Unlikely Brothers: Just Trying to Make It Home

Alan Newberry always believed it was a man’s duty to answer his country’s call and serve with dignity. When he received his draft notice at age nineteen, he knew he had to mentally prepare himself for what he was about to face: a brutal war in Vietnam. In a riveting memoir, Alan’s son, Shannon, shares a walk through not only his father’s journey, but also the journeys of other soldiers who put their lives on the line for freedom. Beginning with Alan’s arrival at boot camp in 1969, Shannon details how his father became “brothers” with his fellow soldiers while attempting to survive infantry life, learning to kill or be killed, and facing the brutal North Vietnamese Army. As Shannon chronicles the soldiers’ experiences from the battlefields to their eventual return home, he reveals the many challenges they faced while processing the emotional after-effects of a war that took so many young lives.