Homecoming ~ Paperback ~ David M Arenstam

For two American aviators assigned to the Aerial Rocket Artillery in Vietnam, the odds for survival, the margin between life and death, is often as thin or mysterious as the dismal, gray mist that routinely lingers over the jungle treetops surrounding their makeshift airbases. During the early hours of February 4, 1968, as the Tet Offensive thunders around him, Russell Warriner, a lanky 20-year-old Huey crew chief from the foothills of the Berkshires watches as the men he routinely flies with leave in an effort to help a group of young Army Rangers. With his aircraft in pieces and his buddies in the air, the mission horns on the base blare overhead as Warriner learns that his friends and their Huey are missing. After flying search missions for nearly 36 hours, his unit locates the battered and burned fuselage. There are three American bodies near the wreckage, but Bobby Connelly, the co-pilot, is not among the dead. For these two men, a single mission, a routine call for help, will forever link their spirits. For one, the mysterious strength of that spirit, an almost transcendent will to survive, goes back generations to a time before technology and industry. This inner strength will help one of the soldiers live to see another day. But will it be enough to bring them both home?Author BiographyDavid Arenstam was born in the foothills of the Berkshires in Massachusetts, raised by the sea in Plymouth but spent most of his adult life raising a family along the shores of the Saco river in Maine. Always creative at heart, Arenstam owned and operated a small data processing and software firm for nearly 20 years, but it was only after selling the business that he found his real passion and voice in teaching and writing. Never one to sit still or stop learning, Arenstam has studied mathematics, literature, education, writing, and many forms of technology. Teaching and writing now fill his days, and he often tells his students, "the world just might be the greatest classroom you'll ever enter - take a minute and look around. You'll be surprised at what you see and the lessons you'll learn." He is a proud and dedicated faculty member at Thornton Academy, an independent high school in Saco, Maine, and as a freelance writer, he contributes regularly to local newspapers, magazines, and online media companies covering current events, Maine lifestyles and writing human interest articles. As a lifelong student, his thirst for education continues, recently receiving a master's degree in journalism from Harvard University.