Annette Langlois Grunseth graduated from the University of Wisconsin – Madison in Communication Arts: Radio/TV/Film during the turbulent anti-war protest years of the Vietnam War. Following a 40-year career in marketing and public relations in healthcare, she has focused on writing poetry publishing widely in journals and anthologies such as "Dispatches" (MWSA), "Midwest Prairie Review," "Bramble," "The Poetry Box," and "Poets to Come" (Walt Whitman anthology). Grunseth has received awards for her poetry with "Wisconsin Academy Review," "Wisconsin People & Ideas," and the Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets. Her poem “On Behalf of a Grateful Nation” was a finalist in The Mill, a Place for Writers, Poetry Prize. She was a Pushcart Prize nominee for her book, “Becoming Trans-Parent: One Family’s Journey of Gender Transition” (Finishing Line Press.) Her most recent book, "Combat and Campus: Writing Through War," is a hybrid featuring a collection of her journalist-brother’s letters written from Vietnam, historical non-fiction, and poetry.
MWSA: How did you find out about MWSA?
Annette Langlois Grunseth: MWSA member, Ruth Crocker, encouraged me to join MWSA. How we connected is a story in itself. Her husband, Capt. David R. Crocker, was the commanding officer in my brother’s Unit in Dau Tieng, Vietnam. While working on my brother’s letters from Vietnam, planning the book, out of curiosity I "googled" Capt. David Crocker and when I did, Ruth Crocker’s name came up. What synchronicity! She is an author, a book publisher, and ultimately published my book, “Combat and Campus: Writing Through War.” (Elm Grove Press, 2021.) I have participated in nearly every MWSA educational class via Zoom during our sheltered-in months of 2020-2021, meeting many amazing writers.
MWSA: Why did you decide to publish your brother’s letters from Vietnam?
Annette Langlois Grunseth: After returning home from Vietnam in 1969, my brother experienced PTSD, but it was not yet identified as a war-related illness. Then, my brother passed away in 2004 from an Agent Orange cancer after being in medical treatment for 15 difficult years. I published the book to remember and honor him along with thousands of other soldiers who died as a result of the Vietnam war. Along with most Vietnam soldiers, he was not given a welcome home. It is my hope the work of this book will help others heal, feel recognized, and honored. For everyone, it is important history to be documented and remembered. It needs to be part of high school and college history classes.
MWSA: What makes this book unique?
Annette Langlois Grunseth: My brother, Peter R. Langlois, was a recent graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a degree in journalism. In his well-written letters, he chronicles the smells, sights, and sounds during some of the darkest days of the Vietnam war from 1968 - '69. He returned home to a nation still protesting the war in which I, his younger sister, had walked to class behind National Guardsmen marching across the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus. What makes the book unique is our correspondence and my documentary poetry in response to the war in Vietnam and social change happening at home. Between his combat and my campus experiences plus the aftermath of both, we share what was learned and what was lost.
MWSA: What else would you like readers to know about the book?
Annette Langlois Grunseth: My brother was a skilled photographer and took excellent photos with a 35mm camera he purchased at the PX in Vietnam. He would take photos then mail home the canisters of film. When he returned, he compiled an extensive photo album where he captioned the photos with locations and names of his fellow soldiers. Not only are his letters an accurate recording of history, he illustrated his experiences as a good journalist would do. Many of his photos are included in the book. An interesting fact: Our parents kept these 36 letters in a safe deposit box as they knew they were an important record of Vietnam war history. It was the dying wishes of my parents that his letters be published to help others and preserve this history.
MWSA: Where can people get the book?
Annette Langlois Grunseth: “Combat and Campus: Writing Through War” is available on my website:
https://www.annettegrunseth.com/ and also from the publisher, Elm Grove Press, https://www.elmgrovepress.org/bookstore/ as well as on Amazon. Reviews and excerpts from the book are also on my website.
MWSA: Have you received mail or comments from your readers?
Annette Langlois Grunseth: Yes, since the book launched on May 17, 2021, I have received letters from many veterans and others. Through Ruth Crocker, I was able to connect with some of the soldiers who were in my brother’s unit. One veteran wrote saying, “The writings in the book mean more to me than you will ever realize. For over 50 years myself and many others in A Co. 2/22 Inf. have looked for closure about events that took place so long ago and your writing has given some closure to me.” Another reader emailed to say, ”I love the raw emotion and perspective of Peter’s letters. Your poetry woven with his letters is masterful. Such good transitions quotes pulled out as chapter headers, photos, and the emotional tension is perfectly paced. I cried several times. I was transported in time— much more so than the few other memoirs of the war I’ve read. Peter didn’t revise, soften or adjust his story with his later perspectives. I felt like he was writing the letters to me, as if I knew him.”