Summer Wind: A Soldier's Road from Indiana to Vietnam

Randy Mills with his wife Roxanne have woven a rich, detailed, heartbreaking account of a solider’s coming of age through combat during the Vietnam war. "Summer Wind: A Soldier's Road from Indiana to Vietnam" is the story of Richard (Dick) Wolfe, who writes letters to loved ones and friends, back home in Princeton, Indiana. Struggling with identity, uncertainty of the future while he experiences the horrors of combat. Dick Wolfe holds little back in his letters as he describes in great detail the conditions faced in Vietnam. The authors have used many sources to paint an incredible portrait of the heartbreak of war, family expectations and pressures of finding your purpose in a small town and the aftermath of war for veterans, their families and friends. Dick Wolfe isn’t a perfect person or hero and I found myself cheering as he pushes forward with friendships, hope among a group of young American men. The Mills have brought Dick Wolfes voice back to life; it was an honor reading this powerful book.

After reading this story, I feel as if I have witnessed an actual real-time account of this terrible chapter in our country's history. The authors have used many sources to paint an incredibly accurate picture of the many ugly, heartbreaking aspects of war. The story is based around Indiana soldier Dick Wolfe's time in Vietnam and his voice comes through the many letters sent to family and friends from July 1967 to early January 1968. Looking back at my own life during this time, I was in eighth grade with two older brothers approaching draft eligibility. I find myself thinking about how different my family would have been had we been touched by war in a way similar to the Wolfe family. The story doesn't end with Wolfe's death in January 1968. The aftermath of war continued for the Wolfe family just as it did for other war veterans and their families. Butch Davis (Dick Wolfe's best friend and also a veteran) returned to Princeton, Indiana to fight his own battles with PTSD as he struggled to make sense of what he had experienced in Vietnam while also trying to honor his friend. At the age of fifty-six, Davis got a four-year degree in criminal justice at Oakland City University and went on to help other struggling Vietnam veterans talk about their experiences. .

Historical war stories don't normally focus as sharply, as precisely, as this. Take one young American, research his background, family, and friends through hand written letters then find a bedrock narrative illustrating what it was like to live his life. Generals? Secretary of Defense McNamara? What do they know of the mud, blood, and price of life in Vietnam? Dick Wolfe, (11 Bravo, US Army) is not a portrayed as a perfect hero; he sees the war from the ground up, and is remembered by those closest to him before, during, and after war. This book holds up to the light a boy from small town midwest, opens his life up to those of us who can admire a person who followed his sense of duty to the last. One soldier. One story. And, a very good one.

This is a very easy read. It uses letters to and from home to skillfully show how a young soldier being away from home and his new wife and friends may have caused him more distress than what he faced in Viet Nam.

The writing style is a strong catalyst to the strong emotional impact of this story. The Mills' style is easy to read, leavened with rich detail, great skill at stepping aside and letting the letters' authors speak, and appropriate and very useful interpretation and insertion of relevant historical facts.I never met Richard (Dick) Wolfe. But the universality of his story, as told here, will make him known to many who share elements of his and his families and friends sad and powerful story!