Letters from Duc Phong District

A series of uncut, original letters home from a young intelligence agent stationed in Viet Nam's most remote province at the Cambodian border, describing in graphic detail the fears, the ambitions, the hopes, the explanations and the quirks of a U.S. army outpost, including descriptions of how "Reality and Headquarters never meet", told during the 1970 Cambodian invasion through the spring of 1971, when U.S. troops are being withdrawn and the exhausted author readies his return to "the World." Followed by reflections on the whole adventure, written in 2015. This is an unvarnished picture of Americans and Vietnamese interacting, of emotional and mental survival during the plague of a long war.

A series of uncut, original letters home from a young intelligence agent stationed in Viet Nam's most remote province at the Cambodian border, describing in graphic detail the fears, the ambitions, the hopes, the explanations and the quirks of a U.S. army outpost, including descriptions of how "Reality and Headquarters never meet", told during the 1970 Cambodian invasion through the spring of 1971, when U.S. troops are being withdrawn and the exhausted author readies his return to "the World." Followed by reflections on the whole adventure, written in 2015. This is an unvarnished picture of Americans and Vietnamese interacting, of emotional and mental survival during the plague of a long war.

Peter Beaman served in the U.S. Army in 1968-71 and in Phuoc Long Province, Viet Nam, during 1970-1, as an intelligence agent operating in a small District in Viet Nam's most unprotected province next to Cambodia. While there he wrote the letters included in "Letters from Duc Phong District", which describe his activities, his beliefs about the war effort, his desire to inform his readers at home, and his physical and emotional experiences in the war zone. He has also published two artist books with collaborators: Deck of Cards, a 52 card novel which can be read in any direction and which is included in many museum collections; and a book of poetry, Blacker Tendencies of Storms.