Fleeing poverty, heartbreak, and the shadow of his famous ancestor, Davy Crockett, young Wesley Foster hops a freight train, leaving home and family far behind.
His journey of self-discovery takes him far from life in rural Arkansas in the years before World War I. He and his buddies ride the rails of America, having grand adventures before joining the US Army.
As young soldiers, they spend the next three-and-a-half years overseas in the Panama Canal Zone, the Caribbean, the Philippines, and China. After eight years, Wesley returns home to his family that had given him up for dead.
Wesley's next stop is northern France. Following intensive training with the British Empire Forces, he is involved in pitched engagements, sniper duty, and night patrols in No Man's Land. After being mustard gassed, he spends a brief reprieve from the "Mad Line" in Paris. Wesley returns to his unit and is thrown into fierce combat during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive. In one battle the carnage is so horrifying, it is called the "Center of Hell."
Join Wesley as he grows up in rural poverty, crisscrosses America in boxcars, engages in secret military operations in America's new territories, and struggles to survive what most thought would be "The War to End All Wars."
About the Author: Edward W. Hudson has a BA in Anthropology from Arizona State University, with an emphasis on archaeology and sociocultural studies. He also studied Spanish as a second language. Ed could have been a high school teacher, a college professor, an historian, or an archaeologist digging up artifacts in remote places. But he possesses a creative capacity for business as well, which led him to a career in printed packaging that included the pursuit of global business development.
Ed is retired now and lives with his wife in Arizona. However, he is not content with idle time and seeks to give back to family, friends, and former business colleagues from what he has learned and experienced in life. He also continues his research seeking to understand the significance of the connections between the past and the present, and how they shape the future.
This book has been forty years in the making. The Wanderer: The Story of Sgt. Wesley Foster is an historical saga surrounding the life and times of Ed's great-uncle. Set against the backdrop of World War One, which changed the world forever, the book gives voice to Wesley and the forgotten heroes of his generation.
