Passing Time: Memoir of a Vietnam Veteran Against the War

by W.D. Ehrhart

The author presents his autobiographical memoirs of his experiences in Vietnam in 1967 and 1968, and describes his personal and political awakenings and how he was able to confront his own feelings about the government, the country, and himself.

Genres: War, Nonfiction, Biography, Autobiography

296 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1989

Reviews

[Catie Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

The most remarkable thing about Bill is so much not the stories he tells --although I would put them forward as valuable for anyone and everyone to hear-- but the uncompromising way he seems to his soul bare in everything he writes. I've never encountered anything quite like it. This book is one of the most striking examples of him doing what does.

[Sheryl Hanefeld · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great book! I loved the honesty that W.D. Ehrhart had in this book. He told it like it was, rather than how it should have been. I am teaching the Vietnam War to high school juniors and I believe this will give me a depth of knowledge like no other book would.

[Victoria Karalun · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this in college, and took part in a small discussion group with the author; I would have loved to have had my book signed if not for his graphic description of raping a girl in Vietnam. Anyway, the book is very good; I'll read it again sometime.

[Jake · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bill Ehrhart is undoubtedly one of the great American poets and story-tellers of the Vietnam War. His memoir, Passing Time, documents his transition from the Marines back into civilian life during the conflict. The chapters alternate back and forth between the jungle and the cityscape, beautifully illustrating that – for the combat veteran – war doesn’t really end when the fighting stops. Channeling Erich Maria Remarque, one might say that Ehrhart’s “road back” to civil life was treacherous and filled with its own kind of battles.

Passing Time is written in the style of a novel rather than a traditional memoir, which gives it a wonderful sense of pacing and intimacy. It is quite unlike any memoir I have read before. Ehrhart writes plainly and directly, but there is a gravity to his prose – a heavy-heartedness – that seems to capture the sentiment of his entire generation. I was particularly struck by the moments of introspection, where Ehrhart reflects on the idealization of war which brought him to Vietnam, but which no longer passed the test of time. He writes: “The great myth of war holds that combat is the ultimate test of manhood, and that once a man has been to war, he has been initiated into the realm of greater wisdom. He has been to the mountain and stared into the great abyss beyond, and having done so, the ordinary concerns of mortal beings can never again hold real importance or significance, dwarfed as they are by the brilliant clarity of the struggle between life and death.” Yet, for many Americans, the stability of this “great myth” faltered and crashed in Vietnam.

Ehrhart’s narration is shot through with heartache and longing – the longing for a lost time, a lost country, and a lost innocence. “Why am I here?”, he asks. “I used to have a reason – right here in my pocket – but I’ve lost it, it’s gone, it’s out there somewhere in the marketplace, lost among the sea of alien faces, and I can’t find it, and it hurts.” We often think of an epiphany as something bright and illuminating, a eureka! moment, caricaturized by the flip of a light switch. But for Ehrhart and thousands of other Vietnam veterans like him, the price of self-awareness was not illumination, but darkness and confusion. “[…] [M]y whole life didn’t really lie in front of me, but rather lay behind me broken and scattered like the bodies of the Vietnamese I had left broken and scattered among the green rice shoots.” As he confesses his sins to the page, Ehrhart urges “America, America, God cast his shame on thee.” Powerful, moving stuff.

If you are interested in Ehrhart’s literary works, I would also recommend that you watch some of his interviews on Youtube. I believe that he also makes an appearance in Ken Burns’ documentary series, The Vietnam War, which is worth a viewing as well.

[Shelbi Northwick · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book in one day. I highly enjoyed how the author told his stories and jumped around within them. If you are looking for a happy-go-lucky book about the Vietnam War, then you have yet to grasp the situation of that war. Very few men came back from that war unscathed and still in one piece. A lot of them did things that were not great. And this isn’t an excuse for those things, but that war itself was not a good thing. Therefore, it bred poor decisions and horrific events. Get it out of your mind that this is some kind of heart warming journey of a book. War time is never a great time.

I give the author full credit for being honest and admitting to the terrible stuff he did. I felt that there was never a moment where he shrugged off any of it. If I am going to read a book about war, I’d hope they wouldn’t sugar coat it and possible lead the youth into believe it is a great thing and that they need to jump into it blindly.

[Destiny Chall · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good read.

[Jeffrey D · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ehrhart writes a classic

Honest. Raw. Intimate. Courageous. A great read that relates what it was like to be a Vietnam veteran in the 70’s. I felt like I was right there with him.

[Ryan Novalski · Rating 4 out of 5]

an interesting look into a veteran's realization of the evils of the military industrial complex, the bonus being a backdrop of Vietnam and Montgomery and Delaware County PA

[Sabrina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found it rather mundane and not at all insightful. It appears a diary the author wrote at the behest of his therapist to get things off his chest. But it didn't envelope me in his experiences.