A Kid from Akron, Ohio’s Vietnam Story: A Journey from Innocence to Mental Illness

Written posthumously, this book tells the story of USMC veteran Jeff Cochran. He joined the Marine Corps in 1968 and fought in some of the biggest and bloodiest battles in Vietnam. He suffered from severe PTSD. For years he wanted to tell his story, but digging into those memories would always cause too much pain. Twenty years ago his wife, Zia offered to help him write his story. After many attempts, it was never done. In 2018 Jeff died from complications to his exposure to Agent Orange. Zia decided to complete the story he longed to tell. Using the writings from a journal he kept, and historical documents, plus her own understanding of what he wanted told, she completed the book in his honor. It was his desire to have his family, friends, and people in general understand how the war and PTSD effected his life. How a 19 year old kid from Akron, Ohio left for boot camp and never returned. He returned in physical form, but was never the same mentally, emotionally or spiritually. This is a story that dives into the aftermath of war as a human experience, not from a military perspective.