Thursday, October 1, 2026
Lifelong Freeport resident and U.S. Army Veteran William J. Marinaccio, 82, recently published a book which details much of his experiences in the military after being drafted in 1966. Entitled “Vietnam 1968: My Year in Duc Pho,” Marinaccio documents the mental and physical struggles he experienced as a soldier in the Vietnam War.
Marinaccio stated that a key motivation for writing this book, which was published in January 2026 by Bay Creek Publishing, was the deterioration of his mental and emotional health once he began retirement.
“I had terrible nightmares and anxiety from PTSD,” said Marinaccio. “A VA (Veteran Affairs) therapist had me write down so many of these things. As I was writing some of these things down, it turned out that my nightmares would start to go away, because instead of experiencing the real thing over and over again, it was just words on a page now.”
Before being one of over 300,000 men drafted in 1966 during the ramp up of the Vietnam War, Marinaccio had abandoned his academic career at the State University of New York at New Paltz shortly before receiving his draft notice. He would then spend four and a half months at military intelligence school at Fort Holabird in Baltimore, Maryland.
After leaving the U.S. Army with an honorable discharge in 1969, Marinaccio returned home and worked predominantly on fishing boats for the next few decades. Notably, Marinaccio says that the nightmares were not present during his professional life. Being able to repurpose his stories and experiences, in addition to continued mental health services, helped Marinaccio be able to turn his nightmares into constructive testimony for others.
“I also had 300 photographs that I took in Vietnam, and I made drawings of things I didn’t have photographs of,” he explained. “So, I was able to put the book together with the help of the Freeport Historical Society.”
Marinaccio added that getting the book published has been a long time coming, with its version being finished and unpublished almost ten years ago. In June 2025, David Dodd, publisher at Bay Creek Publishing based in St. Louis, Missouri, had Marinaccio revise the book by adding in further details of how the experiences made him feel emotionally and mentally, eventually producing the finalized version.
Marinaccio advises other veterans, current military service members and their families to make mental health a priority for those leaving active duty.
“The therapist that I had… her job was to interview every returning soldier from overseas to make sure that they were mentally sane, and it turns out that as they were interviewed early on, then they could be treated early and it wouldn’t extend to the things that it did for me,” said Marinaccio. “They (other service members) should make sure that they see somebody right after they come from overseas.”
Copies of “Vietnam 1968” are available for purchase on Amazon and Barnes and Noble retailers.
