The Blood of A Young Man - by Raymond Ramirez (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

This delightful story is about a young man growing up in an alcohol, drugs, and gang infested environment. Most of his young life he grew up living in a garage with four brothers and their mother. Their father died at the age of thirty-six, He was a WWII veteran and died at a VA medical facility on August 14, 1962. The young man was only thirteen years-of-age then. He's a smart young man but learns to become tough for not only self-preservation, but to care for and set an example for his younger brothers, plus he didn't want to disappoint his mother.

The young man goes through some tough trials and tribulations but ends up joining the U.S. Marine Corps on August 30, 1965. While there he participates in some of the toughest battles that went down in Marine Corps history. What is described here is gut-wrenching. He ends up spending two tours in Vietnam. The young man was also part of a patrol that caught two hard core north Vietnamese officers.

Upon release from active duty, he was so grateful to be alive that he wants to spend some time with his family and friends. He doesn't realize it yet, that he is no longer the same. But like everything he did, he charges forward and takes a bus to downtown. He grabs a cab and off they go towards home. When they arrive at the corner of his street, he stops the cab and tells the cab driver, "I want to walk the rest of the way, because I want to saver every step of the way."

The young man was release from active duty on August 27, 1968, and after visiting his family. He buys a brand-new car, just like he told his friends in Vietnam he would. After two tours in Vietnam, he had plenty of money saved up to do just that. He starts out looking for a job.

The first one he applies for hires him. It was one of the biggest merchants in the county. He is assigned to the shipping and receiving section of the company. After a few months in that department he learns that the girlfriend he had before he left to Vietnam was dating someone from the same department. He is stunned, he tells himself, of all the places on this planet he could've applied for work, how could he be working here with a guy who is dating his girlfriend, the girl he wanted to marry. From that moment forward things just don't go the way he dreamed. Things began to deteriorate rapidly, decisions he made are not in his best interest. He makes many mistakes, but is determined to get his girl back and obtain a job he could support her and a family well. He tells you what he had to do to accomplish most of his dreams. Be prepared to be taken on a roller-coaster ride of emotions.