Writings Reveal War Through Troops' Eyes

Dec 11, 5:23 PM (ET)

By SETH HETTENA

Workshops, anthology focus on the writings of those touched by war


The National Endowment for the Arts earlier this year asked U.S. soldiers and their families to write down what they saw, heard and felt during the Iraq war for a program called "Operation Homecoming." The reflections compiled to date offer a poignant glimpse into soldiers' lives and how they are affected by war.

"There's no voice more authentic or captivating than those who are on the front lines," said Andrew Carroll, who is editing the best submissions into an anthology that will be published in 2006.

From Mosul, Iraq, soldier Ryan Alexander wrote a poem about a pregnant cat, "a happy distraction" that he fed from prepackaged military meals. Ignoring warnings from medics, Alexander put on a plastic glove and petted the wild creature, "who may be the one true heart and mind that America had won over."

Back home in Colorado Springs, Colo., Melissa Herman imagined what her reaction would have been had her Army husband been aboard a helicopter that crashed in Iraq.



http://www.arts.gov/national/homecoming/about.html

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