Leaving the Alamo, Texas Stories After Vietnam [Paperback]

Dick Stanley (Author), D. Ann Davis (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 6, 2006

Here are sixteen stories of middle-aged Texans, combat veterans of Vietnam, who are not in prison, panhandling, or sleeping under bridges. For the most part, they've learned to live with the war that still goes on in their heads, although one also has murder on his mind.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...a first-rate collection..." --Marc Leepson, book editor, The VVA Veteran --Vietnam Veterans of America

From the Publisher

This the first book of fiction by Dick Stanley, a newspaper staff writer in Austin Texas who recently retired after thirty-six years in print and broadcast journalism.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 191 pages
• Publisher: Lulu (September 6, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1847286429
• ISBN-13: 978-1847286420
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,558,928 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I've been writing fiction, poetry and journalism since I was a child. I'm a retired, award-winning daily newspaper staff writer in Austin, TX. I have a BA in English from the University of Maryland and did postgraduate work in Journalism at Marshall University in West Virginia.

A native of Sumter, South Carolina, I grew up throughout the U.S., Europe and the Middle East. I'm a former Army captain and an infantry combat veteran of the Vietnam war. My book "Leaving the Alamo, Texas Stories After Vietnam" is based on my own experiences and those of some close friends.

As the descendant of Confederates on both sides of my family, I've been a lifelong student of the Civil War. My "Knoxville 1863," which is dedicated to my great grandfather, a rifleman in the Thirteenth Mississippi Infantry Regiment, is a novel. But it is as much history as fiction, drawn as it is from the few histories, and the memoirs, letters and diaries of the survivors of one of the war's least-known fights, the Battle of Fort Sanders. My current writing project is a non-fiction book, a so-called regimental, on the history of the Thirteenth Mississippi Infantry Regiment

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Read it. I dare ya., May 14, 2010

By 

J. D. Allen "jdallen" (Brazoria, TX) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Leaving the Alamo: Texas Stories After Vietnam (Paperback)

I read Dick Stanley's collection of après Viet Nam stories in a day. Each story was meaningful to me, each touched me in different ways. Some, I need to read again in order to puzzle the sequences out better - the dialogs and flashbacks confused me, in some cases, probably because I was reading way too fast.

One thing struck me repeatedly while reading, though it has occurred to me many times. How different Nam appeared to everyone who was there. It even occurred to me while I was there, sometimes, looking down from high ground, or a chopper, at that beautiful, beautiful, country. When the chopper landed, or when you hump down off the hill and get down in the mud, sand, or jungle, you get a completely different perspective.

Dick was an officer. That makes a hell of a lot of difference. He probably doesn't think that it does, but that is from his perspective. And we view things from our own perspective, we have no choice. Dick worked closely with the Vietnamese, I think he was mainly associated with the PFs (Popular Forces), more than the ARVNs (Army of the Republic of Viet Nam). He got to know those Vietnamese, lived with them, ate their food, etc. I was in the same area at roughly the same time. I did not get to know any Vietnamese. I did not eat any of their food. I did not live with them. I had a different job. I had no sympathy for them then, I have none now.

Do these stories touch you? Hell, yes. But is that a good thing? They reinforce and recall things that I recall more than enough, anyhow. And I can't help but wonder, does anybody other than us old, wore-out, beer-gutted, vets really give a damn about Nam any more? Did anyone ever? I doubt it. If you want to know how it feels to have gone and come home - give it a go. Just keep in mind that all veterans don't feel the same way about the people and the country and the war.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exquisite, poetic stories, January 18, 2010

By 

Alice M. Dinizo "J.B. DiNizo" (Toms River, New Jersey) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Leaving the Alamo, Texas Stories After Vietnam (Paperback)

David Stanley's well-written book of short stories, "Leaving the Alamo", mingle the thoughts and memories of Vietnam War veterans with their Texas homeland. The main characters of each story deal thoughtfully with their war memories, their comrads in arms, either living,missing in action,killed in the war or dying afterwards, and their own adjustments to life afterwards in a poignant way that will penetrate to the reader's soul. Mr. Stanley recounts so very well, often with humor and always with great dialogue, the experience of those who went to fight and now are old, aching, full of recollections, resentful sometimes of how they and their fellow soldiers were treated. A good solid addition to libraries' books on the Vietnam War and a must own, must read for followers of this tragic period in our history.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Veterans Remember Vietnam, May 31, 2010

By 

L.C. Evans - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

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This review is from: Leaving The Alamo (Kindle Edition)

This collection of poignant and beautifully written stories centers around the theme of Vietnam vets living with their war memories in modern day Texas. Each main character is changed in some way by having served in Vietnam and each, now in middle age, deals in a different way with the memories. Some of them struggle with the guilt of having survived, while buddies who served with them died in battle. Others have never quite managed to have the lives they thought they wanted.

The well-done characterizations and the vivid dialogue brought the stories to life and made them seem real. I enjoyed reading about not only the variety of characters and experiences while they served in Vietnam, but the very different lives they returned to in Texas. These stories make you remember the times when so many of our friends and family members went to an unpopular war and returned from the horrors of the battlefield to a nation that didn't seem to care. And then they make you think about what happened next.

Mr. Stanley has done a fine job with Leaving the Alamo. Highly recommended.