about the book
While in middle school, with the beginnings of the Vietnam War being piped into their living rooms, four best friends Morris, Ivan, Rudi, and Beck make a promise to one another—if one of them is drafted, they will all enlist and make sure they see one another on the other side, after the war is over.
Rudi is the one to get drafted, so the others fulfill their promises, each of the four friends going into four different branches of the military.
Morris joins the Navy, thinking it is the best place to safeguard his friends. Stationed on the USS Boston, Morris watches the Vietnamese coast in Operation Overlord.
But even out at sea Morris is not safe from attack, and his courage and determination are going to be tested just as much as his friends’ while fighting on foot.
about the author
Chris Lynch was born in Boston, Massachusetts. He dreamed of being a hockey player, the U.S. president, or a rock and roll idol. His father died when Chris was only five.
Chris headed to Boston University and Suffolk University to study journalism. He worked as a mover/truck driver, proofreader, and house painter, before turning to writing for young adult readers. He moved to Ireland (where his father was born), divorced, remarried, and spent as much time as he could in writing and being with his two children.
Now Chris spends his time in Ayr and Edinburgh in Scotland. His children are heading off to college, and he’ll soon be moving into a new house where he’ll get his own tiny study, a good place to write. He teaches creative writing programs at Lesley University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, so comes back to America quite often. He also mentors aspiring writers.
In the Vietnam series, Chris explores how war changes four friends. In the first book, I Pledge Allegiance, Morris joins the Navy intending to protect his three buddies. In Sharpshooter, Ivan joins the Army, thinking war is the illustrious stuff his WWII vet father told stories about. Now he kills people. In Free-Fire Zone, Rudi joins the Marines and thinks all he’ll have to do is follow orders. In Casualties of War, Beck joins the Air Force, thinking nothing could be safer than working as a mechanic…but the casualties of war are everywhere.
Sources:
Author biography/interview : Epic Reads
Author interview : teenreads
Author profile : Harper Collins
Also by Chris Lynch:
The Right Fight (Word War II, Book 1). Scholastic. 2014.
Free-Fire Zone (Vietnam, Book 3). Scholastic. 2012.
Sharpshooter (Vietnam, Book 2). Scholastic. 2012.
Prime Evil (Cyberia, Book 3). Scholastic. 2010.
Monkey See, Monkey Don’t (Cyberia, Book 2). Scholastic. 2009.
Cyberia (Cyberia, Book 1). Scholastic. 2008.
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