Since 1900, the state of Alabama has enlisted more military volunteers per capita than any other state in the Union. This book tells the stories of some of those who lost either their life or their youth to combat.

We chose to shoot additional photography to supplement that which the families provided, which avoided a Time/Life feel, and gave us the opportunity to focus instead on each individual’s personal story: the drill sergeant that volunteered for Vietnam because his boys were dying “as quickly as you strike a match, and blow it out;” a 19-year-old kid that would have avoided the draft had he made the college baseball team; and a Coca-Cola delivery man whose dream of being a pilot cost him his life.