This is a tale of the author and the editor.
When I was approached by Larry Smoose of the Media Rotary and the folks at the Media Library about moderating a question-and-answer session with best-selling author Mark Bowden, I jumped at the chance.
That's because there was something I wanted to ask him.
Bowden has written a grueling, intense, at times overwhelming new book on what most people consider the pivotal battle of Vietnam.
Fifty years after America left Southeast Asia, Bowden has produced an exhaustive tome examining the fulcrum point of the war.
It is called "Hue, 1968."
It recounts the battle that raged for 24 days, from Jan. 30 to March 3, 1968. After that battle, it is said the conversation back home in America concerning the war changed forever. The reporting from that battle - and the truth that shattered the lies that were being told to the nation about the war in Vietnam - flipped the conversation. It was no longer about winning, it was about how to get out.
It turns out Bowden and I have several things in common.
He spent more than 20 years as a reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer, among other things covering the infamous Joey Coyle saga of the down-on-his-luck Philly guy who saw a million bucks literally fall into his lap from an armored car. That story was eventually told, again in exhaustive detail, by Bowden in a three-part magazine series. It was made into a movie, "Money for Nothing," starring John Cusack.
Bowden had the good sense to do something I have not done. He got out of the newspaper racket. But he is still a reporter at heart, as anyone who reads 'Hue, 1968,' can attest. At times the detail in the book is overwhelming. He writes for The Atlantic and Vanity Fair, when he's not busy cranking out best-sellers like 'Blackhawk Down' and 'Killing Pablo.'
The other thing we have in common I did not learn until yesterday morning, when an old high school friend reached out on Facebook and asked me to say hello to Bowden at the event.
When he moved his family out of the city, Bowden bought a farm right outside the little town of Oxford where I grew up in Southern Chester County.
So what was it I wanted to ask him?
Well, first I highly suggest you read the book.
One of the things Bowden says he wanted to do was tell the story of the battle, from all sides. In other words, not just the American side.
Some of things I read and heard about the book was that some people were a bit taken aback at how much he focused on the Vietnamese side of the battle.
I asked him if he considered that.
He never batted an eye in his response.
He did not.
He pointed out he was not interested in telling the "American" side of the story. Rather, he wanted to tell the whole story.
Or, simply, the truth.
He could not resist saying that current events tell us a lot of people are more comfortable in dealing with propaganda rather than the truth.
The book does not pull any punches, in particular when it comes to Gen. William Westmoreland, the commander of U.S. troops in Vietnam. Bowden says not only did Westmoreland vastly underestimate the size of the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces in Hue, telling officials in Washington there were no more than 500 soldiers in the city when in fact there were more than 10,000, but he also points out that Westmoreland's optimistic outlook without question extended U.S. involvement in the war.
But none of this was really what I wanted to ask the noted author.
A confession here first. This is a topic where I always tread very lightly. That would be issues involving war and veterans. I do so for a very good reason. The truth is I did not serve. I was not there. I have no idea what that experience was like. It's actually something I now often regret not doing, though I'm sure I would have answered differently 50 years ago.
I asked Bowden if he had served.
Again, he never hesitated. No, he did not.
Did that ever give him pause in writing about the topics of service and war? Again he assured it did not. He simply sought the truth, and by that meaning the whole truth, not any one particular person's or side's version of the truth.
Still a true reporter at heart.
My thanks to the Media Rotary and Media Library for a truly exceptional night.
And in particular my heart-felt thanks to the many veterans who turned out for the chat, who offered their own questions to Bowden.
Fifty years after we left Vietnam, the nation - in particular many veterans - continue to struggle with the scars, both physical and emotional, that remain.
It is my hope that events like last night's session help in that process.
It was an honor to take part.
Thanks, Mark. See you around Oxford some day.
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