Lost in the Sun

Based on extensive research, this book chronicles the story of the only person who, after playing successfully in baseball's Major Leagues, was drafted by the American military and served with honor and distinction in the Vietnam War. According to baseball and military records--including various accounts and articles--Roy Gleason is "the only one." Why was this fantastic prospect the only man among thousands of others with major league experience sent into the front lines of combat in...
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Based on extensive research, this book chronicles the story of the only person who, after playing successfully in baseball's Major Leagues, was drafted by the American military and served with honor and distinction in the Vietnam War. According to baseball and military records--including various accounts and articles--Roy Gleason is "the only one." Why was this fantastic prospect the only man among thousands of others with major league experience sent into the front lines of combat in Southeast Asia? Perhaps more startling, how did those men avoid this fate? Even Gleason didn't know the answer for more than 40 years until a detailed four-year investigation shed light on the situation. What he learned was shocking. Gleason signed his first professional contract with what was reported to be a six-figure signing bonus. In today's market, that would be worth several million dollars. His career was remarkable and he boasts a career batting average of 1.000 (no one in MLB history, living or dead, matches this mark). He also enjoyed a brief career in film and television, highlighted in the book. Was it merely bad luck that placed Gleason into a war? Was it unfortunate circumstances? After being severely wounded, did he recover to play again? Why didn't he play more, especially with a perfect record at the plate? Roy Gleason's life is an endless list of questions that have gone unanswered--until now. Lost in the Sun is narrated from Gleason's point of view, and opens with a near-fatal experience he endured in a Vietnamese jungle. Providing a first-hand account, he shares tales of how the human mind works when death is all that surrounds it. Throughout each chapter, readers will meet the man wholeft potential success on the playing fields of Major League Baseball for the killing fields of Vietnam. This humble man recognizes, however, that he was "only one of thousands who were sent so far away from home, to that place none of us wanted to go and that place where many never left and that place where we were all lost in the sun."