"The Longest Monday" took the longest time to write.
Don Clair's fictionalized account of Vietnam War service and some of its consequences first occurred to him when he was in Vietnam himself, as a combat engineer, infantryman and about every other job you can imagine.
"Forty years ago, I made a promise (to tell his story,)" he said. "I kept my promise to myself."
His promise was to remind people of the attempt by U.S. forces to rescue prisoners of war being held in Cambodia. He was part of Operation Fishhook, an unsuccessful attempt to rescue prisoners of war. Clair, who lives in Waterloo, is a retired prison counselor who still holds seminars and meetings. He said he always felt bad about not rescuing any prisoners.
"We came back from the mission to free the POWs and I heard the Armed Forces Radio playing," he said. "They were talking about the Kent State massacre. It had happened the same day we went across the border. I thought to myself, 'No one will ever remember what these guys tried to do.'"
Clair said he was at a seminar in 1995 where a former Vietnam War POW spoke and put things in perspective for him.
"Later, I talked to him and apologized for our failure," Clair said. "He said we didn't fail. 'We heard about it and it gave us hope.'"
It spurred him into writing about what he had always been thinking about.
"I have been writing it off and on since '95," he said. "You feel like a part of you is completed. You've fulfilled a promise."
No character in the book is actually just like one person; each is a lot of little pieces of a lot of people he met. But the book contains a mix of things that really did happen, and a lot of feelings and emotions he saw in other people and himself.
It deals with pain, both physical and mental.
"There is a lot of pain from every war," he said. "Besides the soldiers, there is pain from mothers who have to send their sons off to war. From dads who want their sons to measure up.
"When soldiers come home, they (parents, relatives and friends) see how they've changed and they don't want to deal with them."
Clair said it has taken him a long time to come to grips with his service.
"When I came home in '72, I never let anyone know I was a veteran," he said. "I think a lot of Vietnam Veterans are that way. That is changing.
"I am truly fortunate to have come back home."
Clair said he is writing a sequel that is about 85 percent finished.
He also has published "Secrets From Behind the Wall," a collection of letters written by penitentiary inmates offering advice to kids, a book that he wishes all kids could read.
The books are available at Amazon, Borders and Barnes & Noble Web sites or he will send an autographed copy to people who buy the book at his site: www.donclair.com in the products section.
Wally Spiers' column runs five days a week. Have a column idea? Call Wally at 239-2506 or 800-642-3878; or e-mail: wspiers@bnd.com.
