BEEKMANTOWN — “The Disillusioned: The ‘Nam’… From Both Sides” by author John W. Conroy is the second installment of a trilogy of sorts by the Beekmantown farmer and freelance writer who’s written three books in three-and-half-years.
For one pushing 80, that’s an admirable feat.
“The Disillusioned” is book-ended by ’The Girl from Tam Hiep’ and “The Embedded Ones,” the latter which he just sent off for publication by BookBaby.
“I based that on all these stories I wrote for the Press-Republican,” Conroy said.
“I made a book out of that with a guy who’s actually similar to myself. The guy from the first book I wrote, ‘The Girl From Tam Hiep,’ he was 50 years older and he’s gone back to be a war reporter. Most of the people that he meets are younger journalists in Iraq and Afghanistan. Then, they go back to modern-day Vietnam. The character relates back. This is the way it is now, but I remember the way it was doing the Vietnam War. It was a lot different.”
“THRILLING WAR FICTION”
ReadersMagnet, a self-publishing and book marketing company, showcased Conroy’s thrilling war fiction, “The Disillusioned: The ‘Nam’… From Both Sides,” at the 2023 Frankfurt Book Fair (Frankfurter Buchmesse) from October 18 to 22 at the Frankfurt Trade Fair grounds in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, according to a press release.
SYNOPSIS
In “The Disillusioned,” readers follow Edward Winslow as he arrives in the enigmatic city of Hanoi and reconnects with an old friend from the fading days of an ancient conflict. Through Winslow’s recollections, readers are transported to the pivotal moments leading up to the Fall of Da Nang in 1975, where a vivid array of characters weaves a complex tapestry of loyalty, love, and resilience.
Amidst the expansive Ho Chi Minh Trail and the treacherous A Shau Valley, fighters, known as the ‘bo dai,’ battle relentlessly for survival and conquest. Meanwhile, in the heart of Saigon, an Australian soldier forges an unexpected bond with American stragglers from Da Nang, who are preparing for their final departure.
The narrative unveils the gripping interplay between the American Ambassador, the president of World Airways, and the elusive station chief of the CIA, as their destinies become intertwined against a backdrop that transcends the Sixties’ era of sex, drugs, and rock and roll.
“The Disillusioned” delves beneath the surface, exploring themes of disillusionment, failure, and the enduring spark of hope. Through Conroy’s expert storytelling, the intricate layers of human experience are unraveled, exposing the profound complexities of war’s aftermath and the pursuit of redemption.
ADAPTATION
Conroy had previously written a screenplay that delved into the multiplicity of perspectives on the Vietnam War.
“And, I started getting more into it,” he said.
“I had characters from the American side and South Vietnamese side and from the North Vietnamese side. They are interrelated characters in various spots, militarily and romantically.”
ANCESTRAL NAMES
For his protagonist, Conroy raided his family tree for a name. Edward Winslow (18 October 1595 – 8 May 1655) was the third, sixth and 10th Governor of Plymouth Colony and was aboard the Mayflower when it landed in North America in 1620.
“You have to get your name from some place,” Conroy said. His middle name is Winslow.
“I came up with a local person that was in the war early on and went back to Vietnam as an old military person. This story centers basically on the fall of Da Nang in March of 1975, which is a lot less known than the fall of Saigon, which is in some respects more interesting because it’s a smaller scale thing and it’s more personable.
“In a way, it’s more, I want to say, more photogenic. There’s a big thing with the World Airways that’s doing an evacuation on Da Nang. There’s the seascape along the river in Da Nang, and the South China Sea shoreline, the old China Beach. It’s different, but it’s unknown and it’s photogenic.”
The protagonist, Capt. Winslow, is working with The Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) Marines, the South Vietnamese Marines.
“Most of the Americans had been withdrawn by this time,” Conroy said.
“There’s also the American ambassador, which is also a cousin of his, Will Signor. He (Signor, in real life) is a cousin of my mother (Mary Watson Conroy, retired teacher/farmer/champion of the horse, May 23, 1911-January 6, 1911) who was the ambassador to Brazil like 50 years ago.
“I put in things like that. I also have a Navy Seal who is based on an old friend of mine who ended up being on Seal Team 6 in the early ‘90s. I have characters sort of based on real people, people in military intelligence, Navy Seals, or whatever else.”
Capt. Winslow engages in a relationship with a Vietnamese woman, Lien, and they ended up marrying and left the country at war’s end.
“Another girl who is equally important or more important, Van Ly, who is also a bartender,” he said.
“She also works for the other side. The other side is the anti-American side, the North Vietnamese side or the Viet Cong side or the National Liberation Front side.”
In “The Disillusioned,” the book starts with Capt. Winslow’s return to Vietnam.
“He hooks up with Signor, who is presently the ambassador,” Conroy said.
“During the Vietnam War, he worked at the consulate. He knew the scene. At the end of the book, he goes back to finishing up this story where the guy is going back as a very older man now, and he’s looking for the sister of his wife. His wife has died.”
Conroy, who served in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War, 1966/1967; had personal connections to the geographic places he references in the novel.
“I knew the Au Shau Valley because that’s where Pete (brother/retired contractor and decorated U.S. Army 1st Cavalry, 1968/1969) was and got shot up in,” he said.
“So, I had knowledge of that. and I used Da Nang because I’ve been there so many times when Mark (brother/retired in-country director/senior consultant 1994-2017) East Meets West Foundation) was working there, so I had a lot of background knowledge of these two situations.”
Conroy self-published with BookBaby.
“Obviously, I would prefer to have a real publisher, but I haven’t been lucky enough to find one,” he said.
“I have the screenplay written for all three of them also. I’m going to start trying to promote it more, and maybe I can get lucky and hook a publisher or an agent. Maybe, I won’t, but at least it’s a project.”
Conroy writes morning, noon, night.
“I have other things to do here,” he said.
“I just do it when I can. I use a computer. I can’t read my longhand for one thing. The computer is easy. The computer, you can’t beat it for me. You can go back and correct it. You can fix things. That’s all I know quite frankly.”
Conroy didn’t have an outline for the book.
“I had an idea,” he said.
“I took it from an old screenplay that I wrote, just that there were two sides to the war and I could tie them together from people that I had known or things that I had read.”
His wife, Liz, is his reader.
“She used to do this kind of work for Playboy years ago when she worked for Playboy Publishing,” he said.
“I think she was an assistant to the managing editor. Among other things, she read books to see if anybody would want them, and she did editorial work. She had firsthand experience with publishing and that kind of work.”
Asked about his second novel’s title, Conroy said:
“In the end, everyone from every side is disillusioned with the whole thing. That is the case with every war. We never learn. We go back and do another one.”