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'Finding Malone' Brought Author, Career Military Father Together

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - If you're looking for a touching read on this Veterans Day holiday, author Dennis Mansfield's book "Finding Malone" takes a look at really talking with those who've served and perhaps healing rifts.

"Finding Malone" is about locating a veteran whose helmet Mansfield's dad gave him when he was 15. But it's just as much about the relationship between veterans and the family they leave behind.

Dennis' father Bill was a career military man, having served in World War II, Korea and Vietnam.

Finding Malone Author Dennis Mansfield

The father and son had a very strained relationship that eventually resolved as Dennis researched the original owner of the World War I-era helmet.

WCBS 880's Pat Farnack spoke with Dennis Mansfield who said at a time, he hated his father.

"The change with my father and me was a forever change, it really was," Mansfield told Farnack. "It spurred me on to write 'Finding Malone,' which is a story of finding a veteran whose helmet my dad gave me when I was 15. But more than that, it's a parallel story of finding my own father who, in his 70s, became one of my best friends at that moment in time."

"Healing helps forgiveness; forgiveness helps healing," Mansfield said.

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