2021
Hello ,
Veteran's Day I attended a deeply moving ceremony for the rededication of Spokane's Vietnam Veteran's Memorial.
Several vets talked about how important the memorial is because they were not given a warm welcome home after the war. One of the men was extremely eloquent and I asked him if he would speak at my local book launch.
He said he's has made it his mission to talk about the war to as many people as possible before he dies. I'm so excited to have him help with launching my book.
The memorial depicts a soldier, not with a gun, but holding a letter and gazing into the distance. I first saw it in 1986 several months after it was first erected, and easily brought to tears.
The sculpture by Deborah Copenhaver Fellows packs a wallop of emotion. Tucked away in a quiet spot in Riverfront Park in the heart of the city, it overlooks a beautiful slope of green grass leading to the Spokane River below.
Since 1985 is has provided a space for contemplation, and been a place of healing, remembrance and peace for Vietnam Veterans. The pedestal is etched with roughly 300 names of men from Eastern Washington who lost their lives in Vietnam.
Behind the Scenes of Close-Up On War
Choosing which photographs will go in a book is a really fun part of being an author. I was delighted each time I discovered a new photo of Catherine Leroy, and enjoyed being able to use them to portray different facets of her character.
Like a good many of the soldiers in Vietnam, Cathy was a heavy smoker and she often held a cigarette in the photos I found.
I really love Catherine's face in this picture, but didn't use it due to her smoking. Abrams, my publisher, has a policy of not including mention or photos of smoking in books for teens. I ran into this with my book Pure Grit and cut a quote from one of the army nurses that mentioned
smoking.
Luckily, I had plenty of other photos of Catherine to choose from!
I also had a gold mine of quotes to work with due to all the letters she wrote to her parents the three years she was in Vietnam. Catherine was French and so I had translations of her letters, but also saw some of the originals.
For a behind the scenes peak, check out the image below showing extracted paragraphs from one letter that are not included in the book.
Below is a photo I had hoped to use in the book, but was unable to get permission from Paris Match, the magazine in which it was published. The picture shows two North Vietnamese soldiers during the battle of HuαΊΏ during the TαΊΏt Offensive.
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βββββββOne struggle I've had writing this book (which I hope will stay behind the scenes!) are my attempts to pronounce Catherine Leroy's name. It's French, so it doesn't sound like it's spelled in English.
Google translator has taught me how to say Catherine, which sounds something like Ca-trine, emphasis on the end syllable. Leroy is something like Le-wah. The e is short.
I've been practicing! Hoping I'll feel confident saying Le-wah, which needs a French accent, when the book launch arrives.
Sources
https://dotationcatherineleroy.org/en/
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