Description

WINNER: Gold Medal in the History Genre 2019 by Military Writers Society of America

WINNER: Independent Press Award

WINNER: LitPick Top Choice Book Review Award

The Vietnam War represents a dark period in the history of the United States. Scores of young men (and many women) went off to a foreign land to fight a war of unclear intentions. For those that came home, years of PTSD and anything but a hero’s welcome would be there to meet them. For a large number of others, there was no coming home alive.

For the community of North Philadelphia, the death and heartache of the Vietnam War would affect them more drastically than any other. 64 students from Edison High School would be killed in combat, more than any other school in the country.

Now, for the first time, author and historian Richard Sand shines the light on these brave 64, and the effect of the loss of life on their school and community. Collecting stories from both survivors who made it home and from family members of those who didn’t, as well as photos of the fallen soldiers, Sand weaves a tapestry of history that shows the very human toll that war takes on society, communities and the people who have no choice but to go through the horrors and emerge on the other side.