Book Home Before Morning
Lynda Van Devanter writes both a war book and an anti-war book. In the year that 22-year old Van Devanter worked as a surgical nurse in South Vietnam, she traversed a long and weary path to get back home—but she didn't quite get home before morning. She didn't ever again find that peaceful, confident, idealistic life that she left behind when she went to war in Vietnam. Van Devanter relays a story that begins in a place of confident patriotism—a place that must be familiar to most young people who decide that they must become soldiers. At the start of her mission, Van Devanter is as much pro-war as any soldier although her orientation is different. Her perspective is that of a nurse—someone trained to help other heal—and because of that, she will never be able to see the Vietnam War in the same way as other soldiers. As it turned out, the members of the military who were assigned to medical services saw the war from a very distinct perspective—one that could not be shared with others. The perspective of Van Devanter as a healer evaporated the moment she stepped foot on the ground in that faraway country where everything was out-of-kilter and very, very wrong.