Customer Reviews

I Can Still Hear Their Cries, Even In My Sleep: A Journey Into PTSD

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E. Everett McFall offers his own tragedies and illness and gradual recovery from the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, the result of giving medical aid to the living and the dead during his tour of duty in Vietnam, 1966/1967. Responding to a therapist's advice to commit the unspeakable experiences to a written journal was the impetus to launch his slow and terrifying road to recovery, a journey that in his own words persists to this day. The results of that initial journal are here in this collection of thoughts, reflections and poems he has appropriately titled I CAN STILL HEAR THEIR CRIES EVEN IN MY SLEEP: A Journey Into PTSD. It is a book that would be well for all of us to read and experience as, despite the horrendous accounts of war's disabling effects on the human mind, it is also one of the books that will be considered a retrospective first in the exploration of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder - a 'new' disease state dramatically brought to light by the experiences of Vietnam Vets.

McFall may not be trained as a poet, but he is more than sophisticated as a communicator. Few people who did not serve on a battlefield have an appreciation for the task assigned to Medics or Corpsmen, young lads whose expected life span in country was counted in days rather than in years. These are the 'field docs' who ministered to the wounded, salvaged those they could, and assisted the physicians in assimilating 'matching' body parts after mine and grenade and yet larger explosions threw disassembled arms, legs, torsos, feet, etc far from the point of 'enemy engagement', in order to ship the remains to the soldiers' families back home. How any Corpsman could escape psychic damage from such unrelenting trauma is impossible and McFall sensitively expresses the sights, the sounds, the odors, and the tragic aftermath of such an existence.

These poems are raw, difficult to read without a visceral response, but at the same time they demonstrate how at least one survivor, however injured by that experience, was able to revisit that time through poems and mark a path to gradual recovery. McFall generously adds to his book appendices such as 'Tips for Vets and Families Who are Managing Stress' and a 'Veterans Resource Guide and Directory', additions that make this sensitive book as much a gift to the war-experienced reader as it is a gift to the world of poetry. This is a book of courage, survival, and hope - and one well worth the attention of a wide audience. Grady Harp, October 07

This book of poems is an insightful and honest description of one veteran's experience with PTSD. Though the author has struggled with PTSD as a result of his experience in Vietnam, he expresses an unwavering sense of patriotism and pride in his service.

This is a commanding account of one persons journey through PTSD and how it has altered his life and the lives of those around him. It is an overwhelming and remarkable portrayal that allows the reader to truly understand the consequences of war.

A combat medic lives war at its worst, and remembers every terrified scream of it.

There are the memories of those who were treated and made it home; of those whose wounds were beyond treatment despite heroic efforts.

Those memories are as fresh today as the emotions were at the time of treatment; memories of soldiers and civilians gushing blood; memories of soldiers and civilians having body parts torn and cascading into all the wrong places.

For E. Everett McFall, there are the memories of jumbled body parts and attempts to put them together to form the remains of what were once men - individual men with loved ones, hopes, talents, and dreams that dripped into the red soil or into the floor of the jungle.

There are no fancy words here. His words are direct, his pain drips off the pages and into the heart of the reader.

McFall writes from the heart. He writes from a soul splintered and haunted by 365 days that have been lived over and over and over again for the last 40 years.

We measure war in terms of dollar costs; in counts of the dead; in counts of the wounded.
But we have yet to learn to measure war in terms of lives ruined by Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. We have yet to learn to measure the losses of those who love those who come home with PTSD.

We have yet to learn the true face of war. E. Ernest McFall provides the reader with a vivid and heart tearing word portrait of the hideous face of war; of the plague of PTSD; of the rending of soul by survivor's guilt and questions of why am I still here when so very many others are not.

Pfc Jay E. Keck contributes his poetry to I Can Still Hear Their Cries. May I ask you to direct your attention to the last lines of his Sand Soldiers and pay heed to his admonition, as there are all kinds, as he points out in another poem, all kinds of Bogeymen contributing to PTSD - even those who should have, and in truth did, know better.


I Can Still Hear Their Cries is a story of the long, long road home. It is a tale that will speak to other Veterans who suffer PTSD. It is a tale needed by those who love those with PTSD to help them understand.

McFall tells you, loud and clear, that drugs and alcohol only bury the pain deeper, rather than excavating it and getting help to go through it to healing.

McFall notes that he is still in the process of finding his way home. It is a long road.

But I Can Still Hear Their Cries may open your eyes to the possibility that there is, in fact, a road home for you too - should you choose to come up from the dark to the Light.

Take the first step - there are many, many around to help you - just reach out - someone is there waiting to walk point for you.

I Can Still Hear Their Cries Even in My Sleep" by E. Everett McFall is a series of poems and meditations. The former Marine Corps medic in Vietnam began writing down his concerns and fears as part of his therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder. The Hoosier author sees his book as a way to help other veterans heal from their experiences on the battlefront. The images will evoke a response in the reader, and the author hopes it will help veterans suffering from PTSD to begin healing. This book would make a compassionate gift for troubled vets and those who want to help them.

E. Everett McFall writes an outstanding portrayal of his deep inner feellings against war and its consequences, which resulted in his Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
It gives the novice a much better understanding of PTSD and its effects on the mind and body.
The author's words are powerful in describing his despair and the healing process which he is experiencing.
This is a book which should be read by all.

S.W. Hurley---Spring, Texas

I found this book very disappointing. It was not as expected. The format is mostly poems, which I understood when purchasing, but the book is very "small." It almost seems to be a large pamphlet rather than a book in m y opinion. The cost is not appropriate for the book.

Being the wife of a combat Marine I really learned alot from Doc's book. I read the book all the way through and this is a book that is alive. Our heroes sacrifice so much for us and if it wasn't for them we would not have our freedom. Doc, thank you for helping me understand more about PTSD and what y'all went through. I don't give this book a 5 star rating , I give it a 10 star rating.

I was to young to actually know the impact that this war had on our men and women. This book by Mr McFall gets right to his heart and his feelings. It is so powerful! I believe that this book should be used in many ways to help communicate the effects that war has on an individual. God bless our men and women who have served our great country!
Thank you Mr McFall and may God continue to bless you and your family!

Mr. McFall uses a combination of stories and poems to pull the reader into the pain and turmoil of living with PTSD. This book is a MUST READ for veterans and their families and friends who struggle to understand the scars left from battle.