It's a Small World
 David Lord - PVNN
| | Published author Robert McLane (L), David Lord and his dog, Lunar (C), and Earnest Spencer. |
As a new member of the Puerto Vallarta Writer's Group, imagine my surprise to meet a fellow Veteran and his visiting publisher, who just happens to be a former Marine who's life may have been saved by my fire team in Khe Sanh in Vietnam.
The Veteran's name is Robert McLane, and we are in the company of many of Vallarta's finest writers. The Writers Group and the people that make it up are a mix of talented individuals that share a common desire to encourage folks to share their experiences, knowledge and talent by reducing creativity to writing.
The Group, and the Guests that speak there, cover every possible topic and guide one another to the ultimate goal of publishing a book. New to the Group over the last eight weeks, I have been attending the Saturday morning meetings.
However, the week before last I missed a meeting and during the following week I heard about the presentation by Robert McLane. His book "Stop War America" was published recently and he had read some passages from it.
Robert is living and writing in Yelapa. His experience in the Viet Nam War as a Marine tied him to me automatically, but what made the knot tight was his unit - he was at Khe Sanh, not during the Siege, but soon after.
This Marine and his book are about the War and the return home. It is a true account of how he was treated by the V.A., his family and particularly the Anti-War Movement, his return to America from fighting in Viet Nam and the new anti-war realities at home.
The book tells of the battle within himself: pride of service as a U.S. Marine vs. being with the anti-war movement. The undisciplined, scruffy looking veterans claiming the right to educate America through protest and dissent.
The courage to fight as hard for peace as you had for war. To do this even while the faces of those that gave their all in that war were fresh in memory. It took courage to admit that you were used for political gain, not for the national survival.
To support by necessity those who had belittled us, calling us the pawn's of the military-industrial complex. It's a book that is a demonstration of real life as a warrior for Peace. So read the book: on with my story.
With Robert was his Publisher, Earnest Spencer, the owner of Corps Publishing who had come down from California. Earnest was introduced as a best-selling author of the book "Welcome to Viet Nam, Macho Man." Speaking on his association with Robert first, Earnest went on to describe his own life's path on becoming a publisher.
Later, after our introduction, he asked who I had served with. When I replied, "Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 26th Marines," he threw his arm around my shoulder, saying, "I'm Captain Earnest Spencer, Delta Company, 1st Battalion, 26th Marines." He asked the date and location where I got hit and I told him somewhere in Quang Tri Province, just before dusk on May 9th... "Jesus," Earnest said, "I watched your assault on the machine gun take place, it was in Leather Neck Square and that machine gun had been firing on my position all afternoon."
Thirty-nine years later, at a Puerto Vallarta Writer's Group, I meet a visiting former Marine who's life may have been saved by my fire team, and he becomes the future publisher of the book I'm writing about Veterans Benefits Outside America.
How's that for a small world? |
Vallarta Weddings
Vallarta Living | Veteran Affairs | January 2007 
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