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____

Harmonic Healing: A Guide to Facilitated Oscillatory Release and Other Rhythmic Myofascial Techniques

By Zachary Comeaux, DO

$22.95/$29.95 in Canada
Trade paper
ISBN: 978-1-55643-694-9
ISBN 10: 1-55643-694-7
160 pp, 6 x 9
On Sale April 8, 2008

In Harmonic Healing, Dr. Zachary Comeaux introduces Facilitated Oscillatory Release (FOR), connective tissue release techniques that use rhythmic motion as a component of manual therapy. The book reviews the role of oscillatory or vibratory work as an extension of other connective tissue techniques, explains the relevant physiology and the principles of wave propagation in tissue, and then provides illustrated introductory exercises, applications, and cases studies.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________

The Intuitive Body: Discovering the Wisdom of Conscious Embodiment and Aikido - Third Edition
By Wendy Palmer

$17.95/$21.00 in Canada
Trade paper
ISBN: 978-1-58394-212-3
ISBN 10: 1-58394-212-2
224 pp, 6 x 9
On Sale April 8, 2008

The Intuitive Body draws on the principles of the non-aggressive Japanese martial art aikido and meditation and presents a fresh approach to cultivating awareness, attention, and self-acceptance. Wendy Palmer explores exercises from the Conscious Embodiment and Intuition Training program she pioneered, including connection movement, meditation, and breathing. These exercises can help the process of integration, of deepening and unifying the self, and learning to deal with fear and anger.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________

2012: Crossing the Bridge to the Future
By Mark Borax

$16.95/$20.00 in Canada

Trade paper
ISBN: 978-1-58394-208-6
ISBN 10: 1-58394-208-4
248 pp, 6 x 9
On Sale April 15, 2008

2012 begins in August 1987 on the slopes of Mount Shasta as author Mark Borax witnesses the Harmonic Convergence. This famous astrological event sparked a 25-year countdown to 2012, the year that marks the “end of history” in the Mayan calendar. Borax tells of his apprenticeship with a master astrologer to study how the period between 1987 and 2012 can be used for a cosmic purging of negativity to release humanity’s core forces and restore universal balance. Borax and his fellow students discover truths about life after death, karma, reincarnation, past lives, human evolution, and the purpose of existence on Earth.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________

The Complete Guide to American Karate and Tae Kwon Do
By Keith D. Yates

$18.95/$22.00 in Canada
Trade paper
ISBN: 978-1-58394-215-4
ISBN 10: 1-58394-215-7
201 pp, 7 x 9-1/4
On Sale April 29, 2008

The Complete Guide to American Karate and Tae Kwon Do is an Illustrated guide that discusses the origins of karate and tae kwon do, their philosophical underpinnings, and how they evolved in America. Keith D. Yates explains the difference between karate and tae kwon do, the requirements for earning a black belt (and the different kinds of black belts), the best style to learn for self-defense, the significance and effectiveness of forms, and how to find a legitimate school or instructor. This book also features inspiring short biographies of famous figures in American karate.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________

Fresh: The Ultimate Live-Food Cookbook
By Sergei Boutenko and Valya Boutenko

$18.95/$22.00 in Canada
Trade paper
ISBN: 978-1-55643-708-3
ISBN 10: 1-55643-708-0
216 pp, 6 x 9
On Sale April 22, 2008

Fresh is a blend of Sergei and Valya Boutenko’s reflective accounts of their family’s journey from doctor predicted catastrophe to a self-prescribed, holistic approach to personal health. This book is a compilation of simple and delicious recipes with over two dozen remarkable full-color photos and a glossary of little known raw cuisine ingredients.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________

CranioSacral Therapy: What It Is, How It Works
By John E. Upledger, et al.

$14.95/$16.95 in Canada

Trade paper
ISBN: 978-1-55643-695-6
ISBN 10: 1-55643-695-5
118 pp, 6 x 9
On Sale April 29, 2008

CranioSacral Therapy explains the gentle, hands-on method of evaluating and enhancing the function of the craniosacral system. This book combines short pieces written by a number of well-known practitioners and experts that explore different aspects of CST: what it is, what it does, how it heals, what the practitioner does during a CST session, CST’s relationship to cranial osteopathy and other healing therapies, and the wide range of medical problems that may be treated with CST.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________

The Bardo of Waking Life
By Richard Grossinger

$15.95/$18.95 in Canada
Trade paper
ISBN: 978-1-55643-700-7
ISBN 10: 1-55643-700-5
224 pp, 5 1/2 x 8 1/2
On Sale April 29, 2008

An avant-garde set of improvisational essays, Richard Grossinger’s The Bardo of Waking Life is a meditation on the Tibetan Buddhist bardo realm which, in popular culture, is viewed as the bridge between lives, the state people enter after death and before rebirth. This book examines waking life and its history and language as if it were a bardo state rather than ultimate reality, and thus seeks a context for life (and dreams). Bardo takes a new, probing approach to all the important questions of creation, destruction, and existence.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________

Maximum Muscle, Minimum Fat: The Secret Science Behind Physical Transformation
By Ori Hofmekler

$16.95/$20.00 in Canada
Trade paper
ISBN: 978-1-55643-689-5
ISBN 10: 1-55643-689-0
157 pp, 6 x 9
On Sale April 29, 2008

Maximum Muscle, Minimum Fat focuses on the biological principles that dictate muscle gain and fat loss. Ori Hofmekler describes in simple terms how under-eating and fasting can trigger an anabolic switch that stimulates growth and rejuvenation; how to reengineer the body at the cellular level to burn fat and build muscles; and how to naturally manipulate the body’s hormones for rapid muscle fusion and faster fat breakdown.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________

War Lessons: How I Fought to Be a Hero and Learned That War Is Terror
By John Merson

$15.95/$18.95 in Canada
Trade paper
ISBN: 978-1-58394-209-3
ISBN 10: 1-58394-209-2
133 pp, 6 x 9
On Sale April 29, 2008

In War Lessons, John Merson interweaves his own experiences in war with thoughtful assessments of how to prevent it. He highlights his personal voyage to understand why young people are drawn to war, how it changes those who fight it, why its destructive effects persist on both sides, how former enemies reconcile, and how soldiers want to be treated and remembered by the citizens who send them to war. War Lessons also offers strategies for young people to help the world reclaim its humanity through healing actions.

*All royalties from the book will be donated to a veterans’ service organization and a Vietnamese scholarship program.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________