Lieutenant Colonel Neil Levin said
of An Angel Rode My Wing: The Saga of Maverick Leatherneck from Cadet to Marine Lt. Colonel, “From
the train ride South to Pensacola, Florida for Naval Aviation training to retirement twenty years later as a Marine Lieutenant
Colonel, Neil experiences adventure, humor and danger. I walked to the center of the Wall and faced it
and tried to hold back the tears, welling inside me. A young African American man approached me. “Did
you serve in Vietnam?” he asked. “Yes, I did,” I replied “Thank you for going there and I am glad
you made it back. May I shake your hand?” All of a sudden I realized I waited twenty-five years for
someone to do what he did. Shake my hand and say thanks for going. I told him so and I thanked him, telling him it was a nice
thing he had done for me. He walked away. Then I cried.”
One reader of An Angel
Rode My Wing: The Saga of Maverick Leatherneck from Cadet to Marine Lt. Colonel said, “In retired USMC
Lt. Col. Neil Levin's memoir, An Angel Rode My Wing, what begins as a young man's adventure becomes a calling to a purpose
greater than self. I was particularly struck by Levin's use of first person present tense narrative in
certain vignettes. He doesn't so much tell these stories as he relives them, establishing a rare intimacy with the reader
as one only would with a trusted confidante. You will be right there with him in the cockpit, whether soaring for the pure
pleasure of it or engaging the enemy in deadly combat, and you will stand beside him at "The Wall" and understand
when he weeps.
|
|
|
Readers who have never served - the
overwhelming majority of our society since the draft ended - will find revealed here the draw and the truth of military life,
as opposed to Hollywood's stereotypes. Readers who have served in combat arms units, regardless of service branch, will find
throughout Levin's story striking similarities to experiences and remembrances of their own. And those of us who served 20
years, 30 years, or more will once again experience in his writing that last day's emotion of it all having been done too
soon. An Angel Rode My Wing goes beyond Neil Levin's deeply personal and unique story to give voice to all those who served,
sacrificed, and survived nightmares, been blessed with lifelong friendships in which love is not too strong a word, and have
found their life's dreams fulfilled.”
|
|
|
|