Returning Soldiers Speak

An Evening of Prose and Poetry

Tuesday, November 7, 2017
at American Legion, Post 13
131 North Marengo
Pasadena, CA 91101

Reception & Booksigning
7:00 PM

Reading
8:00 PM

Artwork and Photography Showing
by Veterans

The event is supported in part by
Poets & Writers
through grants it has received from
The James Irvine Foundation
and the Hearst Foundation.
We are grateful for the generous and kind support of SGV Frontline and The American Legion, Post 13 in the hosting and promotion of this annual reading, The Deadly Writers Patrol of Wellness Works, Glendale.
Donations at the door are welcome.
Suggested donation is $10 but any amount is welcome.
Proceeds from donations benefit the important work of Returning Soldiers Speak.
Thank you for your support!

“The evening began with me reading a letter my father wrote to my mother when he was deployed to the Pacific during the Korean War. It was about my birth. I had not read before at the event but I wanted to honor my father and his military wife by reading one of his many letters. Then stories of the Vietnam War were told: of photos not taken because of respect for the dead, how a corpsman was embedded with the Marines doing humanitarian work in Vietnamese villages, and the gritty reality check of a soldier humping through treacherous Ashau Valley, and of another Seaman loading bombs into an airplane somewhere in Thailand. As I listened to the Vietnam veterans read, I sensed I was witnessing something extraordinary. I was in the presence of combat soldiers, who lived in and through war. And their stories touched something primordial within, awakening a sense of pride and honor.”