Marine Vietnam Vet & Author Ron Winter Speaker For Litchfield-Morris Rotary Dec. 20

Vietnam veteran Ron Winter, author of Masters of the Art and the Connecticut Review Writer in Residence for the Naugatuck Public Schools, will be the guest speaker for the Litchfield-Morris Rotary Dec. 20 at noon at the Litchfield Community Center.

Rotary members and their guests are welcome. Charge for guests is $15. Guests are asked to RSVP by Dec. 17 because of space limitations. For more information, contact Rob Van Wyck, rjvanwyck@yahoo.com

Masters of the Art, published by Random House, is a frank and accurate look at Marine operations in northern I Corps in 1968 at such battle sites as Khe Sanh, the Demilitarized Zone and the A Shau Valley. The book is true to the Marine tradition of Semper Fidelis, Always Faithful.

Winter, a descendant of Scottish Highlanders, grew up in the farming country of upstate New York. He gave up an academic scholarship at SUNY Albany in 1966 to join the marines and fight in Vietnam, where he served as a helicopter machine gunner, flying 300 missions, and earning numerous decorations, including 15 Air Medals, Combat Aircrew Wings, and the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry.

After Vietnam he returned to his studies earning undergraduate degrees in Electrical Engineering and English Literature. In a two-decade journalism career that included stints as investigative reporter, supervising editor, and columnist, Winter received several prestigious awards and a Pulitzer nomination. He currently works as a writer specializing in media relations and is a fierce advocate of veterans' rights. Winter speaks regularly to school and community groups on the history of the Vietnam. He spoke most recently in Litchfield during the Poets &Writers for Avery fundraiser in October at the Litchfield Inn.

Connecticut Review is published twice each year by the Connecticut State University System as a public service contribution to the national literary and intellectual discourse. Each issue of the journal is 200-212 pages in perfect bound 6 x 9 format and contains poetry, fiction, short essays, scholarly articles and fine artwork. CR also publishes the work of young writers who have won the IMPAC-CSU competition.

The journal inaugurated a program placing poets and writers in the public schools last year. Winter's residency in Naugatuck - beginning in January 2008 - follows that of poet Elizabeth Thomas.

Links:

http://www.ronaldwinterbooks.com/
http://www.connecticutreview.com/
http://www.rotarydistrict7890.org/