The Ghosts of Vietnam: A memoir of growing up, going to war, and healing [Paperback]

Jim Stewart (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 16, 2005

Raised in rural northeastern Maryland, Jim Stewart spends his childhood playing baseball, catching frogs in the woods, and learning to play guitar. A personal tragedy strikes the day he graduates from high school. Jim finds the need to leave home and joins the army in February of 1966.

After a grueling stint in basic training, Jim is shipped off to Vietnam as a military policeman. He endures mortar shelling, takes part in Operation Cedar Falls, and makes lifelong friends along the way. While stationed at Saigon, he even meets a girl, falls in love, and has a child.

After his tour of duty ends, Jim returns to Vietnam determined to be with Mai. When he starts working at the Army Post Exchange in Saigon, Mai gives birth to their daughter. Jim insists they move to America, but Mai refuses. Jim then makes a decision that will haunt him the rest of his life.

Rich with detail and brimming with emotion, Jim shares his extraordinary journey through a tumultuous time, revealing his internal struggles as he copes with The Ghosts of Vietnam.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Jim Stewart was born in Wilmington, Delaware, in 1946 and was raised in the countryside north of Elkton, Maryland. Jim enlisted in the Army in 1966 and spent four years in Vietnam. He retired as a police officer in 2001 and is married to the love of his life, Carmen Fregoso.

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: iUniverse, Inc. (August 16, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0595362826
• ISBN-13: 978-0595362820
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,556,707 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Memoir, September 24, 2005

By 

Sheldon R. Waxman (South Haven, MI United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Ghosts of Vietnam: A memoir of growing up, going to war, and healing (Paperback)

(...)

This book is an honest self-published memoir. One would think from the title that it is a story about a gung ho fighter who is going to tell us about his heroics during the war. Then he gets back to the U.S., meets the Anti-War Movement and starts the PTSD screw up (drugs, booze, sex, rock and roll and divorces). Also, there is the usual picture of the soldier on the front cover duded out with his flack jacket. This is the usual memoir of a Vietnam vet.

But this book takes another path. The author (an MP) admits that he never fired his gun in action, although he was under fire from time to time. No, this is a wonderful story of a hick teenage kid growing up, loving and having a child with a Vietnamese woman. He abandons his lover; finally gets over the booze and a divorce, marries again, goes the religious route and settles down. But he continues to live with his guilt.

He finally makes peace with himself after he searches for his long lost daughter and finds out what happened. It is a sad ending. But Stewart weathers the storm and comes out a hero, although he started out as a schnook. The book is well written and has good pacing, but it should have been proofed to eliminate what I consider to be too many typos. I did the same thing with my first book. Spell check, proofread, what's that? I just wanted to get it "finished." Now I have to send errata sheets with the book.

Once again, as a memoir writer myself, I find it sad that the only memoirs that sell are those written by famous people. I say it is too bad because "ordinary" people also have great stories to tell. This is a great non-fiction story that has the feel of a fictional novella. The book proves that you never know whether a book is good until you start reading it. This one grabs you and carries you through. I liked it.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A very well written account of the things people in combat carrry back home with them, February 7, 2007

By 

Charles E. Gibb PhD "Chuck Gibb" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Ghosts of Vietnam: A memoir of growing up, going to war, and healing (Paperback)

I really enjoyed reading this book and highly recommend it. I like how the author described his childhood and took us with him on a realistic account of his life in Vietnam. Few authors have been able to do this without getting political. I felt for his loss of his daughter and how these past ghosts stayed with him for so many years. A lessor man would have forgotten all about his girlfired in Vietnam and went on with his life. Jim carried with him his past and he did something about it. It was a great read and I highly recommend it. I too served in combat in Vietnam and know what he wrote about to be true and unusuallly frank. LT. Charles E. Gibb, Ph.D. USN Ret.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Heart wrenching tale, April 29, 2006

By 

Ex-MP Waynelen (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Ghosts of Vietnam: A memoir of growing up, going to war, and healing (Paperback)

There is a bigger story in "The Ghosts of Vietnam." Yes, it is about the Military Police and their role in the Vietnam War but this heart-wrenching tale is also about finding love for the first time in a country that is being torn apart. Tenderness and caring is rare during wartime conditions, especially when it is a true story like this one. Jim Stewart, writing from his heart, lets the chips fall where they may and shoulders his responsibility for the outcome. If you haven't been in the military, or didn't serve in Vietnam, you will be surprised at his description of life in Saigon as a war raged throughout the countryside. This book could only have been written by someone who saw it firsthand. Well done, Jim.