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Fractured by war
By Danielle Trussoni |
January 4, 2009, Sunday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
FIRST Sergeant Charles M. King was killed in action near Baghdad on October 14, 2006, after an improvised explosive device detonated under his armored vehicle. He left behind his partner of eight years, Dana Canedy, a senior editor at The New York Times, and their six-month-old son, Jordan.
He also left behind a 200-page journal containing thoughts, remembrances and pieces of advice meant to guide his son through life in the event that King "did not make it home" from Iraq. Canedy has used the journal as the basis of a memoir, layering her own recollections alongside King's. The result, "A Journal for Jordan," is a hauntingly beautiful account of a family fractured by war.
Canedy began the project only months after King's death, writing a piece about Jordan's journal that appeared in The Times in January 2007. Like the article, the memoir is filled with vivid and heartbreaking details of the man she lost. Canedy finds herself talking about King "in the present tense" because "my mind has not yet recalibrated itself."
Afraid her memories of him will slip away, she lingers on the traits only a lover would notice. The way King laughed, the scar on his knee, the complex interplay between his personal and professional duties - Canedy describes these features with such care that one feels Charles King is alive and breathing. Her talent at evoking character makes the account of King's life and death not simply a story about the injustice of war, but a project in resurrection. Canedy allows King to come alive for her son and, to our benefit, for us.
Her ability to do so is in large part due to her warm and accessible persona on the page. Portraying herself as "loquacious, assertive and impatient" as well as "obstinate and impulsive," the author brings light and air to what might otherwise be a claustrophobic tale. Canedy and King were opposites in many ways. She was career-oriented and extroverted, while he tended to be artistic and shy.
At King's funeral, Canedy learned that he had a "long list of military medals, 56 in all," including "two Bronze Stars, a Purple Heart and 11 Army Achievement Medals." Canedy didn't know King had been so impressively decorated. He had been too modest to tell her.
Despite his many admirable qualities, Canedy refuses to portray King "as a saint." He had flaws, of course - most pointedly, that "he put his military service ahead of his family."
In the journal, King wrote that "enlisting in the Army was one of the best decisions" he had ever made. He had "no regrets." Still, he had long suffered for such dedication.
"The sight of blood gave him flashbacks," Canedy writes. "Chemical sprays he received during the first Gulf War left permanent splotches on his arms. For years he was haunted by images of combat, unable to speak about them even to me."
Some of the most gripping moments occur when Canedy uses her skills as a reporter to interview those who witnessed the attack, reconstructing the events from multiple accounts. She received conflicting versions of King's death, and learned how the military often sanitizes the story.
King wrote to Jordan: "I could not be at your birth because of the war." Canedy understands that one day Jordan will want to know the reasons for his father's absence, why we were in Iraq, what was achieved there and who was responsible for the death of his father. She believes "there will be no easy answers" when that day comes. Perhaps his mother's important memoir will be the place to start.
He also left behind a 200-page journal containing thoughts, remembrances and pieces of advice meant to guide his son through life in the event that King "did not make it home" from Iraq. Canedy has used the journal as the basis of a memoir, layering her own recollections alongside King's. The result, "A Journal for Jordan," is a hauntingly beautiful account of a family fractured by war.
Canedy began the project only months after King's death, writing a piece about Jordan's journal that appeared in The Times in January 2007. Like the article, the memoir is filled with vivid and heartbreaking details of the man she lost. Canedy finds herself talking about King "in the present tense" because "my mind has not yet recalibrated itself."
Afraid her memories of him will slip away, she lingers on the traits only a lover would notice. The way King laughed, the scar on his knee, the complex interplay between his personal and professional duties - Canedy describes these features with such care that one feels Charles King is alive and breathing. Her talent at evoking character makes the account of King's life and death not simply a story about the injustice of war, but a project in resurrection. Canedy allows King to come alive for her son and, to our benefit, for us.
Her ability to do so is in large part due to her warm and accessible persona on the page. Portraying herself as "loquacious, assertive and impatient" as well as "obstinate and impulsive," the author brings light and air to what might otherwise be a claustrophobic tale. Canedy and King were opposites in many ways. She was career-oriented and extroverted, while he tended to be artistic and shy.
At King's funeral, Canedy learned that he had a "long list of military medals, 56 in all," including "two Bronze Stars, a Purple Heart and 11 Army Achievement Medals." Canedy didn't know King had been so impressively decorated. He had been too modest to tell her.
Despite his many admirable qualities, Canedy refuses to portray King "as a saint." He had flaws, of course - most pointedly, that "he put his military service ahead of his family."
In the journal, King wrote that "enlisting in the Army was one of the best decisions" he had ever made. He had "no regrets." Still, he had long suffered for such dedication.
"The sight of blood gave him flashbacks," Canedy writes. "Chemical sprays he received during the first Gulf War left permanent splotches on his arms. For years he was haunted by images of combat, unable to speak about them even to me."
Some of the most gripping moments occur when Canedy uses her skills as a reporter to interview those who witnessed the attack, reconstructing the events from multiple accounts. She received conflicting versions of King's death, and learned how the military often sanitizes the story.
King wrote to Jordan: "I could not be at your birth because of the war." Canedy understands that one day Jordan will want to know the reasons for his father's absence, why we were in Iraq, what was achieved there and who was responsible for the death of his father. She believes "there will be no easy answers" when that day comes. Perhaps his mother's important memoir will be the place to start.
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