When we thought we had read all the books about Vietnam, and had heard all the stories there were to be told, suddenly, Michael McCormick’s Across the Pond appears and we find ourselves startled and deeply shaken by its emotional intensity. This little book with its seemingly simple yet deeply compelling narrative grips the reader from the very beginning and does not let go. It is written with the violence and fury of Leon Uris’s Battle Cry, and the tenderness and compassion of a simple poet.
Across the Pond is more than just another book to come out of the Vietnam war. It is a poignant reminder that many of the stories of that war are yet to be told. I believe it will be recognized as one of the important books to come out of that war and McCormick will rank with the other writers of his generation, equaling their intensity, integrity, and impact. Like a stone thrown into a pond that sends out a ripple, reaching places and people not at first thought possible, Across the Pond does just that; with a simple, yet eloquent narrative, it becomes much greater than itself and that ripple will be felt for years to come.
With this work, McCormick takes his place among the other important chroniclers of this period. He reminds us that these stories are still out there, needing to be told, needing to be listened to and remembered. Each and every one of these stories adds up to a greater understanding of the time we have all passed through. It is our common history and will remain so forever.
This beautiful little book should be required reading in every high school, along with the other books of the Vietnam war. Because of it’s brevity, stature, and dignity, I am confident Across the Pond will last.
Against overwhelming odds, Michael McCormick has succeeded. He has honored his country and himself with his contribution, which is simply written with great feeling. Like Erich Maria Remarque’s Paul in All Quiet on the Western Front and Steven Crane’s Henry Fleming in The Red Badge of Courage, his character, Sean McBride (Mac), permits us to feel what it was like to be there, day in and day out, in that place which will forever remain seared in the consciouness of a generation of Americans. So few enlisted men from that war were able to tell their stories. McCormick and very few others give a direct report from the daily existence of the infantry and grunts of that war. He puts you right there and makes you live and feel and sweat and cry, so that decades from now a generation of men and women not even born will be able to understand.
When it seemed all the other voices were still and all the stories had been told, former marine sergeant and Silver Star recipient Michael McCormick, from Jackson, Ohio, suddenly and powerfully reminds us that those voices and stories are still out there. His courageous contribution helps all of us to understand even more the great picture that was our time, the intricate and complex tapestry that was our generation. Mr. McCormick makes us wonder how many others like himself are still out there in that wilderness that so few of our generation’s artists and authors have been able to escape from. Michael McCormick has not only freed himself from that bleak and dark time (that would be enough to celebrate); he has arrived as an important author and writer and he should be listened to.
With an emotional intensity that is sometimes overwhelming, Across the Pond is a short, violent, extremely powerful forty-two-page ride through hell that you will never forget.
Ron Kovic