Absent Friend

In 1970, a Spearfish Lake kid walked into a patch of jungle in Vietnam, and was never seen again. In an era when many people were tired of the war or just didn't care, most were ready to forget about him -- except for his friends, some of whom he'd never met, but who kept the faith anyway. They kept pecking away at the mystery of what happened to their friend long after the world had moved on to other things. A reader comments: "In Absent Friend you tell the part that needs to be told. You remind us of the important things. Things like completing what you start. Things like not letting down those that count on you. And most importantly what it means to live up to what you profess to believe."