Behind the Visor- my life in wartorn Vietnam by Sister Sheila O'Toole

Behind the Visor has been written to record my own experience and that of our Sisters during the terrible events that marked the conflict in South Vietnam during the invasion from the north, and led up to the fall of Saigon and the establishment of a Communist regime.

The horrors and violence of those days and the sufferings of so many innocent civilians are very deeply embedded in my memory, and I still wonder at times how my RNDM companions and I survived our forced march through the jungle under the watchful eyes of North Vietnamese troops.

As you read these pages recounting that experience, and the later desperate efforts to help ourselves and others to escape from the chaos in Saigon as the enemy closed in, it is my hope and strong desire that you will realise that the story is not so much an account about what we did ourselves, but it is more truly about the incredible love that God showed us as He journeyed step by step with us during those dark days.

My simple message, engraved in my own heart, is that we can all count on this love and protection as we continue on our life journey towards eternity.