This Is a True War Story

A personal account by a war historian and adoptee who discovers his biological father was a famous Marine combat photographer in Vietnam.

Robert K. Brigham has had a substantial career as a historian of the Vietnam War, contributing to nine books, a documentary, public history projects, and more. While many historians have felt compelled to write about subjects close to them personally, Brigham did not believe he was doing that. However, at age 58, Brigham, who had long known he was adopted, discovered that he had improbably and unknowingly been studying and discussing his real father for decades. That man, Bruce Atwell, was a Marine Corps photographer who captured some of the war's most indelible and widely reproduced pictures. Brigham had used those images repeatedly in classes and public lectures, unaware of the truth.

Both Brigham and Atwell were products of the American foster care and adoption system, and both were professionally defined by Vietnam. In a story filled with echoes and shadows, Brigham reveals his own history as an adoptee and provides a fresh perspective on the fragility of American families. He explores the power of social norms and taboos to shape lives and the forces that disrupt families, such as war. The result is an accessible and moving book that serves both as a powerful personal story and as an illuminating social critique.