Description

An officer in the 82nd Airborne and 31st Infantry Regiment divisions, Michael Strand saw significant combat action as an infantry platoon leader in the Mekong Delta in 1968 and 1969. In straightforward, thoughtful writing, this memoir recalls Strand's early life in Toledo, Ohio; training as a regular Army officer in ranger and airborne schools; and his wartime experience including combat patrols, booby traps, woundings, KIAs, disillusionment, and growing as a leader as he served his men.

Strand's "second birthday" arrived at 11:01 p.m. on February 11, 1969--a moment marked forever by the frozen movement of his watch--when a mortar round exploded between him and the officer he was to soon replace while inspecting bunkers near Firebase Moore. The explosion killed his fellow officer and severely wounded Strand, inflicting lacerations throughout his body and shredding his right arm. He walked hundreds of feet to a bunker from which he was evacuated to a hospital where his right hand was amputated. Strand considers himself lucky--not only because he survived, but also because he found the love of his life, Eloise Brown, an Army officer and occupational therapist that he met briefly at Walter Reed. The book continues his story through recuperation, his post-military career, and a 49-year marriage including global travel, friendships, and deep joy and gratitude.