The Vietnam Typescript

In 1969 William H. Clamurro was stationed in Vietnam as an unarmed A-1-0 combat medic - a conscientious objector who still chose to serve by helping his fellow soldiers. He captured his time there as poems in a small field notebook. When he returned to the US he transcribed those poems on a cheap typewriter and hid them away in a box, where they have remained until now.

The Vietnam Typescript faithfully reproduces Clamurro’s original manuscript, complete with editor's marks, and includes the author’s thoughts on the war and his experiences there.

At once heartbreaking and beautiful, and written with the frankness and longing of a young man surrounded by suffering, Clamurro's poems contrast his dreams of home and far-away friends with the often grim, sometimes comical, realities of life in a war zone.

In addition to the poems, the work includes photographs of the people and places the author encountered during his time there, with guidance by the author. The book concludes with a transcribed interview between Dr. Clamurro and Prof. Amy Sage Webb and Rosalie Krenger that highlights his past and present feelings on the war, his experiences in Vietnam, and how his life was changed upon his return.

ISBN 978-11878325-30-3

William H. Clamurro is Professor emeritus of Spanish at Emporia State University. He is the author of four books, including his first poetry collection, Comfort & Lies (Woodley Press, 2016). As an undergraduate at Amherst College Clamurro studied creative writing with Archibald McLeish, and his poetry has been published in Flint Hills Review and in other literary magazines.