The
Dream Warrior: A Viet Nam War Veteran's Memoir
by Anthony J. Chibbaro
Published by : iUniverse (August 2008)
ISBN: 9790595517121/9780595505692
Price: $17.95 paperback $27.95 Hardcover
Tags: Non-Fiction Memoir Vietnam
This book is the factual account of the life of the author
during and after his service as a sailor in the US Navy. The author
is a man with many questions about destiny and with many of his
questions yet unanswered. We are taken through a journey with him
during the Vietnam War where a tragic explosion occurred on his
ship, the USS Oriskany. This terrible event resulted in 44 men dying
aboard that ship. Among the 44 was the man that saved our authors
life. The book details the many questions that still haunt the
author as he has not found the answers he is desperately searching
for. It is clear that the accident on the USS Oriskany changed his
life and is the root cause of his many dreams.
We are taken with him on many of these dreams where he must become
the hero in varied arrays of desperate situations. He takes himself
back to the old west where he is a gunfighter against the bad guy
then in the next dream he is an infantry soldier in the jungles of
Vietnam. He states, “In reality I had served in the Navy and all I
saw was the coast of North Vietnam.”
The author’s detailed descriptions of those dreams are well written
and very interesting giving the reader a sense that he is reading a
good fiction novel. The author does make it clear of his concern
that these many dreams could possibly be self destructive.
Specifically, the “daydream”, as he refers to them, where he was in
country in an Army unit serving as a Second Lt was well done and
held my interest.
Though I was disappointed that the book was not divided into
chapters which made it somewhat uncomfortable to read, I do think
that most Navy veterans would identify with this author as they read
how his service affected the rest of his life.
Reviewed by Don Arndt, MWSA Reviewer (September 2009)
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