I'm not normally
one for book reviews, so the fact that I'm sitting down to write about
this book should speak volumes, no pun intended. The tome in question
is "One Day As A Lion." It's a local work, written by a McKinney
resident about local boys. But these subjects of the book form part of
a tragic sphere. The 21 subjects, who each command a chapter, were all
young men from Collin County who died serving their country in the
Vietnam War. That was the hook for me. I did a story on the author,
R.D. Foster, for a
Veterans Day story
weeks ago. I didn't have to read this book, I
wasn't expected to, but my desire to learn more about this chapter in
America's history overwhelmed me. The truth is, I cracked open this
book knowing little about the war. Perhaps this is an indictment of
our education system, but I had never studied the Vietnam War, not in
high school, not in college. We spent weeks learning about England in
the 1500s, but not a single minute about one of the most tumultuous
periods in this nation's history.
So it was that I had a deeper mission in mind than just finding out
about local heroes when I opened "One Day As A Lion." Foster snagged
me in the first chapter. Ronnie Foster served in Vietnam, and it's
obvious early on that there was a greater sense of purpose guiding his
fingers across the keyboard in the creation of this work. A former
marine, Foster knows what he's talking about, and it's that inside
knowledge that really helps move this book along. When Foster talks
about life in the rice paddies, it's obvious he knows what he's
talking about.
But the Collin County men who lost their lives in country are at the
heart of "One Day As A Lion." Young men like Royce Glenn Scoggins and
Charles W. "Bill" Bryan left their homes and family in McKinney to
willingly serve their country and never came home. Foster's purpose in
allowing us to get to know these young men is to bring the war home
and make it more real.
One word of caution here: "One Day As A Lion" is an unflinching look
at war. It gets up close and personal and pulls no punches. If you're
looking for a candy-coated collection of obituaries, look elsewhere.
Nearly every chapter deals with the life and death of local soldiers.
Their time in Vietnam is chronicled, as is the way each of them died.
At times, "One Day As A Lion" is a hard read simply because the reader
gets to know these young men as more than names at the beginning of a
chapter, yet their fate is already cast. "One Day As A Lion" is an
emotional roller coaster, but it is a must-read for anyone living in
or around McKinney or anyone wanting to know more about what happened
half a world away little more than 30 years ago. Well-written and
factual without being overly so, "One Day As A Lion" is an
entertaining and intriguing read.
Foster's work is a respectful tribute to the local boys who lost their
lives in Vietnam and, as such, worthy of your consideration.
Oh, and what of the title? It comes from an old Tibetan proverb: "It
is better to live one day as a lion than ten thousand years as a
sheep." Fitting.
