The Vietnam War and the tragic effects still remain today. Local DeKalb (IL) author Thomas ‘Tom’ Pisapia captured a story that reminds people of the effects of PTSD on the American Soldier from the Vietnam era. The book (‘Flashbacks’) tells the story of the military life and post effects on US Army Veteran R. Dean Jerde from DeKalb, Illinois.
This story highlights the transition of a person who left home as a young person and returned as a scared military veteran. Tom Pisapia spent months interviewing R. Dean Jerde and the effects PTSD has had on his life. Jerde and Pisapia collaborated to tell Dean’s story of the trauma of the Vietnam War and the onset of PTSD in retirement.
Despite the fact that the war ended over 50 years ago, for some Vietnam Veterans, PTSD remains a chronic reality of everyday life. PTSD and living with it is a daily struggle. Post-traumatic stress disorder still carries many veterans into the depths of fear and pain; reliving images of death and destruction.
The Vietnam War was a long, costly, and divisive conflict that pitted the communist government of North Vietnam against South Vietnam and its principal ally, the United States. The conflict was intensified by the ongoing Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. More than 3 million people (including over 58,000 Americans) were killed in the Vietnam War, and more than half of the dead were Vietnamese civilians. Opposition to the war in the United States bitterly divided Americans, even after President Richard Nixon ordered the withdrawal of U.S. forces in 1973. Communist forces ended the war by seizing control of South Vietnam in 1975, and the country was unified as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam the following year.
The book also covers the return of service members and the high disrespect and harassment of those military members that served during the Vietnam era.
About the author: After earning his BA in psychology in 1973 from Northern Illinois University, Tom Pisapia spent more than forty years in the mortgage industry, taking mortgages literally from Main Street to Wall Street and back again. He is the author of Pottersville: Where Is the Bailey Building and Loan?
Book Ordering Information: Amazon Link:
https://www.amazon.com/…/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp…
Special Offer and Book Sale:
On Wednesday, November 11 (Veteran’s Day) from 5:00 to 7:00 PM, R. Dean Jerde and Tom Pisapia will be at the DeKalb American Legion Hall to autograph this book. There will be a limited number of books for sale. For those that have already ordered from Amazon, these copies can be signed as well.
NOTE: For every book signed (regardless of how it was purchased) a $5.00 donation will be made to the DeKalb American Legion Honor Guard uniform fund.
For questions on this event, please contact DeKalb American Legion Historian Michael Embrey at: FunMEevents@aol.com or call 815-756-1263.
DeKalb American Legion Post 66. 1204 S. 4th St. DeKalb, IL
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