“Suicide monologue”. A testimony by Everett Cox

One steamy night, the summer of 1969, at Marble Mt. Air Base near Da Nang in Viet Nam, a rocket exploded near me and I died. There was screaming, explosions, dust, smoke, chaos; I had no torn flesh, no blood in the dust, but I died.

My flesh did not die but I had shattered. In death, I became a ghost. In life, a shadow. The ghost dominated the shadow. That domination has meant self-destructive behavior, an obsession with suicide and suicide attempts. Self destruction. Who, what is self? My body? My heart? My spirit? I had to destroy all that might be self. I had to destroy  self completely, my complete self, even though there was no complete me.

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Close Encounters in War: Testimonies and Autobiographical Essays

We present in this section a collection of testimonies and short essays from veterans, therapists, witnesses, practitioners and others who have experienced close encounters in war in person or through their work and connections.

Everett Cox: What He Did Not Say Then (April 11, 2023)

Everett Cox: Suicide monologue (May 14, 2021)

David Klein: Soul Operation (February 24, 2021)

Kate Dahlstedt: Wave (December 27, 2020)

Thayer Greene: My “Close Encounters” in World War 2 Combat (December 27, 2020)

Pat Guariglia: From a U.S. Marine to His Vietnamese Counterparts, with an Introduction by Edward Tick (December 27, 2020)