Patrol: an American Soldier in Vietnam. - book review

Black Issues Book Review, Sept-Oct, 2002 by Lynda Jones

by Walter Dean Myers collages by Ann Grifalconi HarperCollins, May 2002 $16.95, ISBN 0-06-028363-7

Before Walter Dean Myers became an award-winning author of books for urban boys, he served in the Vietnam War at the young age of 17; his brother died there. In Patrol: An American Soldier in Vietnam, Myers' spare narrative poetry illustrates the harrowing experiences, inner turmoil and raw emotions that one soldier faces on the battlefield.

Amid Anna Grifalconi's mixed-media collages of lush green forest, colorful wildlife and mountainous terrain, the soldier and his nine-man squad move steadily toward the enemy. The agonizing and tiring journey is filled with startling moments. As the protagonist gets closer to his target, rifle in hand, he is frightened by the enemy lurking in trees, gunfire and exploding bombs. ("My body shakes. /I tell myself that I will not die on this bright day.")

When the solider and his squad reach their target, a Vietnamese village, he is surprised that the enemy is "A brown woman with rivers of age etched deeply into her face. /An old man, his eyes heavy with memory. /And babies." Finally, looking eyeball-to-eyeball with a Vietnamese soldier, he's shocked that the "real enemy" is a kid, just like him.

Myers' gripping soldier's story, for mature readers, grapples with the complexities, contradictions and ultimate tragedies that define war. It is a haunting tale that captures the weary soul of one black American soldier.