Words For The Walking Wounded

This uncompromising biography tells the story of a wounded D-Day veteran, a deserter, a violent drunk, a loving father who abandoned his first child, a boxer and brawler, a wife-beater, a bigamist, and a passionately romantic lover. It is also, most importantly, the story of a poet. Vernon Scannell wrote some of the finest poetry to come out of the Second World War. He won the Chomondeley Prize and the Heinemann Award, and for half a century he was acknowledged as one of the leading poets in the country. His Collected Poems are still in print, and his poetry for both adults and children is regularly anthologised and appears on English Literature examination papers. Scannell died in 2007, and Walking Wounded draws on his personal diaries, poems, and other writings to offer the first detailed study of this complex, controversial, and occasionally tragic life. For the first time, the women who loved him tell their stories; his children describe growing up with a father who was funny, affectionate, sometimes violent, and often not there at all; and his fellow poets, including Seamus Heaney, Anthony Thwaite, Alan Brownjohn and Kit Wright, speak of the dedicated stylist, assured performer, and occasionally roistering drunk that they knew. Scannell was seriously wounded in Normandy shortly after D-Day, but the book looks at the deeper, mental scars from the War that he bore all his life, and of the suffering they caused to him and the people who loved him. It is an important book about an important poet, which investigates where poetry comes from, and the terrible price that sometimes has to be paid for it.

A gripping account of PTSD, and a stark reminder that, for many, wars go on long after the last shot is fired. In the shadows of army life is a world where friends become monsters, where kindness twists into assault, and where self-loathing and despair become constant companions. Whether you know it by old names like “soldier’s heart,” “shell shock,” or “combat fatigue,” post-traumatic stress disorder has left deep and silent wounds throughout history in the ranks of fighting forces. Among the Walking Wounded tells one veteran’s experience of PTSD through an intimate personal account, as visceral as it is blunt. In a courageous story of descent and triumph, it tackles the stigma of PTSD head-on and brings an enduring message of struggle and hope for wounded Canadian veterans. This book is a must-read for anyone who cares about Canadian veterans and the dark war they face long after their combat service is ended.

The story begun in Dancing on His Grave continues, as the five Finch girls one by one escape their father's psychopathic abuse, only to find themselves cast into the world drastically ill-equipped to cope with the demands of adulthood. In this sequel, the girls find their paths mined with the untruths and denial learned as children, and the lack of self-esteem or faith in their own abilities. In spite of these pitfalls, the young women's intelligence, determination and love for their children keep them striving toward normalcy. At the same time, their mother chooses to stay with her husband for seven years after her daughters have all gone, and with her classic denial conceals his increasingly psychotic behavior. Finally, after a severe concussion and a near miss again a month later, she flees to her oldest daughter's home and begins the long process of de-programming, after thirty three years of abuse. During her recovery, she fulfills a life-long dream of graduating from college with a degree in English. Meanwhile, her husband pursues the path of an alcoholic, and two years later remarries. Within a few months his new wife disappears. It takes the girls over a year to find her, back in Las Vegas, with a story of a terror-filled night when she was convinced he would murder her. Walking Wounded attempts to bring the Finch family's story to a reasonable conclusion, although the effects of the brutality inflicted on them as children create a life-long struggle for the women.

This is a Canadian veteran’s experience of PTSD delivered in an intimate personal account that is as visceral as it is blunt — a courageous story of dark descent and painful triumph that stands as a testament for many Canadian soldiers who still fight and suffer in the shadows.

A gripping graphic novel illustrates the challenges of Iraq War veterans as well as their inspiring triumphs After the shock of 9/11, for hundreds of thousands of young Americans there was Ar Ramadi, Baghdad, Abu Ghraib—the war in Iraq. Then came the trauma. From the torment of these vets to their reflections, Morel and artist Maël demonstrate the seemingly impossible return of those who aspire to get back to a normal life. The effort is huge; some can't make it and others score their own victory by finally turning the corner. Walking Wounded is a parable for our country's war sickness.

Did you ever wonder what happened to the boy next door who went off to war and came back a man? Who seemed changed, strangely different from the person you knew? Walking Wounded is a journey into the minds, and a look through the eyes of two such men, David and Mark. Walking Wounded brings to life the feel of joy, love, trauma, suspense, and disappointment within them. The knowledge and feelings experienced during this reading will linger on in memory.

1989 Austin Book Award Winner. Walking Wounded concerns Huff's stay at the Whitestone Retirement Home in Austin, Texas, while recovering from surgery in the late 1970s. The poems relate his feelings about the people he lived with, his feelings toward his body, and his feelings about Wanda -- a woman suffering from massive kidney failure and trying to come to terms with the significance of her own life.