Brothers Like These
An ordinary room on the basement floor of the Charles George VA Medical Center houses an extraordinary writing program dedicated to Vietnam veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder.
The men wade through difficult memories created by the Vietnam War and its unwelcome homecoming but with the power of the pen, they find hope.
A brotherhood has formed among the veterans turned writers, who joke they were drafted into the Brothers Like These writing program by Dr. Bruce Kelly, a primary care physician who heard many speak of the lasting torments of that war.
“We have a collective obligation to their recovery and healing,” said Kelly, “They deserve the opportunity to have their voices heard and finally see themselves as the hero of their own stories.”
In a collection of videos by the Citizen Times, members of the Brothers Like These writing group share their journey and their powerful writing.
“Some of the things I feel would probably scare the ordinary civilian.”
”You tend to keep those things inside of you.”
Ed Norris served in the United States Marine Corps from 1965-1968. He was sent home from the Vietnam War with shrapnel wounds to his legs, arms and head. Norris says he wasn't the same person after Vietnam.
“I wasn’t no poet.”
Described as shy, David Robinson would ask his teacher to give him a "zero" rather than read in front of the class. After high school, he was drafted into the Vietnam War and served in the United States Army Americal Division, from 1970-1971. His piece, "Across the Sea" inspired the title of the Brothers Like These writing group.
Michael Ireland was born into a military family in Hobbs, New Mexico. Thirty-three years after serving in Vietnam, he was diagnosed with PTSD.
In the Brothers Like These Writing group, Ireland wrote a letter to the first of his 12 grandchildren.
“People ask you what it was like and unless you were there, there’s no comparison”
Robert West, a veteran of the Vietnam War, served in the United States Army, in the 25th Infantry Division from 1968-1969, spending 19 months in Vietnam.
Once he put pen to paper, Stephen Henderson, a graduate of Erwin High School, vividly remembered the hours leading up to his departure for the Vietnam War.
Eating breakfast with his parents and pregnant wife the morning before he left, Henderson was reminded of the Last Supper.