An old review from Courtlandt Bryan writes, “Every war seems to find its own voice: Caputo . . . is an eloquent spokesman for all we lost in Vietnam” (PC). Second Lieutenant Philip Caputo, veteran of the Vietnam War, brought us an outstanding memoir called A Rumor of War in which he details his 16-month long tour to Vietnam with the United States Marine Corps in the year of 1965. Now, over 50 years later, it seems Caputo is still affected by the war, though continues to move on with his life. Married, divorced, and children have just been a few major milestones that have changed Caputo’s life. Although in a war where he thought all might be lost, he has journeyed far since his young twenty-three year-old self first arrived in Vietnam. At …show more content…
In an article presented by the New York Times, Philip Caputo converses with William Least Heat-Moon, a travel writer, comparing their experiences on the road. In a way, the military introduced Caputo to a newly found passion of world traveling. Opening him up to the world at a young age, with Japan and Vietnam, and experiencing other cultures and languages, motivated him to venture out and explore more of it and, in doing so, find himself. As mentioned in the documented conversation, Caputo notes, “I think one of the things that happens on the road is that you leave behind a lot of your own inhibitions, your own baggage” (NY Times). Another road Caputo has traveled frequently is the Purple Heart trail, in which he repeatedly led a platoon of Marines down. Similarly as traveling the states, Caputo left his childhood inhibitions behind in Vietnam when he led his troops into battle time and time again. Just as he had cataloged his experiences deployed, he also chronicled his time on the road, the ‘roadmap’ for the next book. “Keeping a record of your travels deepens the experience because you’ve got to think about it afterward” (NY Times). Due to his dedication in archiving his traveling, the audience is brought a new aspect of life on the road, or in the case of Vietnam, life through the eyes of an …show more content…
He called the shots and made the ultimate decisions on what action would take place in his platoon. He seems to hold fast to this leadership skill in his life to this day. Carving out one of the most memorable war novels from its time, he lead us into an eye-opening experience of the anxiety, exhaustion, and boredom of Vietnam for the Marines. Detailing his encounter with the Vietnamese has credited him in his latest novels, such as Some Rise By Sin, a novel based on “a Franciscan priest struggling to walk a moral path through the shifting and fatal realities of an isolated Mexican village” (PC). As recently as August of this year, Caputo was interviewed on the podcast of the Leonard Lopate Show to discuss his book, A Rumor of War, which has reached its fortieth anniversary this year. Asked about the book, Captuo replied, “I didn’t really expect it to do very much, and I certainly didn’t expect that it would still be around 40 years from now—from then” (wnyc). Most are aware of the significant impact the Vietnam War had on America. The Anti-war movement leading to the age of the hippies, the 1970s decade, with the desire for ‘peace’ and ‘love’ and the popular saying coined by Michael Jackson, ‘I’m a lover, not a fighter.’ Caputo goes on to mention, “a lot of the divisions and fractures that we see in our society today started back then”