Local author John Ferry would like to make people aware of his latest book: “Vietnam 1966: A Marine’s Combat Tour.”

Born in England in 1944, longtime Warren County resident John Ferry has spent the majority of his life here contributing to the community with his creative works.

In 1965 John Ferry joined the Marine Corps. A graduate from Eisenhower High School, he served a combined total of 23 years in the Army and Marine Corps. In between the two enlistments, Ferry spent eight years working civilian jobs and starting a family. During his 20-year career as Platoon Sergeant in the Active Guard and Reserve, he supported and trained infantry units in northwestern PA, including training at Fort Irwin, Calif., Fort Drum, N.Y., and other posts in Pennsylvania and Virginia. In 1970, Ferry bought a house in Farmington, and then in 2001 he moved to the family home on Jenkins Hill, where he continues to reside.

“Vietnam 1966: A Marine’s Combat Tour” is Ferry’s newly published work that tells the story of his 13-month tour in a combat zone. The story is told in the first person and includes dialogue and descriptive narrative. Ferry pointed out that there are many untold stories from the Vietnam War from a generation that is quickly fading away. His purpose for the book is to tell about what he did back then, sharing the good and the bad about the ultimate test of manhood. The stories are not only of courage and devotion during wartime, but also of compassion, endurance, determination and humor.

The book was first written right after Ferry came out of the Marines in 1968 as a fictional narrative at first, but after life got busy, including his new enlistment in the army, it was 50 years later that he returned to finish writing it. In doing so, he changed it into his first-person true story, able to recall things in full accuracy and permission given by his company. Ferry said he wanted his friends and family to know what he did when he was 22 years old. The book also includes handwritten letters

“I think probably the book is harder to read than it was to write, because there’s some things that happened, and, like I said, I tried to keep it real,” Ferry said.

TELLING STORIES

In 1984, Ferry was asked to try out for a play with Warren Players, and ended up getting the lead. From that time up until 2011, Ferry participated in many Warrens Players’ productions and also appeared in a few of the Library Theater’s summer theater programs. Active in Warren Players for a time, Ferry also directed a few productions, including “The Sunshine Boys” and “Miracle on 34th Street.” Additionally, he directed and starred in his own play, “Heritage,” in 1995. His last show was “Servants of the Wind” (“Heritage” rewritten) in 2011 under the direction of Sue Spencer. For nearly 10 years, Ferry participated in reenactment groups. One was of a unit of the regiment that is portrayed in his book.

“Servants of the Wind” is a story of a Civil War regiment, the 111th Pennsylvania, which was recruited in 1861 from Erie, Warren, Crawford and Elk counties known as one of the ‘300 Fighting Regiments’ of the Union. Published in 2007 he was able to lure readers into the story by way of letters written to and from family during the Civil War, Ferry constructed a rich story based on historical events from the family of James Miller.

“There was a Civil War soldier who grew up in the house that my wife grew up in. His name was James Miller,” Ferry shared. “Miller Hill Road, leading up to Lander is where the Miller farm was located, and my wife grew up on that same farm. A historian from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, researching the Miller letters, had visited the farm while I was away. When I heard about his visit I contacted him, and one thing led to another.”

Ferry touched on the fact that the Lander Church was built in 1861 and the first event that they had at the church was a picnic for the soldiers in the initial militia going off for the war. In celebration of the church’s 130th anniversary in 1991, when he was asked to write something, he chose to write a play.

“It was performed at the church, and since it played well in Lander, I rewrote it again, and we did it twice at the library theater in 1995 and in 2011,” Ferry said.

The name of that play was “Heritage” which later became “Servants of the Wind,” which is also the name for the book Ferry wrote based on Miller’s letters and newspaper articles.

In addition to writing books, Ferry used to write a monthly column for the Times Observer nearly 20 years ago. The column, which was mostly humor, was published as a little paperback book. While in high school, Ferry painted a 36 foot long mural of the re-creation of Pickett’s Charge at Gettysburg which, up until the remodeling of Eisenhower High School, was displayed in the lobby. Ferry has his painting in his home now.

Exploration of other genres for written works has led to a fictional story which is not yet published except on Kindle. “Suburban” is a tribute to “The Greatest Generation” based on the life and travels of his in-laws. Ferry’s father-in-law, Bill Schumann, was also a veteran. The two enjoyed sharing war stories together. His daughter Andrea and her husband David Genun have since bought the 114-acre farm once owned by the Millers and then the Schumanns.

Ferry retired in 1998 and since has written four books and a play, and has remodeled 3 houses, including his own. He has been married to Mary Beth Schumann, now a retired school teacher, for 55 years. They have a son and two daughters; five grandchildren and three great grandchildren. Ferry also has a brother out west and a sister in Dunkirk, N.Y.

Retired Sergeant First Class John Ferry said he is “Retired Army but always a Marine.”

His books can be purchased locally at the Warren County Historical Society as well as on Amazon.