Raves & Reviews
“Tom Viti was a heroic ‘Doc’ who struggled to save Marine lives—on and off the battlefields of Vietnam. Lucia Viti is the loyal daughter who sought to understand the events, during those two unforgettable years, that shaped her father’s life. Father and daughter come together in Dr. Tom’s War—A Daughter’s Journey. Well told, in large measure through the gritty recollections of the men of the Second Battalion/Fifth Marines who lived them, the book details the daily sacrifices they made for each other, Corps, and Country. Sacrifices by our Vietnam Veterans that I fear may never be fully appreciated by their fellow Americans.”
— Gen. James T. Conway, USMC (Ret) 34th Commandant, U.S. Marine Corps
"The definition of love is what this book represents. The journey that we are taken on by the daughter of a battalion surgeon leaves behind the contentious political discussions of the legitimacy and efficacy of the war and instead focuses on the humanity and heroics of her father, LT Tom Viti USN (MC). Dr. Viti is brought to life by the first hand accounts of the Marines and sailors that served with him. Dr. Tom’s’ remarkable acts of heroism, compassion, and kindness are a testament to his legacy and his Catholic faith. A remarkable account of a genuine American Hero."
— R.W. Koeneke, Colonel, U.S. Marine Corps (Ret)
— Gen. James T. Conway, USMC (Ret) 34th Commandant, U.S. Marine Corps
"The definition of love is what this book represents. The journey that we are taken on by the daughter of a battalion surgeon leaves behind the contentious political discussions of the legitimacy and efficacy of the war and instead focuses on the humanity and heroics of her father, LT Tom Viti USN (MC). Dr. Viti is brought to life by the first hand accounts of the Marines and sailors that served with him. Dr. Tom’s’ remarkable acts of heroism, compassion, and kindness are a testament to his legacy and his Catholic faith. A remarkable account of a genuine American Hero."
— R.W. Koeneke, Colonel, U.S. Marine Corps (Ret)
“Dr. Tom’s War – A Daughter’s Journey is the story of a woman’s journey into her father’s past as she learns of war and those who are called to fight it. Ms. Viti learns the meaning of the core values of honor, courage, and commitment shared by Marines and those, like her father, who wore Marine green if only for a short time. Dr. Tom’s War – A Daughter’s Journey displays the cold reality of deceit by those who ‘want to-be’. Take this incredible journey with her. You will not be disappointed.”
— Ron Christmas, Lieutenant General, USMC (Ret) Former, Commanding Officer, “Hotel” Company, 2/5
“While stories of our fighting men are legion, the tales of our caregivers – doctors, corpsmen and chaplains are rare. Lucia Viti addresses this with a remarkable journey back in time to capture the Viet Nam service of her father, Doctor Tom Viti, who served as battalion surgeon with the 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines during one of the bloodiest campaigns of the Viet Nam War. Ms. Viti’s effort, detailed and emotional, is a great personal tribute to her beloved father. Dr. Tom’s War – A Daughter’s Journey fills a gap in the literature of the Viet Nam War.”
— Otto Lehrack, Lt. Col. USMC, (Ret.) Author: No Shining Armor: The Marines at War in Vietnam
“Dr. Tom’s War – A Daughter’s Journey is a marvelous piece of detective work; a fascinating story of a daughter’s search and discovery for the Viet Nam father she truly never knew or understood. Dr. Tom Viti was a true hero. Although Dr. Tom Viti rarely shared Viet Nam’s trauma with loved ones, had he chosen to, his daughter would have been too young to understand its meaning. Years later, Lucia Viti has skillfully and successfully placed the many pieces of the Viet Nam puzzle together.”
— Jan K. Herman, Historian, Navy Medical Department, Washington DC
“Dr. Tom’s War – A Daughter’s Journey delivers every imaginable experience surrounding The Vietnam War. Lucia Viti takes the reader on a journey so personal, you yearn to meet Dr. Tom as both a father and a physician. Sometimes heart-breaking, often funny, and always fascinating, Dr. Tom’s War – A Daughter’s Journey is a must read for those who wish to experience The Vietnam War as a first-hand perspective from those who served on the front-line.”
— James T. Denton, Actor/Desperate Housewives/Threat Matrix Musician/The Band From TV
“The catalog of Nam Lit is ever crowded with early booming writers who missed it, real vets who didn’t and wished they did, and canonical scribes looking to make sense of the insensible. Every theme and narrative approach is covered, it seems. And we care, and we read them because after all, it was a shitty war and we shit on its soldiers.
"But on occasion a gem appears; something fresh and unnamable that necessarily reopens the discourse and the wounds and the war. Lucia Viti’s vivisection of the Vietnam War is, like her subject father/physician’s tour, focused, driven, and altruistic. It’s a unique perspective of a daughter caught in the echo-booming period when so many want to forget the Nam. And so many desperately need to remember.
"What drives this tale is what is not said. Behind the relentless research, gushing quotes, and years of digging gopher holes in her mind, Viti can be seen as the little girl trying to make sense of not only of an absent father but of an abject ethic, a country her family came to for solace and was itself, loss in misguided leadership and ideology.
"The reader need only glance at the details and images to realize that Viti has sought to separate the map from the territory but in the end finds that she, like most of the affected, just missed her dad and wants only to tell them that, “hu rah…luv ya, dad. I’m okay, after all.”
— Scott Tinley, Professional Ironman Athlete, Author
— Ron Christmas, Lieutenant General, USMC (Ret) Former, Commanding Officer, “Hotel” Company, 2/5
“While stories of our fighting men are legion, the tales of our caregivers – doctors, corpsmen and chaplains are rare. Lucia Viti addresses this with a remarkable journey back in time to capture the Viet Nam service of her father, Doctor Tom Viti, who served as battalion surgeon with the 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines during one of the bloodiest campaigns of the Viet Nam War. Ms. Viti’s effort, detailed and emotional, is a great personal tribute to her beloved father. Dr. Tom’s War – A Daughter’s Journey fills a gap in the literature of the Viet Nam War.”
— Otto Lehrack, Lt. Col. USMC, (Ret.) Author: No Shining Armor: The Marines at War in Vietnam
“Dr. Tom’s War – A Daughter’s Journey is a marvelous piece of detective work; a fascinating story of a daughter’s search and discovery for the Viet Nam father she truly never knew or understood. Dr. Tom Viti was a true hero. Although Dr. Tom Viti rarely shared Viet Nam’s trauma with loved ones, had he chosen to, his daughter would have been too young to understand its meaning. Years later, Lucia Viti has skillfully and successfully placed the many pieces of the Viet Nam puzzle together.”
— Jan K. Herman, Historian, Navy Medical Department, Washington DC
“Dr. Tom’s War – A Daughter’s Journey delivers every imaginable experience surrounding The Vietnam War. Lucia Viti takes the reader on a journey so personal, you yearn to meet Dr. Tom as both a father and a physician. Sometimes heart-breaking, often funny, and always fascinating, Dr. Tom’s War – A Daughter’s Journey is a must read for those who wish to experience The Vietnam War as a first-hand perspective from those who served on the front-line.”
— James T. Denton, Actor/Desperate Housewives/Threat Matrix Musician/The Band From TV
“The catalog of Nam Lit is ever crowded with early booming writers who missed it, real vets who didn’t and wished they did, and canonical scribes looking to make sense of the insensible. Every theme and narrative approach is covered, it seems. And we care, and we read them because after all, it was a shitty war and we shit on its soldiers.
"But on occasion a gem appears; something fresh and unnamable that necessarily reopens the discourse and the wounds and the war. Lucia Viti’s vivisection of the Vietnam War is, like her subject father/physician’s tour, focused, driven, and altruistic. It’s a unique perspective of a daughter caught in the echo-booming period when so many want to forget the Nam. And so many desperately need to remember.
"What drives this tale is what is not said. Behind the relentless research, gushing quotes, and years of digging gopher holes in her mind, Viti can be seen as the little girl trying to make sense of not only of an absent father but of an abject ethic, a country her family came to for solace and was itself, loss in misguided leadership and ideology.
"The reader need only glance at the details and images to realize that Viti has sought to separate the map from the territory but in the end finds that she, like most of the affected, just missed her dad and wants only to tell them that, “hu rah…luv ya, dad. I’m okay, after all.”
— Scott Tinley, Professional Ironman Athlete, Author