Barnes & Noble Book Signing
November 2024
Thank you to everyone who came out and got a book!
Book Talk! November 2024
Thank you so much to the Bismarck Veterans Public Library for hosting my book talk, and thank you to those who came out to discuss history, writing and Billy's story!
I encourage you to follow @teereads on Instagram for insightful book reviews and beautiful images. Thank you for the shout out!
Andrew's Story
Andrew Loftesnes has served in the U.S. Marines and as a humanitarian volunteer in Ukraine. He has a master's degree in international relations.
He grew up moving across America and in Okinawa, Japan. He currently lives in Washington D.C.
Aside from reading and writing, he enjoys traveling, hiking, strength training, and perpetually trying to improve his Arabic.
If you have a story that you want to tell, he encourages you to just go for it. Likewise, he urges you to write down your own story, and the stories of those around you to preserve for future generations.
This is his first book.
About the book
There are over 58,000 names on the Vietnam Wall in Washington D.C.
This is the story of one of them.
Most history books focus on the "main characters" of the past, the famous names that everyone already knows. Andrew Loftesnes, the author of Looking For Billy, is interested in the role of normal people in the great events of their time - the ones whose names are hidden between paragraphs. The ones who typically do not get books written about them. Their lives and their stories are just as interesting, and they matter just as much.
This book tells the story of one of those people.
In January of 1969 at the age of 19, William Mooers (Billy) was killed in Vietnam while fighting as a U.S. Marine.
In January of 2023, the original KIA letter which the Marine Corps sent to his parents was re-discovered after being hidden away in a dresser drawer.
The author of this book read that letter, and it sparked something.
Sometimes it takes a while for a story to be told - but now this one has.
