Source: AuthorHouse
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif., July 1,
2004 (PRIMEZONE) -- In R.M.
Leich's new book, Not My Father's
War (now available through
AuthorHouse), Nashville native
William (Will) B. Wilson IV
strives to fulfill his patriotic
duty, but ends up searching for
forgiveness as he comes to the
realization that Vietnam is like
no other war ever before.
"CBS News" National
Security Correspondent David C.
Martin says, "For the men and
women who had the Vietnam War come
steamrolling through their lives
and for the 58,000 who died in
that awful war, this deeply felt
book delivers as good an epitaph
as there will ever be."
Set in the 1960s, the novel is
told through the eyes of Will, a
Nashville, Tenn., aristocrat with
a long ancestry rooted in the
Southern traditions of early
America. His silver-spoon
upbringing in the shadow of his
father, a legendary World War II
veteran, instills a sense of duty
in Will. He follows family
tradition by attending Yale
University and entering the ROTC
program, a path most other
students avoid. Despite his
willingness to follow tradition,
Will does not succumb to his
contemporaries' views of the black
population. He is also enamored
with a young woman, Katherine
"Kat" Sloane. The couple
quickly fall in love, but as the
conflict in Asia heats up, they
realize their time together is
short.
Will is commissioned as an
infantry second lieutenant and
sent to basic training where he is
put in charge of a unit. His
second in command, Booker Ellis,
is a black solider with combat
experience. Descended from slaves,
Booker is the polar opposite of
Will, but they soon become
friends. Shipped to Vietnam, the
two try to bring their small group
through the war unscathed. Kat,
who opposes the war, continues to
correspond, but she is unable to
reconcile her feelings. All the
while, Will begins to see what Kat
is talking about in her letters.
Then a catastrophe strikes that
shapes Will for the rest of his
life.
Not My Father's War follows
Will as he returns to the civilian
world and attempts to resume a
"normal" life. Leich
details the traumatic guilt that
plagues Will and other men like
him in the wake of the destruction
they encountered, and the
forgiveness they long for to make
them whole again.
Leich
graduated from Culver Military
Academy and Yale
University. He was a second
lieutenant and served as a
reconnaissance/survey officer
during Vietnam. After his service,
he earned an MBA from Indiana
University and enjoyed a
successful business career. Not My
Father's War is his first book.
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