Stand to ...

E. Franklin Evans had watched every war movie John Wayne ever
made, sometimes several times over. When the "Duke" led his men,
war was exciting and heroes were made as they ruggedly fought and
predictably won each battle. But when Evans' high school friend
and real-life hero Glenn was killed in Vietnam, war became real and
personal for Evans, and he felt a tremendous obligation to the
buddy who gave his life in that faraway jungle.

At the tender age of nineteen, Evans voluntarily enlisted in the U.S.
Army and left for basic training in early December of 1966. Before
long, he was deeply entrenched in a treacherous war, far removed
from his innocent and carefree youth. He had to learn not only to
survive but also to muster the bravery to lead others in combat as
he was thrust from adolescence into adulthood.

It has taken Evans more than thirty-five years to begin to heal the
physical and emotional wounds that kept him from sharing his
intensely personal story. From his depiction of the picturesque
aerial view of Cam Rahn Bay to that of the barbed wire, metal
planking, and squat huts housing weapons of death and
destruction, Evans's Stand To .provides a vividly detailed glimpse
into what it was like to become a man on the battlefields of
Vietnam.