Nice Day for Flyin'

About the Book

In our lives, there are events that occur that change our lives forever, such as being drafted or getting married or having children. Sometimes even killing. Events that can’t be changed or taken back. Nice Day for Flyin’ is a story of one young boy, Ian McIntyre, who upon being drafted during the later part of the Vietnam War, his first real turning point, is forced to leave a life and future he has known and planned for all his short life. This is a story of lost innocence, betrayal, lost love, and, death. It is also a story of found love and life, friendship, and trust. This is a story based individual events,in many ways on my experiences and those of others I have served with, while other parts of the story are just plain and simple fabrication. The characters are composites of many people, and the events are based on experiences and war stories of many people but have been changed in some ways. This is a story of how it might have been, not how it really was or is now. This is not a history lesson; it is a story and nothing more. The language in this work is, at times, rough as it should be. Real life is not G-rated. I started this book as a retelling of my own experience in Vietnam and after I returned; but it quickly turned into a long, technical, detail-filled and boring history, which I promptly deleted. Instead I took events and stories as separate entities and worked them into a piece of fiction, a story of how it could have been or perhaps how I would have liked it to have been. If you want a history lesson, read Stanley Karnow’s Vietnam:A History. If you want to laugh, cry, and be entertained, then give Nice Day for Flyin’ a read.

About the Author

My name is Daniel L. Lawrence. I am a Vietnam War veteran having served in1st Cavalry Divisionwith B Co. 228th Assault Support Helicopter Bn. And with the last American Chinook unit in Vietnam the 362nd Aviation Co. as a Flight Engineer on CH-47 Chinook Helicopters. Upon my return from Vietnam I enlisted in the California Army National Guard as a Combat Engineer with 579th Combat Engineer Bn until 1993 when I was diagnosed with throat cancer from exposure to Agent Orange. I subsequently lost my voice because of it. As a result, in 1996, I became the first and only “on-air” personality in radio without a natural voice. I became “Digital Dan” using a voice synthesizer and laptop computer to speak with. I hosted two live 2hr shows per week, The Digital Music Zone and The Frankly Zappa Show, on KHUM-FM 104.3&104.7. I retired in 2007 and began to write “Nice Day for Flyin’”, my first book.