When Chuck Smith’s son was in middle school, he asked his father to share a story from the time he served in the Vietnam War.
Smith started typing away, recounting an overnight “listening post” duty filling sandbags and setting out claymore mines during the war. The memory became the basis for one of the stories in Smith’s new book, “Vietnam: Stories from a War.”
“I started out writing 17 pages for my son and it evolved into 444 pages,” Smith, a Williamsburg resident, said. “I just kept going.”
“Vietnam: Stories from a War” is a collection of ten fictionalized short stories set in the time period of the war. The book was published in November, just ahead of the 50th anniversary of the Tet Offensive and Battle of Hue City, which was fought from Jan. 27 to Feb. 8 in 1968.
Smith, who was drafted into the war and served two years in Vietnam, first began working on the book roughly 15 years ago.
Smith based the book in part on his own experiences in Vietnam, as well as on conversations he’s had with other veterans. He also found inspiration from other authors who write about war, such as Mark Bowden, who wrote “Black Hawk Down” and “Hue 1968.”
“This is something I wanted to do even before I knew I wanted to be a writer,” Smith said. “Those of us of a certain generation, those of us in our late 60s and our 70s who were there during the war and went through it deserve to have the whole story told.”
Smith is quick to note that the stories in his book are not war stories.
“These are stories set during that place and time,” he explained. “I have met, spoken to, shared a beer with each character in these stories. Whether it’s the retired Teamster, the two-war vet who needs medical attention, or the farmer who walked away from basic training, each deserves a level of respect. War forms or informs us but should not, by itself, define us.”
Like many, Smith feels pride in having served in the Vietnam War and in the people with whom he served with during the war, even though some feel Americans should not have been there.
“I just want readers to have a different dimension to the war,” he said.
“Vietnam: Stories from a War” is Smith’s second book. His first, “Stories from Potomac County: Truths, Half-Truths, and Lies from Rural Virginia and Someplace Else,” is a collection of short stories about life in rural Virginia.
Smith grew up in Rappahannock County, near the Blue Ridge Mountains. Smith and his wife, Sharon, have lived in Williamsburg for 24 years. He retired from the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation’s educational television department to write full-time in 2016.
“I had been writing stories for a while but I didn’t have a clue what to do with them until I found the right editor,” Smith said. “Because what I write is fiction, I do enjoy meeting the characters. I don’t know who they are when I first start writing. They spring up in me when I am either walking the dogs or I am in the shower.”
Smith spends much of his retirement either traveling with his wife, strolling through his neighborhood with his two dogs, Fergus and Lacey, or writing. In addition to his two books, he pens a weekly topical blog. Smith hopes to write a third book of short stories, again focusing on life in rural Virginia.
“I really enjoy writing my blog and spend a lot of time on it,” he said. “My goal is just for someone who reads what I have to say to walk away when they are done with a smile on their face.”
For more information on author Chuck Smith, visit authorchucksmith.wordpress.com.
