Book cover for 3003 Days of Mike & Me and the Wars Between Us

By Martha Voutas Donegan with letters by Michael Creamer

3003 Days of Mike & Me / And the Wars Between Us is a double-take on true love and its pitfalls in the world after Vietnam. Told from two unique perspectives by friends who remarkably re-meet after eight years, while attending the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Dedication in Washington DC. 

At 32, life till then had taken Martha from Massachusetts to NYC, where she is trying to understand what happened to the men and women of her generation—while deeply nested in the world of fashion and design, juggling her designer clients (Perry Ellis, Tahari, Donghia, Bill Robinson), as she manages her million-dollar studio. Mike (31), is a Ranger from the jungles of Vietnam, to the jungles of Zaire, Africa, where life as a bush medic and nursing student has spit him out to this last gasp: He’ll honor his Ranger/LRRP buddies on The Wall, and then make a quick retreat home and kill himself.

Instead, Mike and Martha join up for 3003 days, visiting, writing passionate love letters, and disappointment during his 3-year re-up in the US Army. Taking them on a journey of marriage, and the birth of their severely disabled (Agent Orange infected) baby girl. A tender, sometimes tragic look at what war takes from /gives to a person, and the inevitable, ofttimes invisible, hand-off to lovers, families, and whole generations touched by war’s aftermath. War sidetracks many hopes and dreams, defeating all but the most resilient of spirits.

Publication date: May 9, 2023.
359 pp, Paperback, $21.99, illustrated, 6” x 9” Indie Publisher 1495 Books, printed by Ingram Sparks

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Praise for Mike & Me …

“The arc of this riveting narrative covers the full range of emotions—and the fraught fallout of our least ‘popular’ war. The story is told with bravery and candor, and even among its most desperate moments, there is some clarity and light. Bravo!” — Ken Burns

… 3003 Days of Mike & Me is riveting. A rough time in history is illustrated in this colorful book.” — Jan C. Scruggs, Founder, the Vietnam Wall

“ A must-read for junior officers and enlisted leaders as a preemptive training manual for the effects they and their soldiers might face.

—Steve Brignoli, Pres. Chpt 1, 173rd ABN BDE Ass.

“… Mike & Me chronicles the hopelessness and sorrow of the Vet who returns home and finds that s/he has lost their meaning in life. I sincerely invite you to read this (real-life) account of what trauma can do to help you re-find yourself.

—Dan Crowley, Veteran, MSW Life Coach & Personal Growth Consultant

“… A riveting memoir of love and loss.”

—Richard Duckett, Worcester Magazine, USA Today Network

“ Transcendent, original, and illuminating, Mike & Me is an important and moving addition to the body of work surrounding the Vietnam War.”

—N West Moss, Author Flesh & Blood 

In Washington DC on the day of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial dedication, 10/13/82, in a crowd of 150,000, Mike and Martha find each other. They were from the same hometown; only Mike went to war, and Martha went to art school. This hard and true love story of an award-winning designer working in NYC, who meets and marries an Army Medic Ranger LRRP (173rd Airborne)—and the 3003 days of lifesaving, letter-writing, PTSD-riddled, re-upping, romance filled, Agent Orange encroaching, military storytelling, NYC fashion finding, suicide taunting, and medal-winning make this a must read for What happened to the Vietnam Generation?