Richie Perry

Richie Perry is a seventeen-year-old Army recruit from Harlem, New York. Richie narrates the story of the time he serves fighting in the Vietnam War and is the book’s protagonist. Back in Harlem, Richie was a good basketball player. He injures his knee playing hoops at basic training and is told he will not see combat in Vietnam, though this ends up not being the case. Though his grades are good enough for college and he hopes one day to be able to write like James Baldwin, Richie joins the Army to make money to send to his single mother and younger brother, Kenny. His writing skills are noticed on his tour of duty by his commanders who ask him to write letters to family members of killed soldiers. Richie’s friend Peewee also calls on him to write a letter to his girl back home...