The Path Back From Hell!
“Potawatomi Tracks”, Larry Mitchell’s poetic chronicle relating the events of his year-long tour of duty in Vietnam and the path back to his home in the Northeast corner of Kansas on the Potawatami Reservation is followed by years of drug abuse, alcoholism, homelessness and racial discrimination before he is able to overcome his feelings of despair to regain his dignity, self respect and take back control of his life.
Homecoming for most Vietnam vets was not a pleasant experience. They were shamefully treated by angry Americans who had been against the war from the first. It took years for these vets to make the transition from the horrors of a war in Southeast Asia to a peaceful existence in their own country. Mitchell was one of the fortunate ones. Some of them were never able to find the passage back to normalcy. They still can be seen – aging, homeless men, aimlessly wandering the streets of our cities. Living proof that not all men are born to be warriors.
Mitchell’s 148 page book is formatted in Four Chapters:
Chapter One – The Ballad of Vietnam
Chapter Two – The European Blues
Chapter Three – Potawatomi Highway
Chapter Four – Anishnaabe Girl … Min Wi Min
“There are hundreds and hundreds of books about Vietnam veterans written by Vietnam veterans,“ asserts Mitchell, “but there are less than a handful written by Native American Vietnam veterans, and only one by a Potawatomi Vietnam veteran. Our stories must to be told for future generations.”
He has been writing for more than two decades – mostly songs and poems. “During that time,” he said, “I have found that writing has truly been a way of healing.
I wanted to share my writing with others and show how writing can help a person deal with trauma and loss in their lives.”
Mitchell and his wife, Katie, a Chippewa from Minnesota, have been married for 21 years. They live in Lawrence, Kansas and have two sons, Larry Jr. a sophomore at Haskell Indian National University and Joseph, a freshman at Kansas
University.
Chapter One: The Ballad of Vietnam
Firebase Ripcord sits on the ridge of a nearby Mountain.
A desolate firebase
that look’s like the brown hump of a buffalo.
The A-Shau valley, the valley of death is not far away.
Over the skies of the South China Sea,
B-52's can be seen going on bombing runs
up to Hanoi in North Vietnam.
The Ho Chi Minh trail is a path of attrition.
It starts in the North of Vietnam
It goes down through Laos and the A-Shau Valley.
This land of jungles and paddy fields
is where Heaven meets the Earth.
You can visit Larry Mitchell at www.PotawatomiTracks.com and find details on how to purchase his book from lulupress. It is one man’s powerful story of war, survival and rebirth.
Homecoming for most Vietnam vets was not a pleasant experience. They were shamefully treated by angry Americans who had been against the war from the first. It took years for these vets to make the transition from the horrors of a war in Southeast Asia to a peaceful existence in their own country. Mitchell was one of the fortunate ones. Some of them were never able to find the passage back to normalcy. They still can be seen – aging, homeless men, aimlessly wandering the streets of our cities. Living proof that not all men are born to be warriors.
Mitchell’s 148 page book is formatted in Four Chapters:
Chapter One – The Ballad of Vietnam
Chapter Two – The European Blues
Chapter Three – Potawatomi Highway
Chapter Four – Anishnaabe Girl … Min Wi Min
“There are hundreds and hundreds of books about Vietnam veterans written by Vietnam veterans,“ asserts Mitchell, “but there are less than a handful written by Native American Vietnam veterans, and only one by a Potawatomi Vietnam veteran. Our stories must to be told for future generations.”
He has been writing for more than two decades – mostly songs and poems. “During that time,” he said, “I have found that writing has truly been a way of healing.
I wanted to share my writing with others and show how writing can help a person deal with trauma and loss in their lives.”
Mitchell and his wife, Katie, a Chippewa from Minnesota, have been married for 21 years. They live in Lawrence, Kansas and have two sons, Larry Jr. a sophomore at Haskell Indian National University and Joseph, a freshman at Kansas
University.
Chapter One: The Ballad of Vietnam
Firebase Ripcord sits on the ridge of a nearby Mountain.
A desolate firebase
that look’s like the brown hump of a buffalo.
The A-Shau valley, the valley of death is not far away.
Over the skies of the South China Sea,
B-52's can be seen going on bombing runs
up to Hanoi in North Vietnam.
The Ho Chi Minh trail is a path of attrition.
It starts in the North of Vietnam
It goes down through Laos and the A-Shau Valley.
This land of jungles and paddy fields
is where Heaven meets the Earth.
You can visit Larry Mitchell at www.PotawatomiTracks.com and find details on how to purchase his book from lulupress. It is one man’s powerful story of war, survival and rebirth.
posted by Bobbie Hart O'Neill @ 9:19 AM
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