THE HEART THAT FED

A writer and illustrator explores his veteran father’s life and the bond the Vietnam War created between them.

From an early age, stories from the war formed a significant part of the relationship between Sciacchitano and his father, David. Hungry for context to understand those stories, the author immersed himself in Vietnam books and war documentaries throughout his youth. Eventually, all that material, along with his father’s letters, photographs, and written remembrances, became Sciacchitano’s inspiration for this graphic memoir and biography. Weaving images and stories from past and near present, the author creates a meticulously crafted narrative—illustrated with evocatively nostalgic black-and-white or sepia-colored pencil images—about a war that psychologically devastated his father and also helped define their relationship. In 1965, David joined the Air Force as a mechanic, hoping to settle into a “comfortable enlistment before the draft board came knocking.” Rather than remain stateside, however, he volunteered for a post in Vietnam where he eventually trained as a part-time soldier. His tour of duty included involvement in the deadly Tet Offensive and later—as a State Department employee—the U.S. evacuation of Saigon. The brutality of that war and its aftermath left David with a case of PTSD that his son brilliantly evokes by juxtaposing searing battle images with those of postwar activities, such as visiting the Vietnam War Memorial or going to a fireworks show. What makes this book an especially satisfying read is Sciacchitano’s compassion for his father’s guilt for taking part in an unjust war (“We made big mistakes. A lot of people died. It was all pointless. All politicians. Now it’s like it never happened”) and support of David’s struggle to come to terms with being as much a broken “son of war” as his former enemies.

A powerful and quietly poignant memoir and tribute.