St. Louis native and clinical psychologist David Klein has released his first book, “A Veteran’s Toughest Fight: Finding Peace After Vietnam,” just in time for Veteran’s Day, Nov. 11.

Klein, 55, has been working with veterans for nearly 27 years at the St. Louis VA Medical Center-Jefferson Barracks, where he started as an intern.

“I wanted to come home to St. Louis after my doctoral training in Chicago, and I had an interest in working with veterans due to my past interest in military history,” Klein said. “I started my internship in the mid-90s, and that’s where I found my calling, if you will. I discovered my passion for working with veterans, combat veterans and PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) in particular, and I’ve been at the VA ever since.”

Over the last 20-plus years, Klein has heard many incredible stories that have stuck with him. He began writing stories down simply so he could remember them.

“From the beginning of my career, I had heard so many times, ‘You should write a book,’ and for all those years, I was never sure exactly how to write it,” Klein said. “I felt there was a book in me, and I had always enjoyed writing, but I just didn’t know exactly how I wanted to do it. I was scared to write something unoriginal that wouldn’t do honor to the veterans I was taking care of.”

When the pandemic hit, Klein, who lives in the Creve Coeur area, began writing down more stories in his newfound extra time. As the number of stories began expanding, he realized he had his book right in front of him.

“I don’t remember exactly when it hit me, but I realized the book would be this collection of short stories, and it wouldn’t only be about the veterans but about our journey together,” Klein said. “I found myself interwoven in the stories, so some of them are about their experiences in Vietnam, but others take place in the context of treatment, in the therapy and group therapy I was conducting.”

Klein needed to be especially conscientious since the stories he collected were told in confidence, because of a clinical relationship. The veterans had to give written consent for their stories to be shared and were given a draft to ensure they were correct. For veterans who had passed away, their families were able to do the fact-checking.

“Most of the veterans were quite excited to have their stories included, and I think that’s for a variety of reasons,” Klein said. “Around 2.7 million men and women served in Vietnam, and certainly there’s a lot of books, but still the vast majority of people who have had those experiences, their stories will never be told.”

For some veterans, the book served as a way to communicate their experiences in the war to their own families.

“Some of them expressed to me that they felt they could not have told their own story,” Klein said. “For some of these veterans, this was their first opportunity to share anything that had happened.”

The book includes around 30 short stories that are all independent of one another. However, they are intentionally arranged. The first half of the book includes stories of entering Vietnam, and then transitions into stories of experiences during the war. The second half of the book follows stories of the return home and the struggles of trauma and PTSD that follow.

“They’re loosely arranged around the concept of the hero’s journey, the idea that a person goes from the known into the unknown, experiences some kind of ordeal and is transformed in the process, and then comes back a changed person and incorporates those lessons in their lives,” Klein said. “It’s designed to bring the reader full circle by introducing the reader into the world of combat and then following those veterans home.”

Klein pointed to an example of one story in the book, “Flower of the Heart,” which examines one Special Forces combat veteran’s contemplation of life, death and fate through multiple lenses.  The story begins as this aging warrior struggles with his own presently failing health and loss of function.  Then the story shifts the lifelong heartbreak he endured after he tragically loses one of his cherished men to an accidental shooting by another American soldier.

Finally, the reader witnesses an intimate encounter with the enemy and firefight where this veteran wrestles with the decision to kill, or not, and takes the reader through a meditation of this complex choice.

Klein hopes his book will bring people into the world of veterans and allow readers to gain a greater appreciation for them while also understanding that their experience in the war does not end when they return home.

“There are so few people who go into the service compared to the population these days. It’s increasingly rare that someone has a family member or friend in the service, so there’s so few that represent so many,” Klein said. “I wanted to pull back the curtain for what is typically a very private exchange and allow civilian America to get a glimpse of not only what our veterans go through during the war, but the healing process, as well.”

For Klein, writing the book was a cathartic experience that brought further clarity and healing after so many years of working with veterans.

“It’s been helpful in terms of organizing and connecting the dots of my own journey of my career.” Klein said. “As I’ve looked back on my life, it seems very clear to me I’m exactly with the people I should be working with and doing the work I was destined to do.”

A Veteran’s Toughest Fight can be found on Amazon.

To hear Klein talk further about his book, you can watch his feature on the video podcast “Believe in People” hosted by former NBC News correspondent Kevin Tibbles and Amy Goldberg. The podcast focuses on individuals creating positive change and hope in the world, and the recording can be found on YouTube.  

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