NZ’s Vietnam story still needs telling
Foxton-born author Carole Brungar’s third novel The Nam Shadow, like her first book, looks at the lives of New Zealanders before, during and after the Vietnam War.
In 2016 Brungar travelled to Vietnam to experience the people, food, smells and weather. She said the trip was humbling.
“To stand on the ground where thousands of young men lost their lives is a very emotional experience. There were tears shed on more than one occasion.
“We consider it an absolute tragedy that we lost 37 during the conflict, but when you consider America lost over 58,000 and Vietnam several million, that’s a lot of fathers, brothers and sons, ” she says. “It’s hard to come to terms with such horrific losses and while we remember the brave men and women of World War I and II, I hope we never forget what we were part of in Vietnam.”
We asked Brungar a few questions:
What inspired you to write The Nam Shadow? Two things. The first being that I felt that after writing The Nam Legacy,
I hadn’t finished telling the story, PTSD was only half the problem. And the second thing that inspired me was the characters in my head that I wanted to explore and develop. I needed to tell their story.
In your first book in this series The Nam Legacy you wrote about PTSD, however in this book you write about Agent Orange what research did you do on this? I read as many first hand accounts as possible. From soldiers to entertainers, to nurses. I also have heard several first-hand accounts.
When you were researching this did you uncover any information about Agent Orange you weren’t previously aware of? And if so what was it?
I knew that the components of the herbicide Agent Orange had been made in New Zealand at a chemical plant in Paritutu, New Plymouth, for some years. Agent Orange was also made and sold to America who then sent it to Vietnam. What I didn’t realise, was that farmers here used it in large quantities on their farms, spraying it by hand and air. I was also surprised to learn that many staff of the chemical plant and families that lived near the plant had health problems similar, if not the same, as many Vietnam veterans.
Your two main characters in this book are male and female, which character did you enjoy writing about the most and why? I enjoyed creating and developing both Terry and Frankie, but I guess if I had to pick one, it would be Frankie. She’s a strong character and has to be to cope with her job as a combat photographer.
Do you feel New Zealand’s younger generation are educated about the Vietnam war and the atrocities that occurred? No. I’ve talked to a lot of people younger than 50, most have heard of the Vietnam War, I think mostly through programmes like China Beach or Tour of Duty, or perhaps they know of someone who went, but they know very little in relation to New Zealand’s involvement. Korea and Vietnam aren’t talked about, it’s sad, especially when you consider how much WWI and WWII are. I think we should be making sure the stories of our Korea and Vietnam veterans are recorded and talked about.
Why did you choose to set your novel in Foxton and Vietnam? It could have been set in any town in New Zealand, but I have a soft spot for Foxton. I was born there, and I couldn’t write a story around the Vietnam War without setting some of it in Vietnam!
How did you feel when you travelled to Vietnam to research your series? Any poignant moments and if so what? Some of the places I visited left me in tears, like a cemetery with thousands of graves and all the headstones said the same thing: Here lies a hero. None of the headstones had names. I tried to visit the places the New Zealanders had been and places of historical military importance. Some places gave me goosebumps, others overwhelmed me. I came home feeling very humbled by the people of Vietnam. They are absolutely lovely people.