When East L.A. native and author Julie Sands’ father returned from the Vietnam War in 1968, he was not the same man who had left.
Sands explained that while many veterans come home and “get a job, resume their married life and have children,” it’s not always that simple.
Her father, Ruben Amaro, came back to East L.A. with post-traumatic stress disorder, struggled with drug and alcohol abuse, “and he could never resume a normal life,” said Sands…