The Sailor and the Teacher

There are many D days and H hours in a war. Set against some vast and seemingly cosmic clock, these innocuous lettersso insignificant in their apparent powerannounce the precise day and exact hour when desperate men will be caught up in a deadly drama. Later, when wars dreadful vocation is complete, some will come home to final resting places immaculately maintained while othersperhaps less fortunatewill find themselves in a veterans administration hospital to recuperate, to heal their physical and emotional scars, and, once again, to make some small claim on life. Such is the story of one sailor who came home during the Vietnam War in the late 1960s and the teacher who saved his soul.