Book of Minnesota soldiersí stories will benefit WWII memorial
Posted: 7/8/03
Proceeds from sales of Minnesota American Legion book project are designated to the Minnesota World War II Memorial.
Twenty-nine captivating stories of Minnesotans who served their nation from the Civil War to the Persian Gulf War are found in a new soft-bound 184-page book entitled War Stories: Accounts of Minnesotans Who Defended Their Nation. Author is Al Zdon, currently communications director for the Minnesota American Legion and editor of the Minnesota Legionnaire. He also was editor of the Hibbing Daily Tribune for 18 years and currently owns his own writing and consulting business, Moonlit Eagle Productions.
The American Legion underwrote the cost of the book and all proceeds go directly to the memorial. The book contains stories of men and women from all the wars America has participated in since statehood. Stories on the Civil War and Spanish American War were based on diaries and letters, while the remaining 27 stories of World War I, World War II, Korean War, Vietnam War and Persian Gulf War veterans were all done through interviews with those who served. The stories have appeared over the last several years in the Minnesota Legionnaire.
Zdon, a native of northeast Minneapolis, earned his bachelorís degree at the University of Minnesotaís School of Journalism and Mass Communications in 1991, and he is presently at the University working in the Masters of Liberal Studies program. He serves as secretary on the Alumni Board of the School of Journalism and Mass Communication.
Zdon and wife Mary have six children and reside in Mounds View. He enjoys reading, playing basketball and tennis, fishing and camping and playing the tenor banjo.
War Stories is his second book. He previously co-authored Count the Pickets in the Fence, the autobiography of Iron Range businessman and politician Carl D'Aquila.
Books can be purchased on the Legionís Web site at www.mnlegion.org, or by contacting the Minnesota American Legion at 651-291-1800.
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