One of the strong appeals of the historical fiction novel The Women by Kristin Hannah is the music references – the music of our lives. “Throughout the novel, characters listen to the pop music of the 1960s by such bands as The Beatles, The Doors, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and Cream. Classic Rock is now more than fifty years old, and artists from that era continue to tour and sell out arenas.” (from the Kristin Hannah books website). There is even a playlist of songs referenced in this novel on Spotify.
But the most important appeal for me in appreciating this novel was the setting in which Frankie found herself during her first year in-country – the Central Highlands in 1967-68, which is where my husband served with the First Cavalry Division airmobile during the same time period. Richard was a talented musician who could compose music in his mind and write the music notes and lyrics on paper, first in a small notebook he always carried, later transferring to music paper, and not needing to hear his creation played on a musical instrument.
Kristin Hannah begins The Women in May 1966 when, as she describes the mood of the country, “Communism was an evil that had to be stopped … could not be allowed to flourish in Asia … Vietnam was the place to stop it.” Richard Morris’s song “It’s a Long Row to Hoe” describes the effect of the protests back home on those who believed they were serving their country in the fight against Communism, following family tradition of military service, or completing an expected rite of passage in America at that time.
About six months before Frankie’s story in The Women begins, American combat troops in November 1965 fought the first major battle of this war in the Ia Drang Valley in the Central Highlands. We Were Soldiers Once and Young by Hal Moore and Joseph L. Galloway describes 1965 as the watershed year when one era was ending in America and another beginning. But readers who are just discovering Vietnam War history through reading The Women by Kristen Hannah likely would be better served with the movie version We Were Soldiers which may be streamed from multiple sources: “The story of the first major battle of the American phase of the Vietnam War, and the soldiers on both sides that fought it, while their wives wait nervously and anxiously at home for the good news or the bad news.” This film introduces the viewer to Julia Compton Moore, wife of the book author Lt. Gen. Hal Moore. She was instrumental in changing the way survivors of U.S. Army deceased soldiers were notified. Former Ft. Benning is now Ft. Moore, named after Hal AND Julie Moore.
Richard Morris’s song “Skytroopers” represents the new airmobile warfare created when President Kennedy shifted the U.S. Army from preparing itself to fight WWIII on the ground in Europe to preparing to fight a series of small dirty wars with new weapons and new tactics, including not holding ground taken. And “Charlie” is a description of the enemy in this fight.
PTSD had not yet been recognized when Frankie eventually needed help, evidenced by Richard’s song “The Chaplain:” “The Chaplain’s goin’ in today.
Got battle fatigue, they say…” and, on a more personal level, “You Ain’t Alone.”
In The Women you will read about the Tet Offensive at the end of January 1968 and its aftermath. Richard Morris wrote about March 31, 1968, “On that day the 1st Cavalry Division launched Operation Pegasus to relieve the 3500 Marines and 2100 ARVN troops surrounded and under siege by 20,000 NVA troops at Khe Sanh near the DMZ. I’ll never forget flying in that chain of choppers down Rt. 9 from Dong Ha to Khe Sanh. A Co. 2/5 landed on a hill denuded by Agent Orange with a 30-foot-wide bomb crater on top. Eerily, we found no enemy troops – only some discarded weapons – and presumed that the attack on the Marines had ended. Where was Charlie? I wrote a song about it.”– “Charlie’s Gone from Khe Sanh.” And for the monsoons, think of “When’s the Sun Gonna Shine on Camp Evans?”
Some of Kristin Hannah’s reader critics discount the second part of her book, the after-Vietnam part; but they miss a very important point of the book. This war’s effects did not end in 1975. Hannah has compressed all the after-effects into a shorter span of time and personified most of the issues of the war onto one character. Many who served with the same spirit as those who came before them began to feel that they were lied to by their government; they now understood the illusions and delusions of war; and they began their own protests. Richard Morris’s protests were manifested by his satirical writing focusing on the military’s use of the body count to try to prove that the U.S. was winning the war: Cologne No. 10 for Men, a Novel and “Counting Bodies in the Nam,” a song.
“The Women by Kristin Hannah – Not a review, simply an inspiration – Part 3 – “Digging a Hole” is my upcoming post. It may enhance your reading of The Women because the song focus is on what the soldiers that Frankie did NOT see as a nurse were doing in 1967-68 in the Central Highlands.
Any posts appearing on this website after author and singer-songwriter Richard Morris’s death in November of 2017 were written and posted by his wife, Barbara Morris.
Richard Morris, Author 