Lost Survivor

Written from a black man's point of view, this novel is a human drama encompassing the paradoxes of being a soldier in war and then a civilian in society. Johnny Douglas was a hard-working, God-fearing 25-year-old when he left his home to fight in Vietnam. As he said goodbye to his mother and wife, he promised he would returnalive and wellin a year. But 13 months in the jungles of Nam took its toll on him. In a world of kill-or-be-killed, nothingnot even his mother's lessons of right and wrong, or the word of Godcould have prepared Johnny for the brutality he was forced to face. Instinctively, he adapted and survived, and came home. After initially thinking that his nightmare was over, his family soon recognized that survival in Nam came at a price to them as well as to him. The once-clear distinction of the streets of home and the jungles of Nam was blurred as the war raged on inside Johnny's head. How could he acclimate and become one of them again?

Thomas R. Jones was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation, Combat Action Ribbon, Purple Heart, Vietnam Campaign Medal, and Vietnam Services Medal as a result of his service during the Vietnam War as a senior hospital corpsman with the third recon battalion of the third Marine Division. He has served as a former assistant director of the Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs in which capacity he assisted returning Vietnam veterans reintegrate into society. He lives in Springfield, Illinois.