W. D. Ehrhart
William "Bill" Daniel Ehrhart (born September 30, 1948) is an American poet, writer, scholar and Vietnam veteran. Ehrhart has been called "the dean of Vietnam war poetry." Donald Anderson, editor of "War, Literature & the Arts", said Ehrhart's "Vietnam–Perkasie: A Combat Marine Memoir", is "the best single, unadorned, gut-felt telling of one American's route into and out of America's longest war." Ehrhart has been an active member of Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW). He was a 1993 Pew Fellow in the Arts. Life. Immediately upon graduating from high school in June 1966 , Ehrhart joined the United States Marine Corps, serving three years, including 13 months in Vietnam, from early February 1967 to late February 1968, being there during the Tet Offensive. Ehrhart, an infantry sergeant, was awarded the Purple Heart for injuries he received while fighting in Hue City. He subsequently attained his bachelor's degree at Swarthmore College, a master's degree at the University of Illinois at Chicago and (at the age of 52) a doctorate via the University of South Wales at Swansea University. Over the years, he has held a wide variety of jobs, from merchant seaman to  newspaper reporter to high school teacher. He currently teaches at The Haverford School. Ehrhart began writing when he was 15 years old, and has been writing more or less continuously ever since. His first published work, a poem about his alma mater Swarthmore College, appeared seven years later in the "Chronicle of Higher Education", and the following year eight of his poems were included in "Winning Hearts and Minds: War Poems by Vietnam Veterans". Exclusively a poet until he was almost 30, he has since written and published a wide variety of nonfiction prose. The influence of Ehrhart's encounter  with the Vietnam War can readily be seen in his writing; however, although he is known primarily as a "Vietnam War poet", his subject matter, in fact, ranges widely. He has written essays and articles on such topics as radio disc jockeys, tugboats on the Delaware River, the Internal Revenue Service, and a variety of modern and contemporary poets including William Wantling and Daniel Hoffman. His wife and daughter are major sources of inspiration for his poetry. His poetry also reflects "his respect for nature, his love of friends, his active engagement with the world around him, and his consternation  at the human condition". Ehrhart was featured prominently in the 1983 documentary "", where he spoke at length about his experiences in Vietnam during the war. Bibliography. Anthologies. Poems and prose have also been reprinted in over 100 anthologies, textbooks, cultural studies, critical studies and other books. Recent examples include: