To Vietnam and Back 1967 - 1968

About the Book

The war in Vietnam was a turbulent time in our nation’s history that stirred strong feelings and deep emotions as America changed in ways that could not have been anticipated or avoided. To Vietnam and Back is an intimate family memoir that, through a lifeline of letters, offers a unique and warmly told story about one soldier’s year in Vietnam and one family anxiously awaiting his return. Readers will take a step back in time to a pivotal period of the Vietnam War, 1967-1968, and glimpse what it was like to not only leave home for the uncertainty of an increasingly controversial conflict, but also to be the parents, siblings and friends left at home to provide support the only way they knew how… through heartfelt words of everyday life. The pages are filled with emotion, humor, family and neighborhood news, while also depicting the uncertainty, fear and division caused by the war in Vietnam. It is a year of back and forth letters that brought encouragement and hope to the writers and recipients of those letters. In essence, To Vietnam and Back is a journey of the written kind that revisits and illustrates the timeless value of family, friends, faith and love.

About the Author

The Cook Family Bio - Author, Dolores Cook Raisch, is the fourth of five children and narrates a year of wartime letters through the lens of a thirteen-year-old girl whose brother, Bud, has been drafted into the Army and sent to Vietnam. At the time, oldest brother, Bill, was serving in the Navy while other brother, Jack, was a sophomore in high school. Youngest sibling, Kathy, was oblivious to the meaning of war and was simply missing her ‘Buddy.’ Mom and Dad, Dolores and Bill Cook, were the anchors and guiding lights in a family that was very much like other families living in suburban Philadelphia during that challenging and difficult time of war in Vietnam and life on the home front. Today, the author enjoys reading, taking long walks on the beach and getting together with family and friends, especially at the Jersey shore.