A Vietnam War Novel by Bob Lupo

A BOOK REVIEW by Bill McDonald

Some times I pick up a book and have to struggle to get through the first few pages - but Bob Lupo has written a real page turner about the experiences of young soldiers caught up in the war. It seems on the surface to be just a story about race relationships and violence but though that exploration comes much insight on the part of the characters in the book and also the reader himself. 

Lupo has written a book that would be destined for a best seller list, or even a movie - but being a self-published novel and having little in the way of advertisements or public media coverage - this book remains an undiscovered gem. I highly recommend that you check it out and get yourself a copy. 

Bob Lupo is himself a Vietnam Veteran and former combat medic. He is also a an author of another fine novel  "Extremities-4" . He lives in Connecticut and is working on a 3rd novel. 
 

GO TO PX FOR INFORMATION ON BUYING A COPY OF THIS BOOK
 

Editorial Review From Amazon.com 
Book Description
A Buffalo s Revenge, a Vietnam negative, explores the limits of a nation engaged in a struggle for freedom when the mirror reveals a fractured image. Racism is bundled in an interlocking grid of white and black and oriental hatred. The backdrop of the home front, the plague of assassinations, a spiraling anti-war movement, a sandwiched Media, and politicians and a military caught in the glare of appeasing conflicting demands underscores the plight of individuals fighting for their lives and their loves. Doc Lusane must overcome his need to die; James Jaggers his need to kill; Pee Wee Anson to hate.The home front explodes in a frenzy of hate and violence.The boys discover love beyond the peculiar cadence of language and dialect. They discover life beyond race or color. They discover themselves.America was at war thirty-five years ago and we are at war today. A Buffalo s Revenge is a snapshot of America, then and now.
 

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VietnamVets.org
 Serving the Vietnam Vet Community
http://www.VietnamVets.org/

News Highlights From The VietnamVets.org's Weekly Newsletter

Air Force Chief Performs Special Missing Man Table Ceremony
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Feb2003/n02062003_200302069.html

Chief Master Sgt. David L. Hamel delighted the audience with his rendition
of the 'Missing Person Table' ceremony during DoD's 9th annual POW/MIA
Prayer Breakfast here today. Hamel said he got involved with prisoner of
war and missing in action ceremonies a few years ago and started wondering
what former POWs would say about the empty chair at the Missing Man Table.
'Who is in that empty chair?' asked Hamel, who spent about 18 years
working on aircraft ejection seats and canopies. Hamel, who has two
master's degrees, is now director of the Air Force Enlisted Heritage
Research Institute, College for Enlisted Professional Military Education
at Maxwell Air Force Base-Gunter Annex, Ala.


After 34 years, Veteran gets Purple Heart

It took a while -- 34 years, to be exact -- but a Healdsburg man finally
has his Purple Heart. Leonard Brown was in Vietnam in 1968 when his
commander set off a mine. The officer was killed. Brown almost lost his
leg. Fellow soldiers bandaged the leg, shot him full of morphine and put
him on a plane. When he left the hospital -- his injured leg was two
inches shorter. Brown was supposed to get the medal then. But the Army
said they couldn't find a record of his combat service. He sent
photocopies of his records. The Army ignored him.
 

Ex-POW Fights for Veteran Health Care

George 'Bud'' Day's fight to make the federal government keep its promise
of free health care to aging military retirees has taken more than a year
longer than the 5 1/2 years he spent as a prisoner of war, and it's still
not over. Day and other military retirees, mostly veterans of World War II
and the Korean War, say recruiters and other military officials promised
lifetime medical care in return for at least 20 years of service. The
Justice Department contends that doesn't matter because Congress never
authorized the promise. 'This is basically about the honor of the United
States,'' said Day, who practices law in Fort Walton Beach. 'Either they
keep their word or they double-cross us.''
 

KnoxNews.com: At age 54, Vietnam hero primed to get war over with
http://www.knoxnews.com/kns/national/article/0,1406,KNS_350_1707378,00.htm
l
It seemed a safe bet that, after more than 30 years as a soldier, after
his chopper was shot up in Vietnam, after he'd received medals for his
heroics, David Bledsoe could coast along until he retired from the
National Guard in six years. On Monday, Bledsoe, 54, of Tennessee, got his
coasting orders: Head to Fort Campbell, Ky. If President Bush declares war
on Iraq, he's sure that he'll go. He is, he says, the oldest 'by far' of
the 22 pilots in the Tupelo, Miss., Guard unit dispersed to various bases.
While others left behind children, he left behind grandchildren as well.