GOLDEN TORTOISE, THE

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements My war haiku in Part I first appeared in On Sacred Mountain: Vietnam Remembered, Battle Ground, IN: High/Coo Press, 1984. They reappeared in the narrative of my first five years of work with veterans in Sacred Mountain: Encounters with the Vietnam Beast, Santa Fe: NM, Moon Bear Press, 1989. “Long-Haired Warrior” in Part VI first appeared in Simply Haiku, Spring 2005, 3:1. The translation of Do Trung Quan’s poem “Que Huong” in Part VI is by Tran Dinh Song and Edward Tick. Que huong is pronounced “quay hung.” The book’s epigram is from Lessons in Emptiness by Tran Thai Tong, translated by Thich Nhat Hanh and published in Zen Keys, New York: Doubleday Anchor, 1995, p. 182. The reference to Tong’s teaching in Part VI is from Zen Keys, p. 170. W.D. Ehrhart’s excerpt in Part VI is from “Making the Children Behave,” To Those Who Have Gone Home Tired, New York: Thunder’s Mouth Press, 1984, p. 20. It also appears in his early account of returning to Viet Nam,Going Back:A PoetWhoWas Once a Marine Returns to Vietnam, Wallingford, PA: Pendle Hill Publications, 1987, p. 4. The excerpts from Ca Dao in Part IV and from Nguyen Du’s “Call to Wandering Souls” in Part VI are taken from Huu Ngoc, Sketches for a Portrait of Vietnamese Culture , Ha Noi: Gioi Publishers, 1998, pp. 632-4 and 881.The translation is Dr. Huu’s. The poem by a survivor of the Vinh Moc tunnels quoted in Part VI appears in the Vinh Moc Museum beneath a war-era black and white photo of a toddler in the dark tunnels clutching a rifle. No attribution is given. I express my deep appreciation to the editors, writers and translators of all the above works. In addition, for their invaluable contributions to this work, I express great gratitude to: Steven Leibo, Prof. of International History and Politics, and Chair of International Studies at The Sage Colleges. Steven was my co-leader on my first four journeys. I am also grateful for his co-creating and team-teaching our course “The Viet Nam Experience” at Sage. Our course began as an historical and psychological survey of the war; Viet Nam itself taught us to broaden it to the full experience of that country. Finally, I express yet more gratitude to Steven for co-founding and co-directing our study and teaching center, The Sage Center on Violence and Healing. Tran Dinh Song.Good,intelligent,generous,sweet,wise,learned,patient,kind,Song has been our in-country guide for every journey.He has taught our groups uncountable gems about Vietnamese history and culture and advises on all aspects of travel from matters daily to historical and spiritual. I proudly consider Song our third co-leader of these journeys and I call him my ngu’o’i ban giao vien, my teacher-friend. Marcia Silva and Richard Schonberger of Global Spectrum, Marcia’s agency specializing in travel adventures to Viet Nam and Southeast Asia.Marcia and Dick have been generous, patient, helpful and knowledgeable in every aspect of planning, developing, shaping and conducting our journeys and philanthropic activities in Viet Nam. Dr. Huu Ngoc. Dr. Huu shares his scholarship and hospitality every time we visit Ha Noi.His comprehensive book Sketches for a Portrait of Vietnamese Culture, noted above, a collection of essays on every aspect of Vietnamese history, culture, mythology, and literature, is an indispensable resource. I deeply acknowledge Dr. Ngoc and his book’s influence on my understanding and writing about Viet Nam. Deena Metzger, wise elder, writer, mentor,“pal,” who greeted Turtle immediately and served as the angel introducing this book to Red Hen Press. All our travelers—veterans,their relatives and survivors,teachers,activists,protestors, students, adventurers, vacationers. These trips would be nothing without them and their generous trust, support, desire to learn, teach, heal, and pass the lessons of war and peace on to the next generation. All my veteran patients, colleagues and friends over the last quarter century. Their trust and urgency to heal and preserve their stories have been among the great teachers and treasures of my life. I especially acknowledge my early war and writing mentor William Herrick, veteran of the Lincoln Brigade in the Spanish Civil War, and Jim Lantz, medic in Viet Nam who awarded me his patch, both of whom died while I was completing this book, and Preston Stern, grunt and resister...