I Visited Heaven, But Lived in Hell: A Wounded Warrior, A Failed Life (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781936539123)

This book makes the perfect gift to send to any soldier, whether in active duty or retired.

Nelson Peregoy was born in 1938 to a 70 year old coal miner father and a 30 year old mother. After graduating high school at l 7, he enlisted into the Army. The first week he was told he had a genius IQ. The second week he was put out of the Army because he was under age.

Peregoy returned to the Army at 27 after a successful sales career and became a highly decorated combat pilot flying 336 low level, night combat missions in Vietnam. A near death experience left Peregoy with chronic PTSD. Self medicating with alcohol to control the nightmares, he soon became an alcoholic.

Peregoy continued life as a highly functioning alcoholic and hid his PTSD for many years. He mastered, and soon became fluent, in 9 foreign languages and left the Army as a two-star general. During the next 15 years, Peregoy reunited with his second wife, stopped drinking and became ultra wealthy. Even with three company jets and homes on three continents, his unlimited money couldn't keep Peregoy sober.

Soon he was drunk, broke and homeless and had lived the life of a derelict. He lived under a bridge in Austin, Texas, for three years and panhandled for enough money to buy his next bottle of wine.

Embarking on his next venture, he partnered with homeless vets in the counterfeiting of their veteran's checks for greater sums of money. He was soon arrested and served 35 months in a federal psychiatric prison hospital in Houston, Texas.

Peregoy says his 161 IQ was far more of a curse than a blessing. With the hope of possibly saving just one person from a life of the hell he has lived, Nelson Peregoy, now in his 70s, has exposed himself and told his incredible story. This tale stretches the belief system of anyone strong enough to cope with the incredibly emotional ups and downs.