Every war leaves a mark upon time, as well as the earth upon which it is fought. In Dublin, Georgia, in the spring of 1974, the survivors of wars from the distant past welcomed home the soldiers of the war in Vietnam. The children who would fight another, distant war, were marked for battle by a convergence of forces hidden by a natural disaster that most thought would be remembered as the defining moment of their lifetimes@but it was only the prequel. Life in small towns, and everywhere, was changed@forever. The real war was just beginning.