Patrick Hogan

About the Author

I was stationed in South Vietnam from September 1966 through June 1969. While there, he earned the rank of staff sergeant E-6 and was awarded the Army Commendation Medal by the Secretary of the US Army, Stanley R. Resor.

Shortly after being discharged in August 1975, I was appointed to the Teaneck Police Department as a law enforcement officer.

During my police career, I attended Fairleigh Dickinson University, where I earned an associate in arts degree with honors. I have also completed training programs at many law enforcement educational facilities, such as the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, the New Jersey State Police Academy, and the New England Institute of Law Enforcement and Management (Babson College). In addition to my educational accomplishments, I am a state of New Jersey certified police training and firearms instructor.

Initially, writing a book about the Vietnam War, my life, and my search for God was the furthest thing from my mind. Shortly after returning from Vietnam, my father urged me to file a disability claim with the Department of Veterans Affairs regarding the medical problems I was experiencing. But I wouldn’t revisit my disability claims until after watching a speech by President

Barack Obama on the fiftieth anniversary of the Vietnam War in 2012.

At the time, I felt an urgency to commit myself to investigating the causal link between my exposures to Agent Orange and the myriad health problems plaguing not just my life but the lives of many other Vietnam veterans.

Starting with the death of my friend and fellow veteran Larry, the concept for Silent Spring—Deadly Autumn of the Vietnam War was born, and out of sheer exasperation and sorrow, a reluctant writer emerged, trying to help other Vietnam veterans fighting with the DVA.

After finishing Silent Spring—Deadly Autumn of the Vietnam War, I started work on Coincidence, You Say?, but was sidetracked by submissions to the DVA and my illnesses. Once the DVA had adjudicated my case in 2023 and my medical issues stabilized, I finished the work.