Vietnam - Soldier Stories and Songs
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Narrated by:
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Andrew Baldwin
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By:
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Jim Purtell
About this listen
Truth cuts to the bone. It cannot be altered or spun to be something else. Truth speaks to us regardless of language or culture and it needs to be constant. One element that comes through in these engaging stories and songs in this unique audiobook is the authenticity with regard to the Vietnam War, and the soldiers who fought it, those who were left behind, and the impact it had on the survivors upon returning home.
The 37 stories and original songs speak to the Vietnam veteran experience in combat in Vietnam, the unsettled POW/MIA issue and the difficult re-entry back to the U.S., for Vietnam veterans. There are also stories and songs about PTSD, veteran homelessness, veteran suicide, Agent Orange, and stolen valor.
The author, Jim Purtell, is a combat Vietnam veteran having served as a medic with the infantry in 1968-69, and is one of the most prolific songwriters of the Vietnam experience. He was influenced by the great singer-songwriters of the 1970’s who were skilled in their storytelling and that’s what he does–tell stories.
If you’re interested in learning more about the Vietnam War and the men and women who fought there, and the life changing impact the war had on the combatants, or how stories become songs, or if you enjoy original music, be sure to add this audiobook to your collection.
©2022 Jim "Doc" Purtell (P)2022 Jim "Doc" PurtellListeners also enjoyed...
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Soldier Girls follows the lives of three women on their paths to the military. These women, who are quite different in every way, become friends, and we watch their interaction and also what happens when they are separated. We see their families, their lovers, their spouses, their children. We see them work extremely hard, deal with the attentions of men on base and in war zones, and struggle to stay connected to their families back home.
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Valor Knows No Gender
- By Cynthia on 03-21-15
By: Helen Thorpe
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Always Faithful
- A Story of the War in Afghanistan, the Fall of Kabul, and the Unshakable Bond Between a Marine and an Interpreter
- By: Thomas Schueman, Zainullah Zaki
- Narrated by: Patrick Kirchner, Wali Habib
- Length: 12 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Band of Brothers meets Argo in this dramatic and heartfelt dual memoir of the war in Afghanistan told by two men from opposite worlds. Always Faithful entwines the stories of Marine Major Tom Schueman, and his friend and Afghan interpreter, Zainullah “Zak” Zaki, as they describe their parallel lives, converging paths, and unbreakable bond in the face of overwhelming danger, culminating in Zak and his family’s harrowing escape from Kabul.
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Great Read!
- By justin on 08-13-22
By: Thomas Schueman, and others
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The Last of the Doughboys
- The Forgotten Generation and Their Forgotten World War
- By: Richard Rubin
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 20 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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They were the final survivors of the millions who made up the American Expeditionary Forces, nineteenth-century men and women living in the twenty-first century. Self-reliant, humble, and stoic, they kept their stories to themselves for a lifetime, then shared them at the last possible moment so that they, and the war they won - the trauma that created our modern world - might at last be remembered. You will never forget them.
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Flawed But Worthwhile: History Buffs Should Get It
- By Jim on 01-12-14
By: Richard Rubin
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Charlie Mike
- A True Story of War and Finding the Way Home
- By: Joe Klein
- Narrated by: Holter Graham
- Length: 8 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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In Charlie Mike, Joe Klein tells the dramatic story of Eric Greitens and Jake Wood, larger-than-life war heroes who come home and use their military discipline and values to help others. This is a story that hasn't been told before, one of the most hopeful to emerge from Iraq and Afghanistan - a saga of lives saved, not wasted.
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Thank you for all. Aco. 2/14TH INF 10TH MNT
- By Wolf on 07-14-20
By: Joe Klein
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Conversations with Major Dick Winters
- Life Lessons from the Commander of the Band of Brothers
- By: Cole C. Kingseed
- Narrated by: Tom Weiner
- Length: 7 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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On the hellish battlefields of World War II Europe, Major Dick Winters led his Easy Company - the now-legendary Band of Brothers - from the confusion and chaos of the D-day invasion to the final capture of Hitler's Eagle's Nest. But Winters' story didn't end there; it was only the beginning. He was a quiet, reluctant hero whose modesty and strength drew the admiration of not only his men but millions worldwide.
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This one grows on you
- By David on 09-28-15
By: Cole C. Kingseed
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Shade it Black
- Death and After in Iraq
- By: Jessica Goodell, John Hearn
- Narrated by: Emily Durante
- Length: 5 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Jess enlisted in the Marines immediately after graduating from high school in 2001, and in 2004 she volunteered to serve in the Marine Corps' first officially declared Mortuary Affairs unit in Iraq. Her platoon was tasked with recovering and processing the remains of fallen soldiers. With sensitivity and insight, Jess describes her job retrieving and examining the remains of fellow soldiers lost in combat in Iraq, and the psychological intricacy of coping with their fates, as well as her own.
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Credit-Worthy Slug to the Gut
- By Gillian on 03-25-14
By: Jessica Goodell, and others
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You Don't Lose 'Til You Quit Trying
- Lessons on Adversity and Victory from a Vietnam Veteran and Medal of Honor Recipient
- By: Sammy Lee Davis, Caroline Lambert
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 8 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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On November 18, 1967, Private First Class Davis' artillery unit was hit by a massive enemy offensive. At 21 years old, he resolved to face the onslaught and prepared to die. Soon he would have a perforated kidney, crushed ribs, a broken vertebra, his flesh ripped by beehive darts, a bullet in his thigh, and burns all over his body. Ignoring his injuries, he manned a two-ton Howitzer by himself, crossed a canal under heavy fire to rescue three wounded American soldiers, and kept fighting until the enemy retreated.
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Creed to Live By
- By GroovyMonkey8 on 01-15-21
By: Sammy Lee Davis, and others
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Flags of Our Fathers
- By: James Bradley, Ron Powers
- Narrated by: Stephen Hoye
- Length: 13 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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In this unforgettable chronicle of perhaps the most famous moment in American military history, James Bradley has captured the glory, the triumph, the heartbreak, and the legacy of the six men who raised the flag at Iwo Jima. Here is the true story behind the immortal photograph that has come to symbolize the courage and indomitable will of America.
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awesome
- By Thomas on 11-29-06
By: James Bradley, and others
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The Greatest Generation Speaks
- Letters and Reflections
- By: Tom Brokaw
- Narrated by: Tom Brokaw, a supporting cast
- Length: 7 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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The men and women honored in Tom Brokaw's The Greatest Generation speak in this collection of letters from and about the Depression and World War II.
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Not for everyone
- By Sean on 03-17-04
By: Tom Brokaw
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Kicking and Dreaming
- A Story of Heart, Soul, and Rock and Roll
- By: Ann Wilson, Nancy Wilson
- Narrated by: Ann Wilson, Nancy Wilson
- Length: 8 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Two sisters. Two voices. One Heart.
The mystery of "Magic Man." The wicked riff of "Barracuda." The sadness and beauty of "Alone." The raw energy of "Crazy On You." These songs, and so many more, are part of the fabric of American music. Heart, fronted by Ann and Nancy Wilson, has given fans everywhere classic, raw, and pure badass rock and roll for more than three decades. As the only sisters in rock who write their own music and play their own instruments, Ann and Nancy have always stood apart - certainly from their male counterparts but also from their female peers.
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Good Behind-The-Scenes Look At "Heart"
- By Kathy on 11-13-12
By: Ann Wilson, and others
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The Price of Valor
- The Life of Audie Murphy, America's Most Decorated Hero of World War II
- By: David Smith
- Narrated by: Tom Perkins
- Length: 6 hrs
- Unabridged
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When he was 17 years old, Audie Murphy falsified his birth records so that he could enlist in the army and help defeat the Nazis. When he was 19, he single-handedly turned back the German army at the Battle of Colmar Pocket by climbing on top of a tank with a machine gun, a moment immortalized in the classic film To Hell and Back, starring Audie himself.
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Horrible, Simplistic
- By Kathy Perow on 10-02-16
By: David Smith
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Salinger
- By: David Shields, Shane Salerno
- Narrated by: Peter Friedman, January LaVoy, Robert Petkoff, and others
- Length: 19 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Shields and Salerno illuminate most brightly the last 56 years of Salinger’s life: a period that, until now, had remained completely dark to biographers. Provided unprecedented access to diaries, letters, legal records, and secret documents, listeners will feel they have, for the first time, gotten beyond Salinger’s meticulously built-up wall. The result is the definitive portrait of one of the most fascinating figures of the 20th century.
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Ingenious novel or biography? Hard to tell....
- By Melinda on 09-05-13
By: David Shields, and others
What listeners say about Vietnam - Soldier Stories and Songs
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Gillian
- 05-10-22
A MUST for Veterans; A MUST for us
How to say it?
You will NOT be able to listen to Vietnam—Soldier Stories and Songs at one go, in one day, probably even in one week. Me? It’s what I do, Listen. And what stories Jim “Doc” Purtell has to share.
Sometimes a person’s life goes down a rabbit hole, one that p’raps that person signed up for (In Purtell’s case, but certainly not for everyone), but more often, the person is simply swept up in a horrific tide that takes all the good in an entire generation, changes the very DNA and marks them clearly.
One such person is Jim Purtell. Tho’ you can Listen to the whys and wherefores of his early life in Vietnam: There & Back, let me just say that he did not know what he was getting into when he joined the military and was sent to Vietnam just shy of his 19th birthday. He became “Doc” the medic, treating other young men who were just boys, really.
This rather made him the guy all the others told their troubles to: Kids breaking down and sharing with other, really, just kids. But “Doc” was the guy who carried it all, the heartbreak, the fears, and he became the collector of stories. And over time, healing through music, those stories became songs that truly told of the Experience of War(s), whether it was simply of being That Guy, the loner who didn’t fit in before Vietnam, then somehow just disappeared, never to come home (“Eternity”) FROM Vietnam, or it was the part of, oh yes, an entire generation who came back to no fanfare (Many songs), where “Thank You For Your Service” has come about, oh yes, 50-years too late.
One of the most prolific veteran songwriters, Purtell’s Vietnam—Soldiers Stories and Songs is a Must Listen for the country, especially as we transition from years-long wars and perhaps ask more from our warriors as time goes on. While it’s very good for the country as a whole to immerse themselves in the experience of loss and grief and isolation and PTSD and even what it means to be a wife of a serviceman (“She Married the War”), I think it would be of immense, no: Possibly THE Best, help to veterans. Purtell’s songs, the music of talented musicians coming together, the stories, the lyrics, the sometimes sound effects, without a doubt touch the soul.
My favorite is “Honor Guard” which reminded me of a documentary I saw of a man who served at Arlington National Cemetery; of his pride and passion, of ironing his uniform exactly. I was very happy to listen to it, and I felt even more when I saw Purtell’s video that has a snippet of the precision, the dignity, the reverence (Complete with veterans in the background, watching, feeling honored) of the Changing of the Guard.
And I was somewhat taken aback by the jaunty music of “Night Patrol” juxtaposed with the lyrics that tell us that as much as Vietnam was NOT where the young men wanted to be? Well, there were even greater Hells, and one of those was the Night Patrol, where you just didn’t know if you’d be coming back, or if you’d just be gone. This is made even more poignant by the video that shows jeez, just how young they were, gathering ammo, testing the sharpness of their knives, ready to kill, desperately hoping not to be killed themselves.
The stories of the songs are equally as compelling, showing us just how much music can do to give voice to that which was hidden, remained unspoken for so long. Purtell’s friendship with Al Torsiello reaches a milestone when they realize, and speak openly about, the torments of the mind, the dreams, the sudden terrors, the difficulties in Coming Back Home and not fitting in seamlessly as they’d so longed to do when in Vietnam. And I’m so very happy to hear that Purtell has been active in sharing his music, making it available for use in productions, and short films; he’s an advocate, a true healer and friend to his buddies from their war, to veterans of all wars.
Andrew Baldwin has quite a bit of potential as a narrator; I did appreciate that he threw himself into the performance, adding such enthusiasm and drama. I would caution him, however, to truly read the text and give each statement proper moderation. The phrase, “All the joy,” deserves the enthusiasm; the phrase, “All the fear,” deserves somberness. There is great sadness, great pain, great dignity to be found here—it merits careful consideration.
Expect some fine musical performances and some emotionally evocative lyrics that’ll have you sitting back caught in reveries, some hellish, some enraging, some exceedingly sad. This wasn’t even 5-hours, but it took me the full week to sincerely contemplate each song. I was only two-going-on-three when Purtell served in Vietnam, but when I was (A trifle) older, I would look upon soldiers with awe and respect.
Oh how differently it all now rolls through my head. They, all veterans, any war, still have my awe, have my respect. But now, I hope that Purtell’s offerings can give them what I cannot give them: Healing, songs from one of Their Own…
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