Author Jessica Pearce Rotondi Searches the Secret War in Laos for Answers to a Family Mystery

The Secret War in Laos was sponsored by Americans, fought by Laotians, Thais, Vietnamese, American advisors and pilots while almost entirely eclipsed by the war in Vietnam.  Jessica Pearce Rotondi’s book What We Inherit – is a poignant memoir of a family’s loss and search for answers over generations to find Jack Pearce whose AC130 gunship was shot down over Laos in 1972. Decades later Jack's niece Jessica picked up the search where her mother and grandfather had left off.  Her quest led her to Vientiane, to revisit the Secret War in Laos in which the CIA aided Laotian fighters against the North Vietnamese seeking to secure their supply lines along the Ho Chi Min Trail.  Jessica’s memoir, published last month is ten years in the making, and started with finding a closet of classified documents her mother had assembled.  Jessica talks about the Secret War, the legacy of loss, cost of war on a family, the nature of grief, and the healing powers of storytelling.

What We Inherit,  Jessica Pearce Rotondi Published by Olivia Smith at unnamedpress.com – Untold stories, uncharted territory, undiscovered writers.  Check them out. Jessica is on twitter and Instagram @jessicarotondi and there’s further information on her website jessicapearcerotondi.com  Opening music is from "Lao Phene" a piece of Lao classical music. Performed here by Musiciens du Palais Royal, Luang Prabang.

Please consider donating to the  HALO TRUSTwhose work is focused in Savannaket Province, Laos, where 70 per cent of the population lives below the poverty line. Most families are almost entirely dependent on growing rice, but unexploded bombs make cultivating rice potentially life threatening. Since 2012, they have destroyed over 50,000 explosives and taught communities how to recognize and report dangerous items, so families no longer need to choose between taking risks or going hungry.

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