Mark Wilkerson - Tomas Youngs War

Praise for Tomas Youngs War

I consider myself extremely fortunate to have known Tomas Young. Im grateful that this powerful book of Mark Wilkersons will allow readers to experience the strength, humor, and wisdom that this strong-willed and courageous man maintained till the very end. I miss him intensely.

Eddie Vedder

Tomas Young joined the army to wage war and emerged a champion of peace. The grievous injury he suffered in Iraq consigned him to a wheelchair, but from there he rose to incredible heights, raising the hue and cry against an illegal war and those who authored it. Mark Wilkersons biography of Tomas Young is difficult but essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the ravages of war and the torment suffered by veterans and their loved ones. This book is a tribute to Tomas, written proof that profound humanity can survive the terrible crucible of war.

Amy Goodman, host and executive producer, Democracy Now!

Tomas Youngs is a story that every American should know. A soldier who paid a terrible price for the crimes of his superiors, Young courageously spoke out against the illegal war that eventually took his life, and attempted to hold those who initiated it accountable. Mark Wilkerson has done a great service in rendering Youngs life, and the lives of those who cared for him, in their full humanity.

Glenn Greenwald, The Intercept

Powerful, moving, inspiring. When I finished reading this book I felt it was my duty to state again that I will do whatever it takes to ensure there are no more young Americans who will have to go through what Tomas had to endure. Never again. Thank you Tomas and thank you Mark for telling his story.

Michael Moore, Academy Awardwinning filmmaker

There is nothing more courageous than a soldier who stands up against an unjust war. Tomas Young was a true American hero.

Tom Morello

Tomas Youngs war in Iraq lasted only five days, long enough to oblige Americans who sent him there to read this intimate, harrowing account of the life he lived after.

Ann Jones, author of They Were Soldiers: How the Wounded Return from Americas Wars: The Untold Story

An extremely poignant statement on human vulnerability and the devastation of war.

Kirkus Reviews

Tomas Young, an army soldier paralyzed in Iraq, surmounted his injuries to become one of the most powerful and eloquent voices denouncing the war. He condemned with a righteous fury those who lied to lead us into war, including George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, and called for them to be prosecuted and tried for war crimes. He grieved for all who were injured or killed in the conflict, American and Iraqi. He spoke on their behalf. And as his health deteriorated to the point where he was unable to leave his bed he penned in his last letter one of the most scathing indictments of the Iraq war and the terrible betrayal he and his fellow veterans endured. He served as the conscience of the nation. And although his life was cut short, his is the final word on a war that should have never been fought.

Christopher Hedges, author and Pulitzer Prizewinning journalist

Tomas Youngs War is a heartwarming and heartbreaking story of a courageous soldier and his family. Few books reveal the graphic details of how families deal with the catastrophic war injuries of their loved onesMark Wilkersons Tomas Youngs War does just that in a sympathetic and at times humorous way. I first met Tomas in 2005 when he and his wife arrived in hot Camp Casey, Texas, to challenge President Bushs war on Iraq, the war that had almost killed him and had left him gravely injured. Over the next eight years, as his body deteriorated, his mind remained clear about the Bush administrations lies that took the nation to war and he became an important voice for peace, not war!

Colonel Ann Wright, US Army Reserve (Ret.) and former US diplomat who resigned in 2003 in opposition to the Iraq war

Brilliantly rendered.... Amid the unpleasant realities of urinary tract infections, hollow bedsores, leaking urine bags, failed erections, a collapsing marriage, and blinding loneliness, Wilkerson finds a story of love, hope, and fierce loyalty.... Before another commander in chief swaggers before the news cameras and declares Bring it on, I want them to read this book.

Phil Donahue, from the foreword

As the dogs of war were howling in early 2003 and the media was simply regurgitating their hysteria, Robert Greenwald and I organized a group of celebrities, politicians, and military experts who could get attention and launched Artists United to Win Without War. We were excoriated, of course, but at least created some debate before the inevitable disaster took place. In later years, I argued that Dick Cheney, George Bush, Donald Rumsfeld, and their attending lapdogs should be required to walk naked down the main street of every American city, town, and hamlet that lost a child, or part of one, to that horrifying misadventure and suffer the ignominy they so deeply deserved at the hands of the people they had betrayed. After reading Tomas Youngs War , Mark Wilkersons immensely powerful, pain-streaked book, I would only amend my prescription for these war criminals by adding the requirement that they be forced to read the book, aloud, while walking those streets.

Mike Farrell, actor, activist, and author of
Just Call Me Mike: A Journey to Actor and Activist

TOMAS YOUNGS WAR

By Mark Wilkerson

Haymarket Books

Chicago, Illinois

For Tomas and his family

Contents

Foreword

Tomas Youngs long flight from a military hospital in Landstuhl, Germany, to Walter Reed near Washington, D.C., left his paralyzed body with the beginnings of pressure sores that exposed raw bone at spots where no oxygen reached the skin. A bald spot on the back of his head marked the place where gravity pressed it against the airplane cot on which his drugged, inert body was borne back to the States.

When Tomas finally came to, his first view was his mothers face looming over him. Mommy, he cried, confirming a story I once heard an Army commander tell: when the soldier is hit, the immediate plea is for mother, not soonright now. Mommy, two syllables. Tomas was suddenly five years old. Mommy and Tomas wept together for half an hour.