The preceding Part 2 of this series “The Women by Kristin Hannah — Not a review, just an inspiration” — The Music of Our Lives — began by acknowledging Kristin Hannah’s use of music from the Vietnam War years with her characters listening to these songs throughout the novel. Then I introduced songs by singer-songwriter and author Richard Morris which were written in 1967-68 in the Central Highlands of Vietnam and therefore relate to this novel even more closely than does the general music of the times. Those selected songs from Richard Morris’s Skytroopers CD each relate to something specifically mentioned within Hannah’s novel itself, such as PTSD or the Tet Offensive.
In the novel The Women, Frankie had to repeatedly inform men who believed there were no women in Vietnam that they should be grateful they did not need to encounter the nurses who served. Because the protagonist in The Women is a nurse, it is to be expected that most of the action in the story revolves around medical situations. The songs in this, my third post in a series, are to provide you the ambiance of the Central Highlands in 1967-68 with regard to the activities of the soldiers when they did not encounter a medical situation.
“Digging a Hole” received a Finalist award in the Vocal Jazz & Blues category of the 23rd Annual Mid-Atlantic Song Contest in Vienna, Virginia (2006) sponsored by SAW or Songwriters Association of Washington. In Richard’s words, “The song is about the foxholes and sleeping holes we dug everywhere we went—to stay alive.” I recall that he came to appreciate the commanding officers who demanded compliance.
“Chanh Giao Cave” (Rockpile Operation): 23 Aug 67 through 3 Sep 67, A Co. 2/5 Cavalry, 1st Air Cavalry Div., trapped 74 North Vietnamese Army (NVA) troops in a rock pile near Bong Son. Over a 13-day siege, under the able leadership of Captain Clayton Pratt, the company killed 33 NVA soldiers, captured 41, and had one man wounded and none killed.
Prisoners being treated humanely at Rockpile near Bong Son in Binh Dinh Province by A Co. 2/5 1st Air Cavalry Division, Sept. 1967 (from personal collection of Richard Morris)
“Bong Son Bridge” song description from Richard: “The 2nd Battalion 5th Cavalry spent a week guarding the bridge across the Bong Son River after three weeks of combat assaults and patrols in the field. It was a pleasant time when soldiers received passes to town to drink, buy souvenirs, and engage in amorous pursuits.”
If you read many Vietnam War books, you know the importance of the point man. “Pvt. E-1 John Wesley was a Black point man in C Co. 2nd of the 5th Cavalry whose heroic feats were widely told. Those in this song may or may not be true.” That is Richard’s own description of “The Ballad of John Wesley.” For readers who consider The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien as the very best book of the Vietnam War, you may recall that O’Brien spent quite a lot of time dwelling upon story-telling in Vietnam and its real importance. In his novel Cologne No. 10 for Men, Richard chose to alter the point man’s name; I think this was to emphasize that the character in the novel was fictional. This was also likely his motivation for describing his song “The Chaplain” as based on a fictional character, since I recall hearing Richard’s description of the incident from which the song was taken — the song didn’t exactly follow the reality (for example, was the chaplain really a Catholic priest?), so he labeled it fictional. And that’s the beauty of historical fiction; the author may take liberties with the truth in order to put together a cohesive story.
Several times in The Women, Frankie expressed skepticism regarding the dearth of news they received from Stars and Stripes. Inspired by a Stars and Stripes article about the Vietcong destruction of a Montagnard village in the Central Highlands, Richard wrote from his imagination: “The Smoking Hamlet” (Together We Can Empty the South China Sea). Most other songs were based upon personal experience. The Montagnards helped both the French and the Americans.
Part 4 – Romance — “The Women by Kristin Hannah – Not a review, simply an inspiration” – is my upcoming post.
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 