One Young Soldier
A Novel
by Gary DeRigne
"Hell, if it exists, can't be much worse than this..."
"Forty-six days without a bath. Jungle rot sores up and down both arms,
oozing pus, stinkin' like death. Livin on bomb-crater water, C-Ration
white bread, peanut butter, and cigarettes.
The nights are hardest. Can’t smoke, can’t talk. Just stare into the
darkness, listen to the lizards and bugs, try to stay awake, and listen for
gooks. An hour here at night is an eternity.
At some point, you stop believin’ you’re gonna’ make it…"
Former
infantry rifleman and platoon sergeant Gary DeRigne has created a novel set
during the Viet Nam war that is brutal, honest, heartrending, tragic, and
hopeful in turns.
Told as only one who experienced the war first hand can
relay, One Young Soldier is a thoughtful and enduring work of
literature that is as engaging to read as it is disturbing.
DeRigne does not spare the reader the brutalities of
war in all its nightmarish horror. This sensitive and unforgettable first
novel is a triumph of literary war fiction.