Tumbleweed Forts

Like any good soldier's son, Frank moved with his family from fort to fort, country to country, and accepted each change along the way. Then he moved to Fort Huachuca, Arizona, and never wanted to move again.

The desert garrison was the fifth Army post of Frank's childhood, and he felt at home as soon as he arrived in 1960, the beginning of the Kennedy era. Here at age ten, he was best friends with Flavio, who saved his life in deep waters and helped him hunt for Huachuca Canyon gold. Here, too, Frank took a liking to Emily, a captain's daughter who chased dust devils, square danced, and spelled well.

In Arizona, Frank's father was the sergeant in charge of testing the Army's early drones. His mother worked hard to keep the family happy, healthy, and together. For Frank and his three brothers, the friendships and vast spaces of Fort Huachuca made it the perfect playground. Then in 1963, when his father received orders for Vietnam and told the family it was time to move again, Frank was so alarmed he wrote President Kennedy to ask that the orders be canceled.

Tumbleweed Forts celebrates a youngster's joy in a desert full of life. It's a story of a soldier's duty, a family's love, and a boy's need for a sense of home when everything is changing around him. Tumbleweed Forts is about the people and places no longer in our lives but forever in our hearts.