'He should have died': the Vietnam veteran who never really returned

Submitted by Paul Daley on Wed, 25/11/2015 - 11:09am

In what he says may be his last – and most personal – book, historian Michael McKernan explores the story of his brother-in-law Joe Stawyskyj, drafted to Vietnam, the horrific injuries he suffered, and the life that followed

Most people measure their lives, how long they’ve lived and might have left, in time. Years. Months. Days. Hours.

But writers measure it in books, as in, for example: “I reckon I’ve got five or six books left in me.”

I really wanted to avoid being too sentimental. Of course it is a sad story but it has its moments of humour too