David Rozzell served as a combat medic in 1969 and 1970 during the Vietnam War, which serves as the explosive backdrop for his extraordinary memoir, Troubled Sleep. Troubled Sleep is, by turns, a brilliant journalistic tour de force of Rozzell’s experiences in that surreal theatre; but, perhaps most poignantly a searingly candid account of the trauma he internalized, was forced to heroically repress during the war, then tote home with him – his “blistered soul,” as he terms it – and courageously and unimaginably keep those demons of war at bay for the rest of his life. This is a harrowing book, but more than anything an absolutely necessary one. Its stories are rendered beautifully – with finesse and abundant, often deadpan humor – by a narrator (Rozzell) whom readers will trust, admire, and even fall in love with. Rozzell is a born writer, a storyteller of profound mettle, magnanimous spirit, with an inimitable voice at once comforting, wry, warm, inspiring, believable, and quintessentially human and humane. Troubled Sleep is another utterly invaluable book to put on your shelf about the Vietnam War. David Rozzell is a wonder.

–Joseph Bathanti, North Carolina Poet Laureate (2012-14) &

2016 Charles George VA Medical Center Writer-in-Residence

David Thomas Rozzell

February 23, 1946—October 22, 2022

David had a long and troubled journey but never stopped loving and longing for all that was good. He was a man without prejudice, and he loved without judgment.