Promise Lost: Stephen Joyner, the Marine Corps, and the Vietnam War

The true story of Lieutenant Steve Joyner, who carried all the traits of a "perfect Marine" - character, compassion, determination, patriotism . . . an All-American football star. But then came the harsh and unforgiving realities of combat in Vietnam. How the two worlds he inhabited both connected and conflicted reveals the character of an extraordinary man gone far too soon.
"Promise Lost is a touching, crisply rendered account of a Marine lieutenant who fell heroically in the final, bloody days of the 1968 battle for Khe Sanh while leading a counterattack into the teeth of an overwhelming enemy assault force," writes Vietnam veteran and author Michael Archer. "Yet, the real story here is of Steve Joyner's life, his personal character, and enormous potential. Dan Moore reliably and deftly weaves this poignant tale of friendship, honor and fate; culminating in the agonizing reality that war does not end on the battlefield; but rather back home, often decades later, within a fallen warrior's circle of family and friends."