Texas author interviews war vets, tells their stories
Marielena Balouris, Russell Falcon, and Rebecca Millman
(NEXSTAR) — While stories of Vietnam War veterans exist inside the walls of museums, memorials and personal accounts, one Texas-based historical author and sculptor is turning his respect for those who fought into visceral nonfiction books.
Doyle Glass is the author of multiple bestselling books about Vietnam veterans, including the 2023 PenCraft Book of the Year Award for Best Nonfiction for the popular, “Swift Sword: The True Story of the Marines of Mike 3/5 in Vietnam, 4 September 1967.” Recently, Doyle talked to Nexstar’s Marielena Balouris about what kind of research goes into these books and what he’s learned while writing them.
He said he found that, overall, not a lot is “written down” about Vietnam veterans’ experiences. So Glass set about tracking down vets for interviews.
“I remember, I had a land line and a cassette tape recorder and I would record the interviews,” says Glass. He says this process, which involved transcribing the interviews, took between five and six years.
Glass explains that even though he’s written these books, it’s the veterans telling the stories. One such veteran is Steve Lovejoy, a Marine Corps member who served in Vietnam from 1967 to 1968. Lovejoy joined Glass and Balouris to discuss what it was like fighting in Vietnam and what it was like having Glass help tell his story.
“I was very honored that someone though I had something worth saying — so that was real special,” says Lovejoy, recalling his initial encounter with Glass. “Just to be part of a group who experienced something… now we can set the record straight.”
For his part, Glass says that he believes a nonfiction format is the best avenue for telling these kinds of personal stories, as opposed to novels.
Glass continued: “I’ve always believed that nonfiction is more dramatic and more telling than fiction, in many cases.”
Source link
