MWSA Book Review

A Thousand Tears Falling

Author:  Yung Krall

Publisher:  Longstreet Press

Reviewer: Bill McDonald – MWSA President

A View Not Seen by Vietnam Veterans Before….

There are some books that are so important that they act as a kind of “rosette stone” for our understanding of historical events and the people who were caught up in them.  This book is going to become a touchstone importance for those trying to relate to the human element of the Vietnam War for non-combatants.  The author, Yung Krall, opens a new doorway to viewing what life was like for those families caught in up the cross fires of the Vietnam War.  In her book, “A Thousand Tears Falling,” she will change and alter the thought processes of any veteran reading of her personal experiences.  It will also enlighten those readers who were never a part of any war but often wondered what life was like for those who tried to live inside a war zone with their families.

She puts a face on that war and on the enemy and on the allies.  She, through her sometimes very sad story, will peel away some of the mystery of why certain members of a family, or a community in Vietnam, fought for which side.  It is not as simple as one thinks.  It has more to with personal loyalties, family and nationalism and less at times, to issues about communism or capitalism.  Her father however, was a powerful leader in the war against the French, the South Vietnamese and the Americans and believed in communism.  He left her loving home to go fight the war leaving behind his family to forge for them selves while he lived in the jungles and forests for 18 years.  He was a NLF Senator and when the war was over he was rewarded with an ambassadorship.

This book is all about family and loyalties and choices.  There were many hard choices to be made in the author’s young life.  She had to choose where her heart and loyalties really were at.  She eventually worked for the South Vietnamese and American armies and ends up falling in love with an American navy pilot, getting married and moving to the United States.  However, in order to get the rest of her family out of Vietnam to safety, she had to work with the CIA and became a spy.

There is so much more depth to this story and what she had  emotionally endured.  I do not think a movie could do justice to it; only a TV mini-series could fully capture the spiritual impact of what her life was like and choices she was forced to make.  This is one woman that you will want to meet in person and shake her hand.  She has been through more than most could emotionally bear and she is the stronger for it.  She will move you to tears at times when you read her book, but when you finish you will find that you have gained something valuable through that experience.

This book receives the MWSA highest rating of 5 Stars!

2005 Silver Medal Award for Non-Fiction!