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Rating: 
Summary: I almost expected to see Hueys outside my window...
Review: As a 32 year old Canadian I picked up Winnie Smith's book out of interest as I am a Women's Studies student. I could hardly bring myself to put it down, and thought about it all the time I wasn't reading. If the war was a silent subject in the States it has been buried here in Canada. And yet there were many brave Canadian men and women who fought, nursed and died in Vietnam. Ms. Smith brings the war to vivid life and helps those of us to young to clearly remember Vietnam understand its impact on an entire generation of young people on either side of the 49th parallel. She does those who died in Vietnam and those who returned from Vietnam proud in a book that is insightful, honest and brutal in its recollections. I salute her courage in writing this book and thank her for the new perspective she has given me.
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Summary: Searing and important.
Review: As a nurse of almost 25 years who graduated from high school in 1975 (just after Nixon's negotiated "peace with honor"), I have a sense that I could have done just what nurses like Winnie Smith and Lynda Devanter did. Gone to war to take care of people who would have needed me. Only time did save me...This is a disturbing book and ultimately convincing in one of its' pleas: Let's NOT send young people to combat anymore. I'd send a copy to our war-bent president if I thought it would make a difference. As an experienced ICU and ED nurse, I was horrified at the conditions these nurses worked (and lived) in. At the end of the book, though you feel less worried about Winnie Smith, you never get the sense that life will be "all better" for her. This pain, this scar is deep and everlasting. A raw and real book. I'd recommend it to anyone as I would DeVanter's book (Home Before Morning).
Rating:
Summary: Searing and important.
Review: As a nurse of almost 25 years who graduated from high school in 1975 (just after Nixon's negotiated "peace with honor"), I have a sense that I could have done just what nurses like Winnie Smith and Lynda Devanter did. Gone to war to take care of people who would have needed me. Only time did save me... This is a disturbing book and ultimately convincing in one of its' pleas: Let's NOT send young people to combat anymore. I'd send a copy to our war-bent president if I thought it would make a difference. As an experienced ICU and ED nurse, I was horrified at the conditions these nurses worked (and lived) in. At the end of the book, though you feel less worried about Winnie Smith, you never get the sense that life will be "all better" for her. This pain, this scar is deep and everlasting. A raw and real book. I'd recommend it to anyone as I would DeVanter's book (Home Before Morning).
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Summary: "American Daughter Gone to War" evokes Many Emotions
Review: For those of us too young to remember the Vietnam War, it can seem like an unreal, almost romantic time. American Daughter dispelled all those myths and finally gave me an insight into why it was such a horrible war and the alienation the soldiers and nurses felt after getting back to the U.S. I became Winnie Smith when I read that book. I laughed when she laughed and felt pain when she lost someone she loved. It was funny, sad, gripping and most of all, real. What this nurse went through was experienced by tens of thousands of men and women, no older than me and in most cases, much younger. This book gave me insight I never got from a history class or Vietnam War documentary. I recommend it for anyone under 35. And let us all work together to prevent another war like this.
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Summary: The Realities of the War in Viet Nam Brought Vividly to Life
Review: I thought this memoir was excellent. I was in Da Nang, Viet Nam from "69 to "70. I saw and experienced what she did; today, I feel the same way that she does. This great country of ours and the people in it have let all of us "Viet Nam Veterans" down because, I believe, of the devisiness of the war. All that we ask is that we be treated with respect as other Vets are. A wonderful book of how she coped. This is real.
Rating:
Summary: The Realities of the War in Viet Nam Brought Vividly to Life
Review: I thought this memoir was excellent. I was in Da Nang, Viet Nam from "69 to "70. I saw and experienced what she did; today, I feel the same way that she does. This great country of ours and the people in it have let all of us "Viet Nam Veterans" down because, I believe, of the devisiness of the war. All that we ask is that we be treated with respect as other Vets are. A wonderful book of how she coped. This is real.
Rating: 
Summary: We will remember nurse Smith always.
Review: I've never been quite so moved by a written account of the Vietnam experience as I was when reading Winnie Smith's "American Daughter". I was one of the hundreds of young soldiers for whom she cared, carrying with me the hopeful thoughts for her these past three decades. So many years ago, in reply to my asking her about her plans following the war, Winnie said she hoped to "return to the Carolina's, marry, settle-down and raise 12 kids!" The young girl I knew during my month's hospital stay is gone, and in her place a new and different Winnie Smith emerged from the hellishness of that war; a stronger nurse Smith indeed, and as her story portends, a woman who has finally found some peace with herself. While a riveting, graphic and abundantly candid account of her time at war, at least this one old soldier who was fortunate to have crossed her path ever so briefly, was left with a saddened and empty feeling after reading her story. Her story confirms it was too much to hope that that war would leave untarnished the gentle and innocent nurse Smith we knew then. "American Daughter" should be requisite reading for all war-makers. D. Lewis Smith, Jr. (no relation), 173rd Airborne, Bien Hoa, Vietnam, 1965/66.
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Summary: A nurse's account of the Vietnam War
Review: Long ago, my boss gave me a copy of a thin (by my standards) book, and said it had been written by a friend of his; would I like to read it? I said yes; I love to read, and Bob Thomas was someone I admired. If he said a book was worthwhile, then I knew it was. "American Daughter Gone To War" has been with me ever since. Winnie Smith's writing is straightforward. Her account of her childhood and adolescence is as clear as her account of her tour in Vietnam, even when the horrors start mounting up; although Smith's narrative sometimes skimps on description, the reader should keep in mind that she's writing her memoirs, not a novel. She shows a gallows humor throughout, particularly when she tells of dealing with arrogant doctors, officers, and (later) men who lie about having served in the war; she gives glimpses of the day-to-day life at the bases (tarantulas in the latrine are just one ordinary occurrence). When I finished the book, I felt as if I'd spent the time actually speaking to Smith, sharing in her memories, and was just as emotionally wrung as if I had. If all history is relative, a patchwork of accounts from witnesses in high and low places (as well as on the giving and taking ends of orders), then the American involvement in the Vietnam War is a kaleidoscope. Of all the literary fragments worth piecing together, "American Daughter Gone To War," although small, is one to keep.
Rating:
Summary: A nurse's account of the Vietnam War
Review: Long ago, my boss gave me a copy of a thin (by my standards) book, and said it had been written by a friend of his; would I like to read it? I said yes; I love to read, and Bob Thomas was someone I admired. If he said a book was worthwhile, then I knew it was. "American Daughter Gone To War" has been with me ever since. Winnie Smith's writing is straightforward. Her account of her childhood and adolescence is as clear as her account of her tour in Vietnam, even when the horrors start mounting up; although Smith's narrative sometimes skimps on description, the reader should keep in mind that she's writing her memoirs, not a novel. She shows a gallows humor throughout, particularly when she tells of dealing with arrogant doctors, officers, and (later) men who lie about having served in the war; she gives glimpses of the day-to-day life at the bases (tarantulas in the latrine are just one ordinary occurrence). When I finished the book, I felt as if I'd spent the time actually speaking to Smith, sharing in her memories, and was just as emotionally wrung as if I had. If all history is relative, a patchwork of accounts from witnesses in high and low places (as well as on the giving and taking ends of orders), then the American involvement in the Vietnam War is a kaleidoscope. Of all the literary fragments worth piecing together, "American Daughter Gone To War," although small, is one to keep.
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Summary: On a par with "Winged Victory (Echoes of War)" ?
Review: Winnie Smith has produced a first rate war experience book - but I dare say this is well known. It is also very well written, with a pacy style evocative of the often frantic wartime surroundings. Whilst I am no expert, I would personally put it in the same class as Victor Yeates' autobiographical novel "Winged Victory (Echoes of War)" written almost 60 years earlier by a First World War British pilot. An ordinary pilot as Ms. Smith was an ordinary nurse - but both telling their stories in an extra-ordinary way. Check amazon.com for comments on "Winged Victory", which T.E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) described as "admirable, admirable, admirable". Those who do know the subject will understand the parallels and similarities. Indeed, knowledge of flying or nursing is not necessary to appreciate the significance of both works. The authors themselves published several years after the events, and showed signs of suffering. Yeates' suffering was fatal, finally succumbing to "Flying Sickness D" (tuberculosis), dreaded from the conditions found on the Western Front. His book was an attempt to provide for this wife and child, and he did not live to see or enjoy its recognition. Winnie Smith describes what she found in Vietnam with the same clarity and personal "take" that makes Yeates' work a collectors item - as indeed "Daughter Gone to War" will be if it is not already. She suffered developing after-effects culminating in steps towards suicide fifteen years afterwards, followed by support group therapy. It reads as though writing the book was part of getting it out of her system, although those years in Vietnam changed her life permanently. "Daughter Gone to War" has a great message, which should be appreciated alongside the few with similar credentials. It could have the ability to influence history if the lessons are learned by the right people in the right positions before making the mistakes all over again. This book should be made compulsory educational reading. It would be interesting to know how Ms. Smith has progressed in the years since the book was published.
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