When Mount Vernon native Patty R. Albaugh decided to write about the Vietnam War, she had reservations about whether she had the right perspective for the project. After all, she had never served in the military and had no direct experience with the war.
“I wanted to write a story about the Vietnam War from the perspective of the wife whose husband reenlists to serve as an adviser to South Vietnam troops," she said in a press release submitted to the Mount Vernon News. "Could I really write a story based on the Vietnam War? Authentically? Accurately? Without offending those who fought in, lost someone in, or avoided the war? Having grown up in the '60s, I know many who fought in Vietnam and a few who purposely did not."
So she turned to research and applied her storytelling skills, resulting in a riveting story about a grieving woman who can’t forgive her husband for dying in the war. The book, "Rebecca Benson’s War," is now available on Amazon.
Albaugh graduated from Mount Vernon Nazarene University in 1979 and earned a graduate degree from Ohio State.
She bridged the knowledge gap by conducting interviews, reading books and watching movies about the war.
“My research provoked neither a hawkish attitude nor a dovish posture,” she said. “Reading about the Vietnam conflict made me more thoughtful about wars and the people who fight in them. The words and images of those I read about or interviewed gave me insight into realities and misunderstandings of a war fought by brave soldiers who slogged through rice paddies with leeches on their backs (and other places) in a foreign land where they could barely discern who was friend or who was foe. And I read the stories of those who opposed the war.”
Albaugh said the more she learned and listened, the further she encountered the human desire to survive, to have a purpose and to measure up. She gained unlimited respect for the people who served their country even when they doubted their purpose, she said.
“The words of veterans, movies and music reflect the patriotism and moral dilemma of war. When is war justified? How do we remind ourselves to honor those who have served? The answers are not always clear,” she said.
After retiring from an academic career at Otterbein University, she took up memoir and novel writing, describing it as a welcome change from the scholarly writing she did for work. She splits her time between Arizona (parents Jane and Walter Rudin wintered there) and Michigan, but is drawn to Mount Vernon's small-town spirit.
“There are the joys being part of a community,” she told the News. “A ‘we’re in this together’ philosophy joins people in our everyday lives.
“I describe Mount Vernon as a small town with a big heart,” she said.
