A Hero’s Journey is the compelling second part of the Albert “Bert” Waller saga. After waving good-by to his wife, he went to Ft. Knox, Kentucky for U.S. Army basic training. Bert eventually went to Ft. Sam Houston, Texas to train as a combat medic, where the Army needed him most. The year was 1965.
In the infamous battle in the Ia Drang Valley in Vietnam, he was wounded twice, but saved several soldiers from dying during heavy, mortal combat. For his heroism, he was awarded the Silver Star for gallantry and the Purple Heart for being wounded in combat.
Upon returning home, he became a science educator in the inner-city public schools. His military training gave him the necessary skills to handle a school shooter and protect his students.
This sweeping saga pulls no punches and provides strong, realistic insight into the actual times and experiences of an ordinary man who ended up doing many extraordinary things.
Every family has a saga that includes love, pathos, joy, disappointment, tragedy and hope. Meadows and Minefields is one such saga that encompasses the events and challenges that all “baby boomers” experienced in the 1950s and 60s. In light of today’s inter-generational discussions, Bert Waller’s compelling story about his generation is as rewarding to those who lived it as it is to their descendants, the alphabet generations. It includes the values, events and the social atmosphere of those times that shaped the children and grandchildren of the greatest generation, those who fought tyranny in WW II. Included is the messaging that subsequent generations draw upon, and continue to use, as our nation attempts to move forward into today’s uncertain times.
Meadows and Minefields is a compelling, well-crafted, colorful, romantic, true-to-life, page-turner where every chapter has startling new events, life-changing experiences, heart-rending exasperation or unqualified joy.
When a Millennial waxes curious about Baby-Boomers, reading Meadows and Minefields will help him or her understand how America is the way it is today, and better understand the people responsible for making it so.