By Roel Godinez
On Saturday, December 14th, the Veteran’s Writing Group held a launch party for the release of it’s the third book: Stories that Must Be Told. This celebratory gathering took place from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. in the Veterans Association of North County building off of Mission Avenue in Oceanside. The book’s writers, editors, sponsors, and other supporters enjoyed drinks and conversation in the company of Congressman Mike Levin of California’s 49th District.
“Two years ago we put out our first book,” said retired US veteran Charlie Wyatt, who was selling books during the event. “It contains stories from veterans, each less than about 10,000 words with some pictures. Last year we put out a second book, which has still more stories, and this year we put one out that is even thicker. This year’s has about 45 stories and interestingly enough there are five from WWII survivors. Another six or so are from women and are incredibly moving, especially since people don’t realize how many women vets there are. There are a few other sections that have to do with the Cold War, the Korean War, Vietnam, and then there is the last section about inspirational stories.”
3,000 copies of the first two books, What it’s Like to be Away From Home and Listen Up!: Things I learned from the Military, were donated to navy hospitals around North County and Camp Pendleton. The Veteran’s Writing Group is pushing to have even more copies of their third book donated. When someone purchases a book for $10, they are actually purchasing two additional books that will be donated.
Although only three books have been published thus far, this group has been active since 2008.
“We meet once a month, we focus on helping veterans get their stories told and improve their writing skills,” says veteran Ron Pickett. “We have a mentor, some editors who work with us, and some speakers from time to time. What we do is provide an open, supportive environment that is mostly made up of vets that understand the situations and understand the story.”
These stories are not bibliographic pieces, they are the real reflections of veterans’ experiences after serving in the United States Armed Forces. Though the stories are unique and personal to each writer, they also connect to a shared history and experience.
“There are a lot of Veterans who feel like they’re singled out from their community and have a hard time having social communications,” said retired U.S. veteran Dante Puccetti. “We donate a lot of these books to the hospitals, so the patients that get these they read them and it gives them an opportunity to be part of a smaller society. A lot of us really close up because we don’t want to share these stories, but being able to do it in this manner helps the veteran’s community coalesce.”
Without a doubt, this can bring a sense of comfort and hope to those who have felt estranged by their military experiences.
Midway through the launch party, Congressman Mike Levin took a moment to congratulate the writers and the team that helped to put the book together. “I have the great honor to sit on the House Judiciary Committee,” he said. “It is truly a bipartisan committee where nobody cares what political party you come from, we’re all on the same team trying to give back to our veterans who have served our country. My grandfather was a WWII veteran and I think he would have found this group to be really neat.”
Levin went on to describe several congressional achievements, including the passing of new legislation. “It is excellent news in terms of what work we’ve done in Washington to help Camp Pendleton,” he said. “We just passed the National Lieutenants Authorization Act and I’m proud to tell you that we got $128 million for infrastructure in Camp Pendleton. It kinda seems like the only work we’re getting done in Congress these days is for our Veterans and military families.”
The Stories that Must Be Told launch party told it’s own story, one full of camaraderie, a shared history, and community. The book is now available in stores, Amazon, and Amazon Kindle.
