Just an excerpt I wanted to share from The Ground You Stand Upon…

In the night, Martin Quinn shook Will awake for his turn at guard. He took off his watch with illuminated dials and gave it to Will. In the distance, little more than the skyline of mountains across the valley could be discerned, and the foreground before them was nothing but black shapes. Sitting in their foxhole, Will studied those shapes, waiting for one to move. The vast void was filled with insect and animal noises as the moist air carried the faintest sounds for miles. The distant thumping of artillery echoed through the valley…

It was April 2023 when I received a call from someone in Tennessee. He said his name was Dallas Hensley, “A.G.’s brother.”

I knew about A.G.—one of the many young men in my dad’s infantry company who sailed to Vietnam in August 1966, SP/4 Arthur G. Hensley was also one of thirty-two killed in action during the company’s first year in Vietnam. Originally published in 2018, The Ground You Stand Upon tells of the day he died.

Later that afternoon, Alpha Company’s platoons were split up and moving on their own. 1LT James Harmon’s 2nd Platoon was searching along a small tributary stream of the Song An Lao, where a narrow offshoot of the valley jutted into the mountains. Marty Scull was walking point, followed by his buddy A.G. Hensley with his M-79 grenade launcher. Just behind was their machine gunner Bill Purdy and assistant gunner Ed Raciborski. The following is Purdy’s account of what happened…

Last year, another book was written about one of the many soldiers of the 5/7th Cav in Vietnam, Leon Toyne. Brown Mule 7 is written by Leon’s younger brother Mike, who my dad and I had the pleasure of meeting while he was working on his book.

My review on Amazon on Goodreads goes like this, “This book provides a glimpse into the day to day life of a combat wireman, Leon Toyne, in Vietnam with the 1st Air Cavalry Division. It is written by Leon’s younger brother but also draws upon the many letters he sent home from the war zone. It is 100% authentic and heartfelt, and does much to honor the sacrifices of all who served in Vietnam.” You may have a hard time find it though…

Last month, I was interviewed by the Military Writers Society of America, and they have posted that interview on their website here: MWSA Interview with Joshua Bowe

Dad and I were very honored to be awarded the Silver Medal for "Vietnam Memoir" by the Military Writers Society of America. Thank you to all who shared their stories with us and made this a successful project that has touched many lives! MWSA Review

I wanted to announce that the 2nd Edition of The Ground You Stand Upon has recently been published and is available on Amazon for Kindle, as well as the full-color hardcover and black & white paperback.

The original edition of this book was published in May of 2018. The hardest part was actually finishing the project, as I continued to come across new information and new people with stories to tell, such as family members and friends of the fallen, as well as other former Alpha Company soldiers. At a certain point, I had to simply…

In August of 2018, Dad and I flew to Pittsburgh to attend his first reunion. I had just printed the first two hundred copies of the book, and many had already been delivered to former soldiers of Alpha Company. One was Joe Williams, who greeted us in the lobby and made us both feel very welcome. “It’s sort of strange reading something that’s written about yourself and your friends,” he said. While there, we met many more fellow troopers from the company, including Gene Cross, the guy whose helmet Dad recalls with the hole shot in it.

Another fellow I met was not a fellow soldier but rather a CBS journalist. Norman Lloyd was embedded with Bravo Company, 5/7th Cav during their incursion into Cambodia in May of 1970. His film features much of the footage taken as they fought the NVA there. The film is named for the young soldier, Chris Keffalos (nicknamed “Shakey”), who was…