Robert Peter Thompson

I am an Indy Author of my Memoir/Non-fiction/History book: "EVERYTHING HAPPENED IN VIETNAM: THE YEAR OF THE RAT". For many years I had no intention of writing this book. I always had the intention of writing a novel. However, the guys I knew and was close with in Vietnam, especially those who did not survive, seemed to always be saying in the back of my mind: "You will write our stories". Perhaps it seems overly dramatic, but it is true. Finally, to have any peace I had no choice but to start writing. I did so by pencil and filled 2 large dark green notebooks.

Then, when practically finished with the manuscript, I entered a dark period of my life. The manuscript sat for 5 years. Nobody read it including myself. Then something happened and I bought my first laptop and started working in earnest. I created this book cover-to-cover myself. The photos on the front and back covers are of me. Not out of vanity, but because they are original to 1969 and seemed to fit with the story. I started on Create Space/Amazon with my Print Edition and have been very happy with them. Recently I published my book with Kindle. This has been an exciting experience. My only goal has been to draw readers to my book as I believe it is a story (True Story) that needs to be read. I wrote this book more in the style of a novel, so it is no dry accounting of war tactics and it is certainly not "political". I took great pains to not allow politics to dirty up the story of the guys I knew and came to love who gave it all.

We were not politicians. We were Warriors. Each in our own way. And we were young. I was a 19 year old Marine when I came back from Vietnam. This story transcends Vietnam though. It could be a story about any war. Any time and any place. I hope you can take a few moments to get to know it.

What affect does war and combat have on our young warriors? Does the average citizen really know? Do they ever really think about it? Perhaps they don't want to, yet we as a nation send them off. This book is my self-published memoir of life as a 19 year old Marine in 1969 Vietnam. Yes, it is harsh in part but also inspiring and even replete with the kind of humor you will find nowhere else. It is also 'beautiful'. Hard to believe when you read the forward I created for my book. It is to me. Still, we should know. We should try to understand. It is true and we should show respect and care for those who have walked this path:

Forward to:

"EVERYTHING HAPPENED IN VIETNAM: THE YEAR OF THE RAT"

By Robert Peter Thompson

'"But not everything is remembered and not everything is told. Lost with those who did not survive and with those who did not return. Lost in the chaos and confusion and the self protective suppression of the formidable and yet fragile mind.

Sometimes that which affects you most is that which you can no longer see and is perhaps better left alone. But what of that which so stubbornly remains and cries out as it does from the darkness of time and says:

"I am here, I am still here, you will look at me, for I will never go away."'

Sincerely,

Bob T. (aka Robert Peter Thompson) USMC 1967-1969