There It Is : A Canadian in the Vietnam War

Rating:
Summary: An eye-opening antiwar memoir!
Review: This book had a profound effect on me in the way it illustrated how the "spiritual awakening" and prosperity of Canada during the 60's was paid for with the blood of America's children. I find it sickening how Canadians have distanced themselves from this war and condemned innocent veterans, most of whom were just out of highschool at the time...while at the same time praising the draft dodgers who headed north and assimilated into the Canadian population. These veterans need to be treated with the respect they deserve once and for all.

In his autobiography, "There It Is", Les Brown tells of his experiences as a Canadian born teenager, drafted into the US Army after returning to his parents home in California after a summer vacation in his native Quebec. You feel the helplessness he must have felt while trapped in the Kafkaesque draft system -one moment surfing the golden California beaches, the next on the front lines in South East Asia.

Lost in the green whirlwind that is the US Army, the young soldier quickly adapts to grunt life -finding brotherhood among those poor souls lost in the anarchy of a deteriorating war effort. As it becomes more and more clear that the American leadership has failed, Les becomes increasingly defiant. While in the most dangerous jungles he refuses to carry an M-16 and even goes AWOL for week surfing the beaches of Vietnam. A truly courageous Anti-War memoir, "There It Is" brings to the public consciousness the demons harbored by one man but belong to us all.