Reader Comments

This page is devoted to readers of this novel of adventure, love, and war set in Southeast Asia during a time when America was deeply committed in that most exotic and sensual region of the world.  May your reading be engaging and enlightening.

The author hopes to be able to reply to all reasonable comments and questions.

Richard Graham

27 Responses to Reader Comments

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  1. Sam Powell says:

    Mr. Graham,
    I enjoyed your book very much. Of course I would have liked to have read more about the 219th and IIFFVN at Long Binh. I was in the Imagery section 1969-1970, and spent most of my time taking photos with a hand-held from the back seat of a Bird Dog, taking my reports to the TOC. We followed up on other intelligence and went all over including many missions in Cambodia.
    Keep writing, please.

  2. TAD HOWARD says:

    Dick-
    Finally had the good sense to read your book and absolutely loved it. Being a terrible reader, I read mainly non-fiction, and this was the first novel in a long time. Loved your character development, plot twists, similes, etc. Was curious how many characters, situations, locations, etc. were from actual experience. Jim Webb likes to mention how few Ivy Leaguers went to Viet Nam, so your service and that of a few classmates deserves special recognition.

    Assume you’re retired and the proud bearer of a single digit handicap. I’d love to meet you for lunch or whatever if you’re still in the DC area.

    Tad

  3. Cristina Montero says:

    Great storytelling –Wounded is a witty and intelligently written love and action story. Captivating, the reader cannot stop reading page after page until the end. This story would make a great movie; I cannot wait for its release. I strongly recommend this novel.

  4. Richard Graham says:

    Spike,

    Happy you enjoyed the book. The ladies have never been a part of the Jarhead ethos. You prefer the mud and the leeches, I understand. Anyway, we are all thankful for your service and dedication.

    Richard

  5. Ed Edahl says:

    I thought I already did, but maybe not. I was at the 219th in the CI section in 67 and 68, running operations in support of IIFFV. As for you latecomers, I usually just say, when I left, we were winning.
    Looking forward to reading your book.

  6. Ed Edahl says:

    I was at the 219th MID in the CI section in 1967 and 1968, running counterintellige operations in support of IIFFVN at Long Binh. I have been told that the 219th moved to Saigon shortly after I left in 68 , and that is all I know. I will look for your book.
    I am happy to hear from any of the old guard at the 219th. That is what facebook is for, I believe.

  7. Spike Dashiell says:

    Dick, I finally got to read the whole book, thanks to you. You cerainly evoked the sounds and smells of Vietnam forty years ago as I remember it. I also just finished reading “Ride the Thunder” by Richard Botkin, which covers the end of the Republic of Vietnam as we knew it. You might try it. I enjoyed your book, although I could not relate to the wonderful dealings with several charming ladies – we didn’t have any of those issued to us up in I Corps with the 3/26 Marines. Great yarn with a bittersweet ending. “Welcome Home,” and thanks for your service to our country.
    Spike

  8. Wounded and my short vacation in Chile.

    I’m standing in line at the Santiago Airport having spent five wonderful days with the Rojas in Cachagua, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, and Burma. What a powerful and wrenching story! At first it took me about 10 or 15 pages to get into the flow of things, but after that I couldn’t put it down. I became a horrible house guest! This was very intense; you must have been drained just thinking about how to put this into words. Last year I was lucky to travel to Kuala Lumpur and Indonesia (I couldn’t make it to Vietnam because of visa problems). This morning on my way to the airport, looking at the Chilean vineyards and avocado groves, all I saw (in my mind) were rice paddies and palm tree plantations. Congratulations, and thank you for sharing. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Send my love to Denise, and I hope to visit soon.
    Abrazo, Sylvina

  9. Richard, I practically inhaled your book! A great story, well told. I read a lot of WWII works in order to write my own book with some degree of authenticity and so I know how infrequently writers of war stories capture the emotions as well as the sound and smell and visceral impact of battle, but you have managed to do it.
    The descriptions of Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand are wonderfully lush and brought this reader back to my travels in those countries. I could feel the heat and smell the jungle.
    Thanks for writing such a great story.
    Louise

  10. Rich Ptak says:

    Richard,
    Outstanding story, wonderfully told. I can’t wait to read your next one. I almost managed to “steal” enough time to read it in one sitting!

    Rich

  11. Wil Painter says:

    Dick,
    A wonderful read, unexpected plot twists, vivid imagery, realistic emotional/moral challenges (at least I wrestled with many that you portrayed). Was twenty when I went over there, Wounded brought back many memories – sad, bittersweet, some funny. For those who were there, the vignettes will trigger flashbacks to the streets of Saigon, the Donut Dollies, the crazy stunts, the stark contrast between those in the field & those in the rear echelon; between idealism & pragmatism; the highs, the lows, the incredible beauty of the land and its people, and more better left unsaid. A lot of emotions I hadn’t faced for a while. Still proud of having served. More than just a Vietnam memoir, this is a good story in its own right. Bravo Zulu.
    Wil

  12. Barbara Young says:

    I ordered your book. Cannot wait to read it. Congratulations! Hope you are well. What an impressive accomplishment! Barbara

  13. Richard Graham says:

    Jeremy,
    Great to hear from you. The last address I have is somewhere in PA. Hope all goes well at your end. Happy you’re so excited about a book you haven’t read yet. Do hope you enjoy it. You can check out my recent life on the website: http://www.mahargpress.com/wounded
    Let us hear something about yours: rggraham@earthlink.net
    All the best, Richard

  14. Jeremy Cannell - AIS Colleague says:

    I visited the AIS Community Link on Facebook for the first time yesterday and read an announcement that “Richard had published his first novel – available on Amazon”. ‘Wounded’ is on its way as we speak. I cannot wait to start reading; the reviews are awesome. But I really don’t need that in order to know that this will be the best book I will have read, ever!
    I knew you Richard when this novel was the nucleus of a dream.

    “Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it.
    Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it!”
    Wolfgang von Goethe
    I hope we can catch up one of these days – it has been too long. Jeremy

  15. Martin R. Eichelberger, M.D. says:

    Truly captivating story of personal triumph and romance. The challenge of courage, fear, love, duty, loyalty and friendship are engaging and reflect upon the character of the author. Terrific story which I enjoyed very much. Congratulations! Ike

  16. Hello Dave,

    Thanks for your note. Another ’67er in the war. I’ve often wondered what percentage of our class saw that part of the world. I’m guessing at least a third. I’ve asked my students from time to time if they know anyone in the military. One in twenty, maybe. It’s a different time. You are only the third contemporary I know of who did the “across Asia” return trip. We’ll have to compare notes one day. Let me know if you come through DC. Happy you enjoyed the book. If you want to leave a short review on Amazon, I’d be grateful. A couple of lines will do.
    All best, Dick

  17. Hi Dick: I ordered the book after the note in PAW, but didn’t recognize the picture on the back cover. The website pictures confirm the id. I went to Navy OCS in July ’67 and then to the Tonkin Gulf onboard ship for twelve months as a Line Officer. Then to Taipei for eighteen months, then four months travelling back through Asia, Africa and Europe. Met my future wife in Geneva. Great read. Cheers, Dave

  18. Terry Whipple says:

    Brilliant juggling.
    Richard Graham has done masterful work weaving a tapestry of so many subplots–youthful romance, family discord, political device, battle tension, cultural blending. A reader may relate to any of the dissimilar but well-developed characters thrown into the same soup through wartime circumstances. And it’s hot soup.

  19. Richard Graham says:

    John,

    Another ’67 Vietnam vet and a Screaming Eagle to boot! Sounds like you had a rougher time of it than I did. We need to swap war stories one of these days. Hope you enjoy the book. Let me know what you think.

    All the best,

    Dick

  20. John Neely says:

    Dick,

    Am ordering 2 copies after seeing the write-up in PAW. Many of us who served are still sorting things out. Hope that writing it was as rewarding as I expect the reading to be.

    Take care,

    John

  21. elaine andrea brady says:

    This book is wonderful. I set aside The Fall of Giants and began reading this book as soon as it arrived and finished it almost in one sitting. This is a different view of the Vietnam war never written before and shows the high stakes and perilous game of international intrigue that was the backdrop for the war.

    Although it’s true that Wounded isn’t your ordinary war novel, it will give the reader an historically accurate and alarming vivid experience of the conflict that took place over 40 years ago in Southeast Asia. Just like other books of this type, the reader is taken through the lives of young men as they struggle with the reality of becoming a soldier, their painfully rapid acceleration into adulthood and too often their seemingly meaningless demise. As in other stories about war it has all of the usual components like the deep comradeship between solders, the sorrow of loss, the intense fear of battle and the excitement of combat. Readers of this genre will not be disappointed. However, author Richard Graham has gone above, beyond and far deeper with Wounded than the ordinary war novel.

    In this book about the Vietnam War, is another book about humanity and humility, and yet another about the complexities of racism. What also emerges within these pages is another story laced with subtle religious symbolism and the effects of a sacrosanct ideology.

    The individually unique characters in this book grapple with meaning; the meaning of leadership, the meaning of reason, the meaning of war, the meaning of death and the meaning of life. Human dilemmas such as honor vs. cowardice, morality vs. malice, feminine vs. masculine and belief vs. doubt are painstaking studied and flushed out through the rich personalities portrayed within. It’s also important to note Graham has captured, as only a combat veteran could, the quick wit and primordial humor present between soldiers during wartime.

    The author brings us Lt. Marwick, who unlike his friends attached to combat units, is mired in a back water of the war serving a aide-de-camp an irascible general. Marwick is suffers from a lack of self esteem because of an unhappy romance with the gorgeous Cleo. Cleo is married to an intelligence officer and at first fails to disclose the same and then repeatedly builds up Marwick’s hopes that she will leave her husband. Marwick, working in intelligence, has to potentially work with Cleo’s husband.

    We also meet Sally the Red Cross worker from Minnesota who is a good ole’ girl. She loves Marwick and Marwick likes her.

    We meet Marwick’s room mate Jack Riley who admits to a being thrilled with the fighting. The relationship between these two men at first tenuous, grows with a need for survival and the kind of respect only shared by those who have endured what many only experience in their worst nightmares.

    The fine and clear word choices in this novel brings the reader into the jungles of the of Vietnam. The author shows dedication to detail and authenticity.

    Graham’s story telling capabilities evoke emotions not often accessed while reading a novel. The story of running an enemy roadblock and fixing a flat tire during the ensuing firefight is the stuff of heroism rarely described.

    This wonderful book would make a fine movie.

  22. Tad,

    Great to hear from you. Keep in touch. I’ll let you know when the World Tour begins.

    All the best,

    Dick

  23. Tad Howard says:

    Dick-
    Congratulations on the book; I’ve got 3 I want to read on my current list, but this sounds very interesting. I read Jim Webb’s “Fields of Fire” years ago and came away with that vacuous feeling that I guess was common with Vietnam. I volunteered for the USMC in 1968, but they thought I was not up to their standards (Coe, Mueller, etc.).

    I hope you’ll present your book some night at Politics and Prose as I go there at least once a month for their great list of authors. I also loved reading about the world travels of you and your kids.

    Hope to see you soon.

    Tad

  24. Spike,

    I’d forgotten that you too got an all-expense-paid government fellowship to visit that little hitherto unknown SE Asian country. We’ll have to share some war stories one day soon. Hope to get this in print by the end of the year.

  25. Spike Dashiell says:

    Dick, Good luck with this. It would be nice to think that someone could benefit from that lovely year that so many of us got to spend “down south”.

  26. Toni Clason says:

    After reading your first manuscript, I can tell you that I am glad you started at this point, jumping right in to the meat of the story. The possibility of intrigue is a good start to grip the reader. Keep up this
    pace.

    I can’t respond to the comment which appears above as I have never been to Vietnam and have no intention of going as my Vietnam experience is such that I have nothing but bad feelings about Vietnam.
    I do, of course, want to read the rest of the book but probably for far different reasons than those of the person who wrote the comment above.

  27. plasseraud yves says:

    I read this first chapter with great interest.
    It is very well written and captures brillantly the atmosphere.
    Only someone who was there can recreate the complexities of that place and time.

    Well done !

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