Writing Workshop Helps Vets Get Memories On Paper

HARRISON, N.Y. — A writing workshop is helping veterans revisit their memories of military service and commit them to paper.

Veterans of World War II through Iraq and Afghanistan gather on Tuesdays — including Veterans Day — for free classes sponsored by Fordham University.

They say it’s easier to talk about their service when they’re with other veterans. Some say the writing has helped them express vivid and sometimes violent memories they had been keeping to themselves.

One Vietnam vet wept as he wrote about the horror and chaos of the war’s end.

Another says writing about fallen colleagues is a way of bringing them back.

The instructor cautions that the classes aren’t therapy sessions, but the writing can be cathartic.

Similar workshops have arisen elsewhere in the country.