David Grogan may be a retired veteran, but he still works towards a vital mission: the preservation of history.
Grogan is a retired naval officer and international lawyer, serving for about 27 years, regularly negotiating treaties, and advising admirals.
Throughout the years, Grogan travelled around the world throughout various wars and national crises, including working at the Pentagon in response to 9/11. Wherever he went, he met fascinating people whose stories were worth preserving.
Grogan’s book is “Learning to Live From Those Willing to Die,” published in September, collects the stories of 26 veterans: five of World War II, 13 of the Vietnam War, two from Desert Storm, three from the Iraq War, and three from the Cold War. These stories are organized to communicate 14 life lessons readers can learn from the lives of service members during the time of their service.
“I started writing about veterans back in July of 2017,” Grogan said. He took his skills from writing crime fiction and put them towards connecting with brothers and sisters in arms by featuring their stories on his website and eventually creating this book.
All of the book’s proceeds go towards America’s VetDogs, a veteran-focused charity based in Smithtown that helps train and provide free guide and service dogs to veterans and first responders. So far, the book has raised about $2,000 for the foundation.
Tom Garvey, 78, a Merrick resident and combat veteran of the Vietnam War, is featured in Chapter 4 of the book. He was 19 when he was drafted into the military.
“This marine looks at my orders,” Garvey remembered, “he says, ‘Oh, you’re going to Dong Ha. You don’t want to go there.’ I’m saying to myself… What is this place?”
Garvey served in the Vietnam War from 1967 - 68 as a part of the Army’s field artillery unit at the Demilitarized Zone between South and North Vietnam. He was constantly under fire; he never saw a reporter or a chaplain due to the extreme danger. His unit’s motto was “steel on target,” emphasizing the importance of accuracy when firing the howitzers.
“It was a very scary place to be at that particular time,” Garvey said. “One of the things that I got out of Vietnam was we have no control over when we’re going to leave this earth.”
Garvey survived harrowing near-death experiences, escaping flames and a hail of bullets. One incident occurred when he was inside a vehicle with a few fellow soldiers.
“The round that hit our track was about a foot below the turret,” he said. “If it would have been a foot higher, you and I would not be having this conversation right now.”
“It’s that type of situation and stress that you just managed to deal with,” he continued. “You really didn’t have much control if you learn to live or die. That was a lesson I learned… you do your job, you obey your orders, you take care of your buddies, and hope that you survive.”
Today, Garvey visits a PTSD therapy group with fellow veterans and regularly supports widows and soldiers seeking benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs, including fellow Vietnam veterans suffering from Agent Orange related cancers. Speaking with Grogan gave Garvey an opportunity to share his story in depth, as well as what he took from the experience.
Grogan, a resident of Illinois, travels across the country drives for days at a time, carrying a copy of his book, collecting the signatures of each veteran he interviewed, many of whom are over a hundred years old.
“I’m 66 years old right now, and as I grow older, I might not be able to keep my website up forever and the stories would be lost,” he said. “I decided that I needed to try to do something to preserve the stories… it was to try to tell some of these stories that people otherwise might never hear about.”
Learning to Live From Those Willing to Die is available for purchase on Amazon. For more information, visit DavidEGrogan.com.
