Camouflage & Lace

During the time period covered by this story (about 1972- 1976 with some prologue and epilogue), politics fired our passions and touched everything about us. I don’t think there is any way to separate our lives back then from the monsoon of repercussions stirred by the Vietnam War. Everyone was affected, drenched to the bone, even a young girl from the Southern California beach-burbs like me. Today, the wars may have new names, but the sounds and warnings of Vietnam still reverberate across the globe.

I can’t speak for Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW). All I can offer is what I personally witnessed and felt as I sought sanity and self amidst the chaos of the times. Immersed in the world of VVAW- a young girl among soldiers- I was (and am) just a regular person. Through events I witnessed first hand, my political and personal education deepened.

For Willie Hager, the veteran I loved back then, my softness and clueless innocence provided a badly needed safe harbor, a place of rest, in his turbulent world. Heart was the only gift I could offer him; I wasn’t much good at anything else. But I learned. Just bursting into life, I sought- no, quested- after a better life, a life of meaning, significance and substance. Everyone I knew did. Marches, drug use, love ins - the goal was deeper understanding of this crazy world and attempts to make it better. Senseless getting off and thrill-seeking was never our goal; we sought meaning, connections, answers and a world free of pain and suffering.

Our approach was creative: We sought a world full of miracles.