The author and every male member of his immediate family served in the Vietnam war. In 1988, his older brother, Elmo, died from Agent Orange-related cancers linked to his service as a Swift Boat commander during the Vietnam war. In a bitter irony, it was the actions of his father, Admiral Elmo R. Zumwalt, Jr., in ordering the spraying of Agent Orange when he commanded all US naval forces in Vietnam that sealed his brother's fate. People react differently to grief. For the author, it turned to animosity, directed against not only the war but also the enemy against whom we had fought. In 1994,...
The author and every male member of his immediate family served in the Vietnam war. In 1988, his older brother, Elmo, died from Agent Orange-related c...