Coming Home Whole: A Draftee's Foretold Journey To and From Vietnam - Paperback

by Don Graham (Author)

It's 1969, and America's youth is reveling in new freedoms. But for California native Don Graham, like so many other men his age, the future feels anything but unfettered. Once a staunch patriot, he does not want to kill or be killed in what he sees as the country's unjust war in Vietnam. Yet his options for avoiding the draft are few and frightening. Suddenly, the graduate study he's planned no longer yields deferment; he's married, but without the children that would also keep him at home. At 23, Don stands at a crossroads where every one of the signposts-pointing toward prison, exile, self-injury, or a far-away field of combat-foretells danger to body and soul.

Ultimately, he reports for induction as ordered. Before he leaves for Vietnam a gifted intuitive gives him hope for a safe return; while there, another unexpected message foretells an imminent release from warfare. How can this be?

Coming Home Whole is a firsthand look at the Vietnam War era, the conflicts that helped shape it at home and abroad, and the experiences of one man caught amid its contradictions. It is at once a wry, warm and wise coming-of-age story...a celebration of the two remarkable women at the heart of a young man's life...and a meditation on the way that unseen forces take us in directions we could never have imagined, in ways we can hardly believe.

Author Biography

DON GRAHAM pursued a career in psychology at the California State University at Chico after leaving Vietnam in 1970, becoming the university's Associate Vice President of Student Affairs before his retirement. Dr. Graham and his wife MaryAnne live in the "Valley of the Moon," Sonoma County, California.