STEPPING OUT OF THE SHADOWS Vietnam War veterans share their stories in book ~ By Stevie Lowery, The Lebanon Enterprise www.thelebanonenterprise.com
Every veteran has a story.
New York Author Jenny La Sala has made it her life’s mission to share veterans’ stories, and in her latest book, ‘Never Forgotten — The Vietnam Veteran Fifty Years Later,’ she captures 58 veteran’s stories, including one from Barney Tharp of Lebanon.
Tharp and La Sala connected a few years ago after she read some of Tharp’s postings on a veterans’ group Facebook page.
“She sent me a friend request and a personal message. Thus, our friendship began,” Tharp said. “I respect her tireless efforts to support our veterans.”
Tharp has written 34 stories about his experiences during the Vietnam War. His daughter, the late Betty Jo Higdon, is who encouraged him to write about his experiences years ago.
“She encouraged me to write down those demons that were in my mind,” he said. “Once I wrote the stories, I felt so relieved.”
Tharp shared one of his stories with Sala, and she not only included it in her book, but she also spotlighted it on the book’s website.
“I’m very honored that she chose mine,” Tharp said.
Tharp said it’s important for veterans to try and share their stories because if they don’t, their stories will go to the grave without their children or grandchildren ever knowing.
“You lose those treasures if you don’t pass them along,” he said.
But, many veterans, especially Vietnam War veterans, don’t feel comfortable talking about their experiences because of how they were treated when they returned home. Tharp said as an active soldier and now as a veteran, he feels as if he has a responsibility to help comfort veterans.
“My military leadership role in Vietnam was one of instilling calm and confidence in the men,” he said. “As a U.S. Army Veteran, some four-plus decades later, my leadership role is one of voicing my praise and pride for these very brave men and women. That leadership role didn’t stop when I came home.”
Tharp said he didn’t realize how important his role was until he attended his first Army reunion in 2004 in Texas.
“I saw those broken men. That distant stare,” Tharp said. “I took it personally then. This is my passion… to give comfort to those veterans. I also want them to step out of the shadows of society and be recognized as proud veterans of the Vietnam War.”
Tharp said it’s ok for people to hate war, but it’s not ok to hate the warriors.
“You have to give those warriors all your support,” he said. “I hope that our country learned a lesson, and that we will never let that happen again.”
Sala shares Tharp’s passion for helping veterans, and she believes there’s a possibility she and Tharp might actually be related. Her maiden name is Tharp, and her father’s family was originally in Kentucky and moved to Indiana in the 1800s. Tharp and Sala also have another thing in common.
“He has a way with words,” La Sala said.
La Sala said she communicates with many veterans on her veterans tribute page on Facebook, which she created in 2013. The page, “Comes A Soldier’s Whisper,” is named after the book she wrote about her father, David Tharp, a young 101st Airborne paratrooper soldier. The book includes the letters he wrote home to his sweetheart from 1943–1945 during World War II. The “Comes A Soldiers Whisper” Facebook page has allowed her to interact with veterans on a daily basis. But, she quickly learned that she had to earn their trust.
“The Vietnam veterans, because they were received so deplorably, they learned to not talk about things,” Sala said. “They all served and they all came back with the silent wounds of war. And those wounds reek havoc until we talk about them.”
Eventually, Sala earned the trust of many veterans and they agreed to share their stories in her book.
“They are stories that speak to me. They just tug at my heart,” La Sala said. “I don’t think a lot of them realize the impact they are having on people. These men … they are a band of brothers. And, it’s important to me to tell their stories. It’s become my passion.”
FOLLOW Jenny’s Veteran Stories:
https://www.facebook.com/ComesASoldiersWhisper/
https://twitter.com/SoldiersWhisper
www.JennyLasala.com
