Daniel H. Fitzgibbon

Our brave young men and women are sent abroad to fight wars to defend our way of life. Deployment decisions are made by our political leaders under our constitutional form of government. In hindsight, some of those decisions are good and sometimes not. In any event, our heroic young people shoulder the burden, do their job, and come to be welcomed as the heroes that they are. The price of freedom is the will to defend our most essential interests. Without these brave young people, our freedom and way of life would be in jeopardy.

These warriors leave behind family and friends who love, care, and worry about them. They wait by the phone and mail drop (or computer in today's world) hoping for word that their child, friend, sweetheart, or relative is safe. They also live with the fear that the life of their loved one will be sacrificed.

Daniel H. Fitzgibbon is a product of small town Indiana. He attended West Point and upon graduation asked to be posted as a Green Beret in Vietnam, where he served an extended tour as on-the-ground advisor to indigenous peoples (including the Montagnard tribesmen in the Central Highlands. In this process, he was rewarded with medals for his heroism and bravery. Dan is a genuine hero!

This wonderful book is composed of letters that Dan sent to his parents during the war, which they then assembled for publication by the Indiana Historical Society. In these letters, Dan provides a fascinating explanation of his routines and state of mind, including a few comments about the situation on the ground and his views of the politics of the war. The love of country and family rise like steam out of these pages, which surely provided comfort to his family. The letters also reflect a running commentary on life at home, reflecting the letters that were sent to him by his family, parents, and friends. Lifelines were in tact in both directions.

In the course of these letters, Dan addresses the full range of issues in a soldier's mind in combat conditions, including anxiety about being shot or killed (he said he was more concerned about ulcers from the decision-making of superiors long distant from the action), safety of his troops, doing good in the local community (such school building projects), and so on. In the context of an unpopular war like Vietnam, together with the virulent anti-war attitudes so prevalent at the time, there is also the emotions of trying to explain to loved ones why the solder's sacrifice is necessary. Dan's words are memorable -

I believe that if some people are trying to destroy the freedoms and take the lives of other people, that we have a right and responsibility to step in and protect these lives and freedom and, if necessary, kill the attackers. Otherwise, we would all be at the mercy of the aggressors. . . . . If we were a nation of conscientious objectors who refused to bear arms to preserve the freedoms and lives of our families, we would soon lose our liberty.

The poignancy of the love and respect in these letters is put into appropriate context by Dan in the preface written some 40 years after the letters themselves:

In reading these letters, you will find that the author [Dan] often appears to be unduly full of himself and impressed with his own wisdom, courage, and competence. Knowing him as I do, I suspect he was every bit as insecure and afraid as anyone would be in his situation. I am sure that his bravado and self-importance reveal an effort to persuade himself that he measured up to his own hopes and expectations, and to make his parents, his only intended audience, proud of him. I hope the reader will be more forgiving of his flaws than I am.

This phenomenal anthology should be required reading for all people who must bid young men and women Godspeed as they leave to defend our way of life, willing to give their lives for the safety of those at home.… (more)