Dick Hattan wrote this compelling memoir to explore the conflicting emotions and thoughts that plagued him as a young man faced with the prospect of going to war in Vietnam. In Invisible Scars of War, he candidly examines the moral code that formed him, the church that guided him and the neighborhood that watched him grow.
Forty years after returning from Vietnam, his soul was troubled for participating in an immoral war and he needed to find inner peace. This story tells his journey from moral injury to healing and wholeness.
Hattan hopes to shed some light on the issue of moral injury so that other veterans and their families can understand what may be eating at their souls and help them find the peace they are seeking. In addition, he believes the voices of veterans need to be heard by those who decide whether a nation goes to war.
Dick Hattan is a native of Chicago. He served in the U.S. Army in Vietnam during 1971 with the 101st Airborne Division. He earned a Master of Management degree from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management in 1974 and began a 44 year career as a health care executive. After earning a Master of Divinity degree, he was ordained a priest in the Independent Catholic Church in 2015.