The Other Side of the World

Set in the tumultuous year of 1968, this factual account reflects the first-hand experiences of a naïve young man who was thrust from a sheltered life provided by middle-class parents to the atrocities of war-torn Vietnam. Sent overseas at the youthful age of twenty and only sixteen days after marrying his sweetheart, the author captures his fear, anxiety, and apprehensions of being in a hostile environment along with the additional burden of being separated from his bride during their first year of marriage. Indeed, the bulk of the information for the memoir was extracted from over 300 hand-written letters mailed to his new wife. Punctuated with appropriate humor, the memoir also relates the unexpected and heart-warming association that developed between himself and his Vietnamese mamason who toiled with daily chores yet managed to raise a family. The memoir was written solely through the eyes of a junior-grade Air Force enlisted serviceman. The account is void of any political statements and doesn't explore nor mention battle strategies or decisions by military commanders. It simply states what happened without critique.