Military Fiction

He knew that any moment he might die from an enemy’s bullet but he never knew just how close he came to dying in her arms.

Ben Harris, a reluctant American soldier, survives the horrible Omaha Beach landing and endures over a year of battles across Europe during WWII while at the same time fighting an inner battle against guilt for his participation. It takes the profound words from an old gentleman who shares his wine with Ben in a Belgian cafe to finally make him understand that his actions are just. So he continues to do what he was trained to do, kill the enemy. But one such event cast Ben into the life of a beautiful German widow and drives him to the cliff where death awaits below.

This is the story of how a young man deals with being drafted into the United States Army in the turbulent sixties, faces the challenges of Boot Camp and Advanced Infantry Training, survives the experiences of combat and manages the adjustments of coming home to serve at a training base and then returning to civilian life. He describes the day-to-day life from the time he receives his draft notice until the day he has the honor of placing a wreath on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

His story travels from the classroom to the jungle and rice paddies where he faces life-changing actions, and he experiences moments that will be imbedded in his memory forever. He describes his transition from books to bullets, and tells the stories within the story which run from light moments to tragedy.

A novel about the early years in the war in Vietnam. The book is the story of three brothers condensed into the eyes of one person. The people are fictional but the incidents are rooted in fact.

“Morale is low in Anzio. Send up the band!” Bob Morton stood against the railing of the ship staring at the Mediterranean water, and thought how well the sea and the desert paced themselves: how easily they overcame the clamors of wars that echoed down the wind and joined the artifacts of Roman legions. Morton recalled the changing emotional pattern that mellowed the thoughtless courage of youth and replaced it with inarticulate knowledge, unspoken understanding, and kindness, from the comradeship shared in sacrifice. He recalled the words echoed in Fort Knox, “Music is a touch with the intangible. It gives men encouragement and lightens the burden somewhat.” A tall, raw-boned infantryman walked up next to Morton and looked out over the expanse of water, “Well buddy, I reckon it’s over for us.”