Every single person in America was touched by the events of World War II. Sixteen million Americans served their country in every corner of the globe. This is the story of a group of men who went off to war. They are all from one town, Stamford, CT, but their stories are universal. Author Tony Pavia has interviewed veterans from Stamford, listening to their personal stories as well as stories from those loved ones whom the veterans left behind. One of the most comprehensive oral histories of its kind, this book chronicles every major theater, battle and branch of service in the words of those who lived it.

Every single person in America was touched by the events of World War II. Sixteen million Americans served their country in every corner of the globe. This is the story of a group of men who went off to war. They are all from one town, Stamford, CT, but their stories are universal. Author Tony Pavia has interviewed veterans from Stamford, listening to their personal stories as well as stories from those loved ones whom the veterans left behind. One of the most comprehensive oral histories of its kind, this book chronicles every major theater, battle and branch of service in the words of those who lived it.

Hundreds of Americans from the town of Stamford, Connecticut, fought in the Vietnam War. Of those, 29 did not return. These men and women came from all corners of the town. They were white and black, poor and wealthy. Some had not finished high school; others had graduate degrees. They served as grunts and helicopter pilots, battlefield surgeons and nurses, combat engineers and mine sweepers. Greeted with indifference and sometimes hostility upon their return home, they learned to suppress their memories in a nation fraught with political, economic and racial tensions. Now in their late 60s and 70s, these veterans have begun to tell their stories, which have been collected and recorded in this book.