The collection of soldier memories in Letters from Oldwick: One Man’s Story of Gorka are those of one man, Oldwick Smith, who took up arms during the Gorka War. It’s been more than 4 years since Oldwick Smith was called upon to fight that war. Although he has spent the years since in a peace-filled Nelson town, his nights have been anything but. The effects of posttraumatic stress disorder have brought the war back to him in waves as deep as the South China Sea, couched in dreaded nightmares, panic attacks and flashbacks.