Walking Wounded — Stephen J. Thorpe

Sherwood O'Neal and his friend Art Johnson - back from the dead-end of Vietnam and in retreat from the human race - settle in the South Dakota Badlands to heal the wounds of war. Then tragedy shatters their isolation. Sherwood's four-year-old nephew Jamie suddenly becomes an orphan, a castaway as stranded and as in need of help as his uncle. Torn by fears and the love he so desperately wants to give, Sherwood travels to California to meet Jamie - only to regain the courage he thought buried in some far-distant jungle, only to find his heart awakened in the trust of a little boy and in the touch of a loving woman.