thedrifter
01-02-08, 09:25 AM
Book honors county men lost in Vietnam
By Alicia Pike, Staff writer
Though Collin County resident Ronnie D. Foster has been a professional songwriter and novelist for years, it is his newest book “One Day as a Lion” that Foster is most proud of.
The book tells the stories of 21 Collin County soldiers who served in the Vietnam War and never came home. Foster writes not only about their time in the war, but also gives an idea of who they were before.
“My main reason for writing the book is because of my buddy Bill Bryan,” Foster said. “A few years ago, I ran across an old friend from high school and my friend told me he remembered Bill and me joining the Marines together. Then he asked me what happened to Bill, and I had to tell him that Bill died back in Vietnam.
“It’s very important to me that I tell these guys’ stories because I know they won’t be forgotten. Really there wasn’t a lot to tell because they died so young, though. They grew up, went to high school, joined the military and that was it. I didn’t want to just tell their war stories but a little bit about who they were before.”
Foster was an avid reader and took an interest in writing while growing up in the 1960s in Farmersville.
“When I was in grade school is when I really started reading. I’ve always been a reader,” Foster said. “In my mind, when I was a kid, I thought ‘I could do that.’ One of the reasons why I joined the Marine Corps was for the experience of history. It would give me something to write about for my kids. How could I pass that up?” Foster started thinking about joining the U.S. Marine Corps after reading “Guadalcanal Diary” by Richard Tregaskis while he was in junior high school.
“After reading that book, something just hit home. The way the Marines take care of each other and the pride that they have. I thought, ‘If I can make it to be a Marine, I want to do that.’” Foster said.
Though many young people in the 1960s were trying to figure out how to avoid the military draft, Foster and Bryan volunteered for the Marine Corps when they were 18 years old and set out on what they considered an adventure.
“Most people were against the war. We got no support whatsoever,” Foster said. “We saw it as an honorable thing. We wanted to be there. We wanted to be a part of it, a part of history. We considered it a sense of adventure. We had never been anywhere, we were from working families. When we graduated, we looked at each other and said, ‘We don’t want to miss it.’”
When Foster decided to write the book, he began a five-year journey to locate friends and families of soldiers who died. With help from his wife, Trina, and friend Linda Phillips, he researched each soldier in the book.
“We would finally locate family members and we would do interviews all over the country,” he said. “What was really the hardest part about it all was actually sitting down and reliving the day and the whole situation. But it was also the most gratifying.”
After watching many of his friends die in the war and trying to move on with own life, Foster remained quiet about it until his chance meeting with the old high school friend.
“For 35 years I didn’t talk about it, even though I thought about it every day,” Foster said. “It’s not something that goes away; it’s always lurking, and at that moment, I thought, I’m not going to try and forget this. I’m going to have them remembered because having any of them forgotten would be a great sin.”
Though the book graphically depicts war, Foster believes that writing a book that involves real people and their lives should not be taken lightly.
“There is no point in trying to cover up what happened to these guys,” Foster said. “Back when I first started working on it, I would get comments on how graphic it was. This is what war is like; this is what those guys went through.”
“One Day as a Lion” was written not only to remember the many people that died in combat but also as a way to teach the younger generations about what really happened in the Vietnam War.
“In history in school and college, they ignore Vietnam,” Foster said. “They talk about the ’60s, but it’s always about the music and the art. The most turbulent time in our history besides the Civil War is skirted over, and I wanted to give kids the chance to learn what really happened and to let them know that it actually did happen.”
Ellie
By Alicia Pike, Staff writer
Though Collin County resident Ronnie D. Foster has been a professional songwriter and novelist for years, it is his newest book “One Day as a Lion” that Foster is most proud of.
The book tells the stories of 21 Collin County soldiers who served in the Vietnam War and never came home. Foster writes not only about their time in the war, but also gives an idea of who they were before.
“My main reason for writing the book is because of my buddy Bill Bryan,” Foster said. “A few years ago, I ran across an old friend from high school and my friend told me he remembered Bill and me joining the Marines together. Then he asked me what happened to Bill, and I had to tell him that Bill died back in Vietnam.
“It’s very important to me that I tell these guys’ stories because I know they won’t be forgotten. Really there wasn’t a lot to tell because they died so young, though. They grew up, went to high school, joined the military and that was it. I didn’t want to just tell their war stories but a little bit about who they were before.”
Foster was an avid reader and took an interest in writing while growing up in the 1960s in Farmersville.
“When I was in grade school is when I really started reading. I’ve always been a reader,” Foster said. “In my mind, when I was a kid, I thought ‘I could do that.’ One of the reasons why I joined the Marine Corps was for the experience of history. It would give me something to write about for my kids. How could I pass that up?” Foster started thinking about joining the U.S. Marine Corps after reading “Guadalcanal Diary” by Richard Tregaskis while he was in junior high school.
“After reading that book, something just hit home. The way the Marines take care of each other and the pride that they have. I thought, ‘If I can make it to be a Marine, I want to do that.’” Foster said.
Though many young people in the 1960s were trying to figure out how to avoid the military draft, Foster and Bryan volunteered for the Marine Corps when they were 18 years old and set out on what they considered an adventure.
“Most people were against the war. We got no support whatsoever,” Foster said. “We saw it as an honorable thing. We wanted to be there. We wanted to be a part of it, a part of history. We considered it a sense of adventure. We had never been anywhere, we were from working families. When we graduated, we looked at each other and said, ‘We don’t want to miss it.’”
When Foster decided to write the book, he began a five-year journey to locate friends and families of soldiers who died. With help from his wife, Trina, and friend Linda Phillips, he researched each soldier in the book.
“We would finally locate family members and we would do interviews all over the country,” he said. “What was really the hardest part about it all was actually sitting down and reliving the day and the whole situation. But it was also the most gratifying.”
After watching many of his friends die in the war and trying to move on with own life, Foster remained quiet about it until his chance meeting with the old high school friend.
“For 35 years I didn’t talk about it, even though I thought about it every day,” Foster said. “It’s not something that goes away; it’s always lurking, and at that moment, I thought, I’m not going to try and forget this. I’m going to have them remembered because having any of them forgotten would be a great sin.”
Though the book graphically depicts war, Foster believes that writing a book that involves real people and their lives should not be taken lightly.
“There is no point in trying to cover up what happened to these guys,” Foster said. “Back when I first started working on it, I would get comments on how graphic it was. This is what war is like; this is what those guys went through.”
“One Day as a Lion” was written not only to remember the many people that died in combat but also as a way to teach the younger generations about what really happened in the Vietnam War.
“In history in school and college, they ignore Vietnam,” Foster said. “They talk about the ’60s, but it’s always about the music and the art. The most turbulent time in our history besides the Civil War is skirted over, and I wanted to give kids the chance to learn what really happened and to let them know that it actually did happen.”
Ellie