Bookstore signing July 14

features Vietnam Vet / Young Writers Judge

BRIDGEPORT - Connecticut author, Marine Vietnam veteran and college professor Ronald Winter will sign copies of his book Masters of the Art, A Fighting Marine's Memoir of Vietnam at the Rainy Faye Bookstore, 940 Broad Street, Friday, July 14, from noon to 2 p.m.

Winter works in public relations as Director of Eastern Connecticut Operations for Michael J. London &Associates in Trumbull, and is an adjunct professor of communications at the University of Hartford. He also serves as a judge for the annual competition sponsored by the IMPAC-Connecticut State University Young Writers Trust.

Masters of the Art, published by Random House, details the author's experiences in boot camp at Parris Island, South Carolina, and as a member of Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 161 in Vietnam, where he flew 300 missions as a helicopter machine gunner. The book also addresses how the lessons of Vietnam relate to the war on terror.

The book is receiving widespread support across the political spectrum, including from a U.S. Congressman who served in Vietnam and others who opposed that war including Connecticut’s Lt. Governor.

"Masters of the Art is that "full moon" for those of us with less night vision than Ron Winter and a need to make out more of the details," said Connecticut's Lt. Governor Kevin Sullivan who opposed the Vietnam War, but shares a concern for the treatment of American veterans with the author.

Connecticut Congressman Rob Simmons, R-2nd, a U.S. Army veteran of Vietnam, who later served in the Central Intelligence Agency, stated that Masters of the Art "is more than a war story. It is about having the courage to change the things you can control and accepting the things you cannot with dignity and honor."

Winter, who was awarded 15 Air Medals, the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry and numerous other decorations, was featured in 2004 in the Library of Congress Veterans History Project. After the Marines, Winter moved to Connecticut where he graduated from Hartford State Technical College with a degree in electrical engineering, and the University of New Haven with a degree in English Literature. He spent 20 years as an award-winning journalist working as a reporter, editor and columnist, serving at The Hartford Courant and the Journal Inquirer.