Former New Canaan High School Principal Tony Pavia and his son, Matt Pavia, American Studies and English teacher at Darien High School, will be at the New Canaan Library on January 7th, 2019, to talk about their new book, “An American Town and the Vietnam War.”

“An American Town and the Vietnam War” tells the story of the Vietnam War as it was experienced by the young men and women from one “all-American” town, Stamford, Connecticut, who left home to serve, and of the families who carried on at home waiting for the return of their loved ones. It also honors the memory of the twenty-nine young men from Stamford who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country.

The men and women from Stamford who served in America’s most controversial and misunderstood war came from all corners of town and represented the full spectrum of the nation’s diversity. They were white and black, immigrants and natural-born citizens, working class and affluent. Some had not yet finished high school; others had graduate degrees. They served as grunts and helicopter pilots, battlefield surgeons and nurses, combat engineers, mine sweepers, and support personnel. Greeted with indifference and sometimes hostility upon their return home, Stamford’s veterans learned to suppress their memories in a nation fraught with political, generational, and racial tensions. Now in their late 60s and 70s, Stamford’s veterans have begun to tell their stories.

“An American Town and the Vietnam War” contains “gripping, emotionally wrenching tales by young men called on to fight an unpopular war and then treated like pariahs when they returned,” according to Jack Cavanaugh, Pulitzer Prize-nominated author of “Tunney.” Morton Dean, retired CBS and ABC news anchor and writer-director of “American Medevac,” comments that “the authors’ magic touch gives us an opportunity to meet, get to know, and embrace those who for too many years felt America didn’t care about them. This book takes us on a journey we all should have taken long ago.”

Elm Street Books will be on hand to sell copies of the book, which the authors will gladly sign.