The Ground You Stand Upon

Awarded the Silver Medal by the Military Writers Society of America. Sent into the deadly Central Highlands of Vietnam, the true story of my dad and his fellow soldiers of the 1st Air Cavalry Division. Twenty-year-old Will Bowe was living on his family's farm, and the military build-up had just begun when he was drafted in 1965. The impossibly young men of his company would be trained in the new airmobile infantry and become "skytroopers," flying into the jungle battlefield by helicopter, where they would learn what "search and destroy" meant and face the reality of this new war. Based on formerly classified staff journals, situation reports, and military maps, our story follows Alpha Company, 5th Battalion, 7th Cavalry as they march through rice fields, search villages, and climb jungle-covered mountains. Our story also features many of the photographs and letters my dad sent home from Vietnam's most remote valleys and outposts. Written under the most austere conditions, his dispatches were often scribbled in haste before another mission or by flashlight under a poncho in the rain. They would travel over eight thousand miles across the ocean to be placed in a mailbox that stood across from a farmhouse along a rural county road in Wisconsin. Many who served in my dad's company were interviewed for this story, as were many family members and friends of the fallen. Their accounts recall much of the humor and friendship they shared, along with the sadness and tragedy that would accompany a year spent in Vietnam. Now these letters, photos, reports, and personal accounts have been brought together to tell of one infantry company's war journey, from their training at Fort Carson to their historic voyage across the sea, their first steps into the dark highland jungles, their many battles fought together, and eventually, their final patrol.