Aftermath: A Song For Tyrone is a book that will take you inside the heart and the soul of the rifleman serving with the Infantry in Vietnam. It will take you there – and bring you back. In the words of one combat veteran who read it, "I can feel, taste and smell again the scenes he re-creates...". It is Vietnam as you have never experienced it unless you fought there. But, it also brings you back. In the words of another veteran, "It takes me back but don’t trash me out!" and that may be because it takes the reader into the experience of heavy combat as seen from the inside and then inside the experience of the aging veteran dealing, as well as possible, with the memories that will never "Go away".
This is the Vietnam War as seen over the sights of a rifle. It is
also the same war as seen by the aging grandfather who bears little
resemblance to the young marine caught up in the carnage and fighting
for survival at center stage of the most heart-wrenching war our country
ever fought. This is that little band of brothers who did not set policy
or debate International Priorities but simply took up their rifles and
looked Death in the face for something they believed in — and found
themselves fighting as much for each other as for anything. If you were
there, this is your story. If you care for someone who was there this is
what he could tell you but probably won’t because he "Don’t want to talk
about it!". This is Vietnam – and it is the Aftermath.
From the Publisher
We first met Doug Todd through his son last year. He had been writing
poetry for years about his experiences as a Marine and as a man. He and
his son quoted poetry to each other and afterwards we discovered that
the poetry, beautiful, haunting, real and without apology was his own!
Imagine our surprise and delight to find that most of it had not been published! This poetry, timely because of the current war, the healing soldiers, and headlines reminiscent of the conflict in Viet Nam needs to be read and heard by all Americans.
Many agree. Shortly after publication several selections from Doug’s work were read at the Viet Nam Memorial Wall as part of the celebrations at the 2004 opening of the World War II Memorial in Washington D.C. Four of Todd’s poems were read aloud to hundreds of thousands of veterans, families and visitors.
We are very pleased to offer "AFTERMATH: A Song for Tyrone" as part
of our collection.
From the Author
The stories in "Aftermath: A Song For Tyrone" are "fact based fiction".
The stories are of incidents that actually happened to real people, but
the characters are "Composites" and the names are fictitious. These are
the common memories of riflemen who served with the Marines in Vietnam.
The "Tributes" to Floyd Daniels, David "Beetle" Bailey, and Bruce
"Tracer" Okeson are my way of paying homage to these good men. Yes, they
were real men who fought a real war for something they really believed
in and survived to die years later. Their passing leaves an emptiness
that will be difficult to fill.
From the Inside Flap
Poetry about WAR, death and life after war. Todd and the brothers from
"The Walking Dead," the famous 1st Battalion of the 9th Marines, from
the Viet Nam War, hope that their new brothers and sisters, heros of the
newest war, will find help and healing.
About the Author
Doug Todd
Poet & Pamphleteer, Author & Activist Doug Todd has never written an auto-biography and says he probably never will because, as he puts it, "There are too many really important things still to be done!" His new book, Aftermath: A Song For Tyrone, while not strictly auto-biographical, does give some insight into who he is and what he believes in. It reveals an intense devotion to Family, Friends and Faith; a lifetime of commitment to principles and ideals he believes are worth fighting for.
The War – experienced with such intensity in the book – made him one of a vast Brotherhood known to the world as "Vietnam Veterans"; but, the war was not fought by veterans, it was fought by young men just out of high school who believed that some things are worth fighting for and, sometimes, it is worth risking everything in the fight. After they came home they began to be called Veterans but, in their hearts, they were what they had always been; they were fighters — and many, many of them are still out there, somewhere, using other weapons and other ways, but still in the middle of the struggle and still doing what they always did – fighting for each other and for what they believe in. Doug Todd is one of them.
