Readers Comments

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=80 BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF"> <div> General Issue Blues     </div> <div> <A HREF="sonnygratzer_com1.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="General Issue Blues "><U><B>Home</B></U></A><A HREF="sonnygratzer_com1.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="General Issue Blues "><U><B> </B></U></A><B>  </B><A HREF="general_issue_blues.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="About The Author "><U><B>About The Author</B></U></A><B>   </B><B>Readers Comments</B><B>  </B><A HREF="awards___decorations_.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Awards Decorations "><U><B> Awards & Decorations</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id18.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Airborne Ranger"><U><B>Airborne Ranger</B></U></A><B>   </B><A HREF="id30.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Jungle Warfare School"><U><B>School of The Americas</B></U></A><B>   </B><A HREF="general_issue_blues4.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Order Direct"><U><B>Order Direct</B></U></A><B>   </B><A HREF="id6.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Order Amazon"><U><B>Amazon.Com</B></U></A><B> </B><A HREF="general_issue_blues24.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Song Writing"><U><B>Song Writing</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="general_issue_blues23.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Family"><U><B>Sonny's Family</B></U></A><B>   </B><A HREF="id37.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Links"><U><B>Links</B></U></A><B>   </B><A HREF="id40.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Books In The Works"><U><B>Books in the Works</B></U></A><B>  </B><A HREF="scrapbook_photos.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Scrapbook"><U><B>Scrapbook</B></U></A><B>  </B><A HREF="id55.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Sounds Of Viet Nam"><U><B>Sounds </B></U></A><B>   </B><B> </B><A HREF="id63.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Leaflets"><U><B>Propaganda leaflets</B></U></A></div> <bR> <bR> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=210 BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF"> <div> <IMG SRC="11caf0e0.jpg" border=0 width="175" height="270" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> <B> <head> <script language="JavaScript">  </script>  </B></div> </td> <td valign="top" height=400 BGCOLOR="#111111" TEXT="#F7F7FF"> <div> <B>Readers Comments</B></div> <bR> <div> Colonel Joe Clemons, Infantry, US Army (Ret)</div> <bR> <div> "George Gratzer takes you back to the war in Vietnam - his poems evoke vivid memories of rice paddy ambushes, helicopter assaults, mines and booby traps. 'G.I. Blues' wrenches your heart, grips your gut, brings tears to the eyes of the toughest old soldier. Well done, Sonny." </div> <bR> <div> Humbled and Proud Son of "Sonny" </div> <div> Reviewer: from Valencia, California March 3, 2000</div> <bR> <div> "For years upon years, my bedroom in the basement on King Street (which he custom built with his hands, sweat, and broken body), was directly underneath my dad's 'Vietnam writing room' (which I secretly called his office or den)  This private place was, and will always be, home to his greatest weaponry; Mr. George Michael Gratzer's mind, memories and an ancient electric IBM.  I wondered, while trying to sleep, when the pounding on the keys would finally end. Now I pray that sound won't go away. Gratefully, it'll be impossible to finish reading this wonderfully written work of art. I believed I knew my dad; after carrying his first published book around with me for a few years, I know I do! You, as well, will also be one of the privileged few to better understand the reality of Vietnam 'lived' by one of this country's most honorable of men.  His poetry captures you and puts you into the shoes of a man movies are made of, books are written about, and characters are dreamed of.  As a little boy I would cautiously ask my dad to tell me  what Vietnam was like what the truth was. Sometimes he reluctantly spelled it out for me, which is what he's done here. During my Marine Corps career, a day didn't pass that I didn't think of my dad. Would I ever be under the command of a man who could lead the way he can? Although I knew some incredible studs, they couldn't hold a candle to 'Bandit 6.'  He IS the best of the best of THE best of men. Nobody's perfect, but this book is. I know - I grew up with it every day, and now I carry this little piece of history with me everywhere.  Everyone has something, if not a lot, to gain from any of his books (he's working on more and has been for the last few decades).  We should be so lucky when they publish. Can't wait.  He's written some darned impressive country music lyric's also! Where's Shania when you need her? As the gallant old man would put it ... with silent breath whispering and eye's sparkling eerily, 'Keep 'your eyes peeled...they could be anywhere 'But you can find it right here at amazon.com. Congratulations, DAD! I salute you."</div> <bR> <div> Bill Kittredge, noted Montana author, and former Chairman of Creative Writing, University of Montana. </div> <bR> <div> "Sonny Gratzer has lived a full, passionate life, and the generous, heartsprung poems in 'General Issue Blues' reflect his wonder at the going." </div> <bR> <div> Patrick Todd, Montana Poet and Humanitarian</div> <bR> <div> "Once a tough kid from Butte, Sonny Gratzer came home from Viet Nam with a chest full medals and severe war wounds.  Readers need  to keep a keen eye and ear open for Gratzer and other veterans who write. Years later their poems and stories express wonder, grief and healing from some of the deepest sources." </div> <bR> <div> Nathaniel Blumberg, dean and professor, editor, publisher, and author of "Charlie of 666: A Memoir"</div> <bR> <div> "Sonny Gratzer's poems capture the scent of combat, the dangers and miseries of war, and the many kinds of wounds suffered even after the battles have been fought." </div> <bR> <div> Vivid and haunting review: A reader from Montana</div> <bR> <div> "Sonny Gratzer's undeniably powerful poems are reminders that every person is shaped and haunted by something.  From his vivid images of the Vietnam War and its after effects on his life, an almost unbearable loneliness emerges.  Written from an inner territory of emotional and physical turbulence, his collection of love and war poems depicts a body and soul torn, stitched, torn and mended again while forever visible scars remain." </div> <bR> <div> A hard-hitting description of war's impact on a soldier: LTC Dick Hargrove, Hastings, MI, former XO, 2nd Bn, 2nd Inf, 1st Infantry Division.</div> <bR> <div> “Captain Sonny Gratzer, as a commander, was the stereotype of the leader whose men would follow him anywhere.  They did too.  He was fearless and a leader who sensed needs. He was highly decorated. Severely wounded, 'General Issue Blues' recounts his long struggle recuperating and dealing with the myriad feelings and emotions about the war.  His poem, 'I Remember You' in the book, describes how today he remains the Patriot and leader he was over thirty years ago.  To quote from this poem, 'To men who gave and gave/Never questioning when I raved/Except/To wonder if I would stand by you?/Yes!/I stood with you and/Gave at the boonie office too./See,/I cared then--and I still do.'" </div> <bR> <div> I know him better than I did before... Dana Gratzer Millhouse from Helena, Montana</div> <bR> <div> "As a 3- or 4-year-old, I was given the gift of sole witness to my dad's first steps...stumbling...without crutches when the phone rang and he momentarily forgot himself. For just a moment, Vietnam was a bad dream--reality was sitting at the breakfast table with his daughter, a cup of coffee and a newspaper, the phone ringing as it had thousands of times in the past needing to be answered.  I can't remember his conversation, or even if he'd gotten to the phone on time, but I remember the impact his laughter, tears, and intermittent sobs had on me.  As a child, having to awaken him for dinner was frightening.  I wasn't afraid of HIM, I was afraid of the North Vietnamese that he might think I was.  I learned quickly to whisper, softly at first, increasing my decibel level until he heard me, and always standing a good 3 to 5 feet across the room.  Sometimes I risked touching him - that was about as exciting as being in the dark basement and having the door at the end of the hall suddenly creak open by itself.  I didn't know him then...he wasn't telling.  He had a family to raise and to love and to shield.  'G.I. Blues' opened my heart that last little bit, fought off the last of the life-long pain of ignorance, and allowed the tears to flow for my dad for his courage, pain, anger, love, empathy, and his honest and often successful attempts to understand and accept the way things are.  All of these characteristics are found in 'G.I. Blues.'" </div> <bR> <div> From a proud daughter . . . Rachel Gratzer Spirlin </div> <bR> <div> There are not enough "paragraphs" to express my thoughts, feelings, dedications and memories about my Dad.  "Sonny" Gratzer, a.k.a. "Papa-San", is my best friend, my hero and as I tell everyone, "the main man in my life."  I do not know what it was like to be his old buddy from High School, his Sigma Chi brother or the young 19-year old Private standing before him at attention -- knees locked, fists tight and chest out. Those people were the ones he never let see his pain.  I am his youngest daughter; the last of his creation.  I have witnessed the pain of his heart and body.  I have witnessed him waking in the middle of the night, yelling in fear of his life, to nothing.  I can only imagine what it was like to live day-in and day-out in a jungle infested with "Charlie" or to see a friend whose insides were no longer.  But I know what it has been to be his daughter.  My Dad has taught me to live my life to the fullest; to never give up and to "never be a quitter." The decorations and medals that lay upon his chest are nothing compared to the "Father Award" that he has received from his children ... from me!  My whole life, I have strived to make him proud of me.  I have never given up and continue to ask myself, "What would my Dad say?  What would he do?" I remember the tears in his eyes as I hopped aboard the bus to Basic Training.  I did not realize then that he knew all the trials, tribulations and obstacles in life that I would have to overcome, or that everything he had taught me, to that point, would come into play.  I thank him, from the depths of my soul, for being my father and teacher. And when that eternal light takes his presence away from me, I hope he knows that I will forever continue to seek guidance from him.  "Boola, Boola" Papa-San.  I, too, stand tall and salute you!</div> <bR> <div> I was stunned to know he could read my mind., March 22, 2000 Reviewer: Rich Snell from Fresno, CA</div> <bR> <div> "Having read Sonny Gratzer's General Issue Blues, I was stunned to know he could read my mind. When I read Gratzer's words, I felt as if I had written them. I certainly thought them. I am not a writer. I am, however, a Combat Veteran of Viet Nam and I can feel what Gratzer has written about Viet Nam and he is on target. He should write more about his experiences because he strikes a chord. Fire for effect, Sonny!"</div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B> <embed src="HTMLobj-994/Mond_1.mid" autostart="true" hidden="true">  </B></div> <div> All Rights Reserved © 2000 by Sonny Gratzer</div> </td> </body>