Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - Medal of Honor recipient, writer and WBEN radio host David Bellavia came out with his new book, Remember the Ramrods: An Army Brotherhood in War and Peace, last month and signed hundreds of books for fans Thursday evening at Barnes and Noble on Transit Road during his second leg of his Western New York book tour.
What is the book about? For Bellavia, it's about family. Family with him at war and family that he's fighting for in Western New York.
"This book is about veterans. We go through a lot of stuff, we deploy. Families go through a lot of stuff, but we have to remember who we are and we have to remember that we have validation, even though the war is over," said Bellavia. "We don't miss war, we miss the relationships and we have to remind our veterans that they're important, they have a purpose and they have validation and that's going to save a lot of veterans lives."
"In 2004, David Bellavia’s U.S. Army unit, an infantry battalion known as the Ramrods—2nd Battalion, 2nd Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division—fought and helped win the Battle of Fallujah, the bloodiest episode of the Iraq War. On November 10, 2004, Bellavia single-handedly cleared a fortified enemy position that had pinned down a squad from his platoon. Fourteen years later, Bellavia got a call from the president of the United States: he had been awarded a Medal of Honor for his actions in Fallujah and would receive America’s highest award for bravery in combat during a ceremony at the White House," according to the book synopsis.
When he was awarded the Medal of Honor, he was reunited with his fellow Ramrods, who arrived to Washington D.C. with the help and funding of the listeners and colleagues of his radio show.
"None of those Ramrods would have been at Washington with me had it not been for the listeners of WBEN. I mean, all those people paid for those soldiers to come from Buffalo to come to DC. So I was overjoyed, I'm still grateful for that. It was a absolutely life changing moment that I'm appreciative of. The listeners of WBEN, Bauerle, Sandy Beach and Tim Wenger, everyone who pushed that. They made that reunion possible," Bellavia says.
For Bellavia, reuniting with his fellow battle buddies was therapeutic, for it was 14 years ago when he saw some of his fellow Ramrods, "It's been forever, but then you just hear the laughs and you get right back to the moments, the barracks and the stories. Combat is transformative, and the effects are largely permanent, but it doesn't have to make you a victim, right? The trauma makes us better and stronger and our service starts when we come home, we serve we come home, it's not just the fight. It's what we do when we come home."
Bellavia also mentions the time and energy it took that went into writing the book, 3,000 word days for six months, with the help of his team, literary agent James D. Hornfischer, who passed last year, publishers at HarperCollins and fellow writers Peter Hubbard, John Bruning in addition to how much he has evolved as a writer since writing his first book and memoir, House to House, detailing his journey in Iraq.
"I couldn't have written this book 15 years ago, it took a lot of maturity. It's a totally different book. But this is behind the scenes of how the Medal of Honor is given. No one has ever told that story before and with the audiobook, we actually use real audio President Trump's phone call is on that audiobook. This is about the growth of a unit and how we went from combat to once again becoming a family again, in peacetime," Bellavia says.
The Barnes and Noble was packed wall-to-wall with fans waiting to get their books signed in time for the holidays, "I've been waiting years to get a book signing [from David] so I'm so excited right now," said Charlene from Pembroke.
Many are excited to start reading his new book as many praised his previous book, "It's probably the only book I've read multiple times. It was the best book I've ever read," said Anthony Nardozzi, who served as an operating room technician in the Army for 12 years.
Bellavia's next book signing is December 16th at a Barnes and Noble in Rochester, Pittsford Plaza, 3349 Monroe Avenue, Rochester, NY at 7:00 p.m.
See the player below to hear my full interview with David Bellavia: