[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-detail-129734-en":3,"doc-seo-129734-105":31,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":83},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",{"doc_id":7,"user_id":8,"nickname":9,"user_avatar":10,"doc_module":4,"category_id":11,"category_name":12,"doc_title":13,"doc_description":14,"doc_content":15,"file_id":16,"file_url":17,"file_type":18,"file_size":19,"view_count":20,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":21,"is_downloadable":21,"audit_status":21,"page_count":22,"language":23,"language_code":24,"site_id":25,"html_lang":24,"table_of_contents":26,"faqs":27,"seo_title":28,"seo_description":14,"update_tm":29,"read_time":30},129734,549768702563,"Sage","https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/avatar/8000c4aa63b76e948b?x-image-process=image/resize,m_fixed,w_180,h_180&k=1786536092046926083",2,"Literature","Undesirable - The Vietnam War and a Father’s Battle for Justice","Undesirable chronicles the Vietnam War through the lived ordeal of a father, Bill Johnson, as he fights to locate and save his son Douglas after the young Marine is taken in captivity. With uncertainty about prison, charges, and health, the family endures months of unanswered letters and relentless appeals to officials. Through reported words and key courtroom context, the narrative frames persistence, moral urgency, and the struggle for truth amid wartime bureaucracy.","Other Works by Laura Kalpakian  \nFiction  \nThe Great Pretenders Three Strange Angels The Music Room  \nA Christmas Cordial and Other Stories  \nAmerican Cookery The Memoir Club Educating Waverley Steps and Exes  \nThe Delinquent Virgin and Other Stories Caveat  \nCosette: A Sequel to Les Misérables Graced Land  \nDark Continent and Other Stories Fair Augusto and Other Stories These Latter Days  \nCrescendo  \nBeggars and Choosers Nonfiction  \nMemory into Memoir: A Handbook for Writers  \nThe Unruly Past: Memoirs  \n[OceanofPDF.com](OceanofPDF.com)  \nUNDESIRABLE The Vietnam War and a Father ’Battle for Justice  \nLAURA KALPAKIAN  \nUNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO PRESS | AL BUQUERQUE  \n[OceanofPDF.com](OceanofPDF.com)  \n© 2026 by Laura Kalpakian All rights reserved. Published 2026 Printed in the United States of America  \nISBN 978-0-8263-6979-6 (paper)  \nISBN 978-0-8263-6980-2 (ePub)  \nLibrary of Congress Control Number: 2025054607  \nFounded in 1889, the University of New Mexico sits on the traditional homelands of the Pueblo of Sandia. The original peoples of New Mexico—Pueblo, Navajo, and Apache—since time immemorial have deep connections to the land and have made significant contributions to the broader community statewide. We honor the land itself and those who remain stewards of this land throughout the generations and also acknowledge our committed relationship to Indigenous peoples. We gratefully recognize our history.  \nCover illustration: courtesy of TIME magazine Designed by Felicia Cedillos  \nComposed in Adobe Caslon Pro  \n[OceanofPDF.com](OceanofPDF.com)  \nThis book is for Paul Kleinwachter.  \nCaptain Kleinwachter, if you will save my son from the fires of hell I will be eternally grateful. Perhaps someday the time will come somewhere, sometime, somehow, either thru me or mine, I will be able to repay you in some way.  \nBill Johnson  \nJuly 19, 1970  \n[OceanofPDF.com](OceanofPDF.com)  \nIt is a wise father that knows his own child. Well, old man, I will tell you news of your son. Give me your blessing; truth will come to light.  \nWILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, The Merchant of Venice, ACT II, SCENE 2  \n[OceanofPDF.com](OceanofPDF.com)  \nContents  \n\n|  |\n| --- |\n| 1. The Sandal\u003Cbr>2. The Safe\u003Cbr>3. Righting Wrongs PART II |\n| 4. Before\u003Cbr>5.“Scared Shitless”\u003Cbr>6.“Dad Will Do Something, Dad Will Do Something”\u003Cbr>7.“Light Still Shining upon My Lost Soul”\u003Cbr>8.“I Keep Reaching for a Hand to Guide Me”\u003Cbr>9.“I Will Have Completely Emerged into a Totally New Person”\u003Cbr>10.“My Boy Must Be Saved”\u003Cbr>11.“I Pray, Mr. President, That You Will Intercede”\u003Cbr>12.“If the Opium Didn’t Kill Me, the VC Would”\u003Cbr>PART III |\n\nPART I  \n13.“Please in the Name of God, Do Something Today”  \n14.“An Outstanding and Very Beautiful Individual”  \n15.“The Problem of Course Is What Should Be Done with Private Johnson”  \n16. The Undesirable is Undeserved  \nPART IV  \n17.“The General Was Not Aware”  \n18.“Shame and Trepidation”  \n19. The Wait  \n20. The Epidemic  \n21.“ANew Man”  \n22. The Armenian Connection  \n23. The Fifteen-Point Silver Bullet  \n24. Victory—and Surrender  \n25. After  \n26.“A Scar in the Canyons of My Memory”  \nCoda: Peggy and Bill Timeline Acknowledgments About the Author  \n[OceanofPDF.com](OceanofPDF.com)  \nPART I  \n[OceanofPDF.com](OceanofPDF.com)  \n1 . The Sandal  \nLate August 1970  \nMcChord Air Force Base, Washington, sprawls in the shadow of Mount Rainer, a distant, brooding volcano, snow-covered even in late summer. Bill Johnson, having passed through security protocols, stands on the tarmac, awaiting the plane that will bring his twenty-year-old son Douglas home. Doug should have rotated out of Vietnam on June 9, 1970, after serving there for a full year. Now it is almost September. These past three months have been an unending nightmare for Bill and his wife, Peggy. They have spent their nights in a sleepless cauldron of fear and their days writing and typing increasingly desperate letters, relentlessly importuning members of Congress, the White House, the ","cbCaiqysw9wBcR8b","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaiqysw9wBcR8b","pdf",5490942,4,1,309,"English","en",105,"# Contents\n## PART I\n## PART II\n## PART III\n## PART IV\n# Coda","[{\"question\":\"How does the defense lawyer’s information shape the parents’ understanding?\",\"answer\":\"Captain Paul Kleinwachter becomes the only reliable source, informing Douglas’s parents in the lead-up to the pending second court-martial.\"}]","Undesirable - The Vietnam War and a Father’s Battle for Justice | PDF",1786107395,476,{"code":4,"msg":32,"data":33},"ok",{"site_id":25,"language":24,"slug":34,"title":13,"keywords":35,"description":14,"schema_data":36,"social_meta":78,"head_meta":80,"extra_data":82,"updated_unix":29},"undesirable-the-vietnam-war-and-a-fathers-battle-for-justice","",{"@graph":37,"@context":77},[38,53,68],{"@type":39,"itemListElement":40},"BreadcrumbList",[41,45,48,51],{"item":42,"name":43,"@type":44,"position":21},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":46,"name":47,"@type":44,"position":11},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",{"item":49,"name":12,"@type":44,"position":50},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/literature/",3,{"item":52,"name":13,"@type":44,"position":20},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/undesirable-the-vietnam-war-and-a-fathers-battle-for-justice/129734/",{"url":52,"name":13,"@type":54,"author":55,"headline":13,"publisher":57,"fileFormat":60,"inLanguage":24,"description":14,"dateModified":61,"datePublished":62,"encodingFormat":60,"isAccessibleForFree":63,"interactionStatistic":64},"DigitalDocument",{"name":9,"@type":56},"Person",{"url":42,"name":58,"@type":59},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-08-27","2026-08-07",true,{"@type":65,"interactionType":66,"userInteractionCount":20},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":67},"ViewAction",{"@type":69,"mainEntity":70},"FAQPage",[71],{"name":72,"@type":73,"acceptedAnswer":74},"How does the defense lawyer’s information shape the parents’ understanding?","Question",{"text":75,"@type":76},"Captain Paul Kleinwachter becomes the only reliable source, informing Douglas’s parents in the lead-up to the pending second court-martial.","Answer","https://schema.org",{"og:url":52,"og:type":79,"og:title":13,"og:site_name":58,"og:description":14},"article",{"robots":81,"canonical":52},"index,follow",{"doc_id":7,"site_id":25},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":84},[85,89,92,96,101,106,111,116,121,124,128],{"id":21,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":86,"show_sort_weight":87,"slug":88},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":11,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":12,"show_sort_weight":90,"slug":91},80,"literature",{"id":20,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":93,"show_sort_weight":94,"slug":95},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":97,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":98,"show_sort_weight":99,"slug":100},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":102,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":103,"show_sort_weight":104,"slug":105},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":107,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":108,"show_sort_weight":109,"slug":110},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":112,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":113,"show_sort_weight":114,"slug":115},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":117,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":118,"show_sort_weight":119,"slug":120},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":119,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":122,"show_sort_weight":119,"slug":123},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":125,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":126,"show_sort_weight":125,"slug":127},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":129,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":47,"category_name":130,"show_sort_weight":97,"slug":131},19,"General","general"]