What is the theme in Goodbye, Darkness: A Memoir of the Pacific War by William Manchester?

Healing is a major themw in this book. The basic theme of the memoir is that of the psychological healing of an individual amidst the larger sociological healing process of a nation. The author presents the autobiographical memoir with a complex chronology that juxtaposes experiences of 1945 with the reality of 1979. Manchester had been an inexperienced but enthusiastic soldier prior to combat on Okinawa. There he received critical psychological wounds as well as severe physical wounds, including substantive brain trauma. Though he survived, the author remained permanently marked, and perhaps marred, by his experiences.