Coming Home: A Soldier Returns From Korea

In Coming Home: A Soldier Returns From Korea, Daniel Wolfe, traces the frequently humorous and sometimes poignant travails of a young Korean War vet returning to the Bronx to begin "the rest of the story." Readers share young Danny's discovery that he is qualified for college; his adventures as a biology teacher in the Bronx; his courtship of his wife, life in suburbia, and their short-lived migration to Florida. Then an army reunion recalling his Korean War experiences, suppressed for forty-five years, led to sleepless nights and nightmares. They moved on to Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and finally, their return to New York.

Wolfe's gift for tragicomedy gets plenty of play as he recalls the many characters he encountered after his discharge. Among them, he gives us Sam, the mentally-challenged bowling alley clerk who paints extraordinary pictures on cardboard sheets that supported corn muffins; Bucky, his hilarious army buddy, Adrian, the lighting salesmen, who suddenly bursts out speaking in tongues one night over dinner; and Louis St. Louis, the artist who paints with his blood as a metaphor. This is Wolfe the caricaturist at his best. With a few deft strokes, he captures the essence of the character in all its beautiful and bewildering humanity.

Anyone dealing with veterans' issues should read this book. The profound respect and understanding with which the author, the recipient of the Bronze Star with a "V" for Valor, depicts his former buddies on the frontline, offers a model for this generation and generations to come. His depiction of the psychological toll of warfare will provide a perspective for younger vets and their families, as well as hope that there is indeed light at the end of the tunnel. Readers who seek a good story, a good laugh and a good man need look no further. Coming Home: A Soldier Returns From Korea by Daniel Wolfe, off-the-curb champ, once again hits the ball right out of the park.

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" I was carried back to the magic of my days in the Bronx during the Great Depression. Although money was a rare commodity, laughs were not. Those days are hilariously described in Seabury Place: A Bronx Memoir."
-Henry H. Roth, Writer