Father-Son duo pens book together

At 19 years old, Howard Myers signed up for the military, thinking it would help him grow up.

Newly married, he thought the United States Army would help him mature and find commitment in his marriage.

He went off to Fort Knox in Kentucky for basic training, then Fort Polk in Louisiana for advanced training before deploying to Vietnam.

One could say this is where Myers’ story begins, but that’s not necessarily true.

In his memoir, “Blind Vision: A Veteran’s Story from Trauma to Triumph,” which he wrote with his son, Longboat Key resident Chad Myers, the story begins with Howard Myers’s upbringing.

“The book is really a story about my life, beginning at a young age, and how my mother was carrying me pregnant at a young age and how she saw my father burned to death before her eyes in a fire accident,” Myers said.

At its core, the book is about Myers’s life, but the bigger picture reveals life lessons, advice and father-son relationships the duo hopes will resonate with readers.

Howard Myers was blinded in Vietnam, so the book tells of his comeback. Because he is blind, Chad Myers was the “ghost writer.” The task proved challenging for both.

“You have to rely on your memory as you’re getting older, and a lot of times, it doesn’t work all that well, but it worked for us, and I think that’s why it took so long,” Howard Myers said.

The project took about five years. Chad Myers was a teacher, but eventually left that career to focus on his partnership with his father. He and his father started a personal development company seven years ago, so this book isn’t their first venture together, but it’s the first time Chad Myers heard a lot of his dad’s stories.

“It’s been painstakingly long, and also just from a child, being a son, and kind of getting this inside view of the family and everything that happened, I’m writing these stories, and I’m just like … it was very difficult to hear some of these stories,” Chad Myers said.

It was actually from the personal development company that the idea for a book sparked. Howard Myers would speak at seminars and workshops, and audience members continuously told him he should write a book.

“My dad is one to admit that he was an extreme risk taker, but he was able to take some of that when he was back from Vietnam and channel it,” Chad Myers said.

So not only did he channel that into this book, but two years after losing his sight in Vietnam, he became a top life insurance salesman with Mass Mutual.

“There’s a lot in the book too about what a person has to go through when they lose something as precious as their eyesight, and what you basically have to do is learn all over again like a small child,” Howard Myers said. “Whether it’s walking, reading, eating, dressing yourself, and I think we shared throughout the book in different stories … how precious eyesight is.”

Whether it’s the loss of a loved one, a divorce or losing a job, the duo is hoping the book sheds light on matters that affect most people.

“The crux is basically giving people hope and inspiration and clues of how to get through difficult times, and then it’s pretty raw and vulnerable as well,” Chad Myers said.