Book Review
Sacred Shadow, Sacred Ground
A Vietnam War Widow’s journey through unresolved grief
By Glenda M. Carter
Paperback $18.95
Two Rainbows Publishing
By BILL DUNCAN
The News-Review
On page 38 in Glenda M. Carter’s book "Sacred Shadow, Sacred Ground," there is a poignant picture that tells the story she unfolds in her beautifully written book. She is kneeling at a gravesite banked with flowers and two American flags. Just below it is a closeup picture of the headstone reading: Bruce L. Carter, P.F.C. USMC, 1st Marine Div., Vietnam."
Then is listed his date of birth, June 2, 1950 and his death, Sept. 11, 1968 and the wording: "For those who fight for it, life has a taste the protected will never know."
Bruce Carter was Glenda’s husband for a short few months before he was shippped out to Vietnam where he died at Quang Nam Province in South Vietnam at age 18. Here’s is a painful book, but one that should be read by every American. Glenda, says it was "therapy to finally, after three decades be able to tell my story."
She reveals in the book that she suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder as result of becoming a war widow while she was still in her teens. But as a war widow, she did not get military or veteran’s help to deal with the disorder. PTSD was not diagnosed until she sought private treatment for chronic depression.
A therapist helped her put her life back together, "but as a war widow, I know other war widows face the paralyzing effects of the sense of loss." She hopes her book will bring war widows together under a common bond. She recently heard a speech at the Vietnam Wall in which the speaker said the death of the men and women listed on the wall involved "mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers and friends," but he did not include widows.
Glenda is an excellent writer and tells a griping story in a way that has the reader sharing her grief. Professionally, she is photo editor of the Record-Courier in Baker City, Ore. The book generously includes photos to illustrate her story, including one at the Vietnam Wall in Washington showing her as she found her husband’s name among the thousands engraved on the black onx wall. The wording under the picture says: "For the first time I understood that I am a part of the living history of the famous wall."
Bruce is buried in a cemetery in Enterprise, Ore., a site about which she writes lovingly in her book as she recalls the times she has visited the gravesite. Deep inside the book is a letter written on June 14, 2004 to Bruce, who had been dead for 36 years, but which she wrote as if Bruce were alive, noting that their married life was but six months.
"I’m sitting on the grass beside your grave," the letter begins. "The breeze is blowing; there are clouds covering the tips of the mountains. It is quiet. The sun is shining its warmth on my skin."
It is, in the true sense of the word, a love letter to her deceased husband, a letter that reveals her deep love for a fallen warrior. "I’ve tried to tell you good-bye so many times before. But this time it must come from the inner sanctuary of my heart. This time I have to separate myself from the shroud of sorrow as I walk away from your grave."
Was she able to do it? Not in my opinion. The love was too deep, the sorrow too great.
The real truth is that as young as she was when Bruce Carter died in Vietnam, she never remarried. In the book, which is filled with symbolism, she writes:
"Like collecting scattered wildflowers among tall grasses on a mountain hillside, I gather memories to put into my memorial bouquet that will pay homage to the losses of my past."
This book is part of that bouquet.
(Bill Duncan is editor of The Senior Times. He also writes a weekly column on the Thursday Opinion Page of The News-Review.)