SAN GABRIEL VALLEYWIDE NEWS
The South Pasadena Library will host a discussion and book signing with Mary Tillman in regards to her new book, Boots on the Ground by Dusk: My Tribute to Pat Tillman on Monday, September 22 in the Community Room at 7:00 p.m.
Books will be available for purchase at the event, which is free to the public.
Pat Tillman had a very successful college football career at Arizona State where he graduated Summa Cum Laude, was a safety on the Arizona Cardinals with a promising NFL career but in response to the 9/11 attacks he put this on hold to serve his country. He enlisted as a Ranger in the U.S. Army.
On April 22, 2004 Pat was killed in Afghanistan in what was initially portrayed as an ambush by the enemy in which Pat was shot in the head while getting out of a vehicle.
Twelve days later, however, at Pat’s memorial service, his family was told he was killed running up a hill in pursuit of the enemy. For his courageous actions he was awarded a Silver Star. A month and two days after his death, the family learned Pat had been shot three times in the head by his own troops in a “friendly fire” incident.
Seven months after Pat’s death, the Tillmans requested an investigation. All they wanted to know was the truth behind their son’s death.
In the course of three and a half years, there have been six investigations, several inquiries, and two Congressional hearings, many launched largely due to the family's insistence.
However, what really happened remains murky and fraught with contradictions. The Tillmans, and other families of fallen soldiers, are still waiting for the truth to come out.
“Boots on the Ground by Dusk is a beautiful, heartbreaking, and ultimately very inspiring portrait of a magnificent American,” says Jon Krakauer, author of Into the Wild, Into Thin Air, and Under the Banner of Heaven.
The South Pasadena Public Library is located at 1115 El Centro St. in South Pasadena. For more information, please call (626) 403-7332.