Testimonials


RAW Rating: 5 (out of 5)
Futile wars

John Douglas, known to his comrades as JD, is a young soldier from Springfield, Illinois who is sent to Vietnam during the war. He is a medic and goes out on missions with a Marine group known as the Valley Dogs. The North Vietnamese Army and the Viet Cong fear the Valley Dogs and have put a large bounty on their heads so whenever the Valley Dogs are out in the jungle, they must be extra careful. JD not only patches up the soldiers when they are injured, but he must also protect himself and others in the group. JD admits to himself his fears and his deep desire to get home alive. He daydreams about the wife and son he left in the States. In battle after battle, JD has close calls as they fight the Cong and the North Vietnamese Army. The North Vietnamese Army takes no prisoners. After one particularly ugly skirmish, he is listed as Missing in Action (MIA). His family does not expect to see him again but JD is a survivor from his heart.

Thomas R. Jones, a Vietnam veteran, has penned an awesome tale of war; the ugliness, the brutality, the killing, the pain and the fear. In LOST SURVIVOR he shows that fear presents itself in many ways. Some of the soldiers kill and torture wantonly while others cower in terror. Jones points out the mad racism that keeps the soldiers able to kill and maim others who do not look like them. He even deals with the racism that exists among the American soldiers. LOST SURVIVOR is a smoothly written book with plenty of suspense and a surprise ending. This is a painfully real book that should be handed to every young man or woman who willingly joins the military. I am going to recommend it to the many Vietnam Veterans I know.

Reviewed by Alice Holman of The RAWSISTAZ™ Reviewers
http://www.rawsistaz.com
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POSTED ON DECEMBER 15, 2005 on the Illinois Times website:

Hometown talent under the tree
Books showcase Springfield history

By Corrine Frisch

LOST SURVIVOR by Thomas R. Jones

Like Henry Fielding's famous novel (whose hero shares a name with Lost Survivor's author), this is a coming-of-age story. But Johnny Douglas isn't wandering the English countryside. In his world, the jungles of Vietnam, there are no lace cuffs, only flak jackets and the desire that overrides every other, the desire to survive. Johnny — or JD, as his friends call him — is a 25-year-old black man from Springfield who serves as a medic in a recon group near Khe Sanh. He leaves his home, wife, and baby son on Stuart Street and returns a year later with baggage far heavier than the 100-pound pack he carried through combat. Though Jones drew on his own Vietnam experience, this taut page-turner is not a memoir. The book is not for the squeamish — but, then, neither was the war. It gives voice to veterans' problems that for so many years have gone unacknowledged or ignored. Darkest Hour Press, paperback, 212 pp., $16.95; available at www.pitchblackbooks.com


FIVE BEACON REVIEW FOR
LOST SURVIVOR by Thomas R. Jones

Even if you've never been to the jungles of Vietnam, Thomas R. Jones' Lost Survivor will take you there. Johnny Douglas is not opposed to serving his country in the Vietnam War but he didn't realize that committing himself to the United States Marines would not allow him to ever go home again....

Thomas R. Jones has given this fictional story an amazing true-to-life spin by drawing on his own experiences as a corpsman who served during the Vietnam War.

The brusque, honest dialogue was accurately presented given the time period. This book touches on every emotion without losing the true heart of the story. Make no mistake, this book is a must read.

--reviewed by C.C. at   LighthouseLiteraryReviews.com