For every soldier there is a story - World War II veteran, Professor Ray Ross, decided it was finally time to tell his.
At a reunion of the Eighth Armored Division in 2000, Ross and a group of former division members made plans for a European tour to visit the places they fought the enemy side by side.
"After visiting sites and having a few difficult moments, we agreed somebody should write this stuff down, before it is lost forever," said Ross who was awarded the Combat Infantry Medal, the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star as a staff sergeant in heavy combat during his tour of duty.
"Since I had a background in writing, it fell to me to be the one to write our story," said Ross, a member of the National Communication Association and the American Psychological Association, and author of 20 editions of eight popular college textbooks.
Ross, who has served on the faculties of Marquette, Purdue, Ohio State, Michigan, Wayne State and Pepperdine Universities, had a successful career in technical writing. He took on the challenge of writing a non-fiction novel based on the facts of his military career with some trepidation.
Ross, now retired and living in Traverse City, poured over diaries and letters his friends had saved and examined old medical books and atlases to get his facts historically correct. Despite all of his research, Ross admits the first draft of "When Your Number's Up: Meritocracy Goes to War," was a bit of a yawn.
"It needed to be jazzed up, it read like a text book. All that was missing was the questions at the end of each chapter," Ross noted.
Ross, undaunted, found a way to turn a matter of fact historical chronicle into a poignantly written dramatic tale.
"I read all of my heroes, from Mark Twain to Dan Brown, learning from their writing style and dialogue skills," Ross said.
The fierce battles faced by four fictional infantrymen in General Patton's 3rd Army in "When Your Number's Up," are based on the memories of Ross and his circle of friends.
Ross began his military service as a member of the exclusive Army Specialized Training Program, established by the United States Army in December 1942 to identify, train and educate academically-talented enlisted men as a specialized corp of Army officers during World War II. The program, that included such notable members as Bob Dole, Henry Kissinger, Gore Vidal and Kurt Vonnegut, joined the front line when the unit was disbanded in 1944 to fill the ever increasing need for soldiers in the European and Pacific Theaters of Operation.
Ross, assigned to the Eighth Armored Infantry, had 27 men serve under the 19-year-old sergeant's command. Seven were killed in action, 10, including Ross, were wounded.
"I suppressed this for so long, it was coming back and scaring the hell out of me," said Ross.
Since the publication of his book, Ross has found that he was not alone in avoiding memories of a time that many wish they could forget.
"We were all sick and tired of the war and wanted to get on with our lives. We didn't talk about the war, ever, even amongst ourselves," said Ross, noting that he has received a deluge of response from veterans who are facing their memories for the first time in years when reading the book.
"The emotionality of the responses we have gotten has really surprised me," said Ross' wife, Ricky, who has collected e-mails and letters from not only veterans, but families of veterans, who have been affected by reading the book.
Retired vice-president of Prentice Hall Publishing, Art Rittenberg, in a letter to the Ross' noted "It certainly brought back memories of my own. The note of realism you struck is beautifully sustained throughout the entire book. It is honestly gripping."
"When Your Number's Up," is available on-line at www.nelsonpublishingandmarketing.com.