On Sunday over 1,000 people packed into the American Heritage Museum in Hudson for a chance to get a signed copy of Winthrop US Marine Veteran and author Andrew Biggio’s new book, “The Rifle.â€
Biggio shared the stage with over 60 World War II Veterans, many of whom tell their stories in Biggio’s book, for the book signing and meet and greet.
Among the veterans with Biggio was Winthrop resident Rob Oliver. Biggio, Oliver and the other veterans helped Biggio sign books for attendees.
Biggio, a US Marine that served in Iraq and Afghanistan, founded the Boston Wounded Vet that would roar through the area every year to raise money for wounded vets.
Biggio began a quest five years ago to get as many World War II veterans on the record from across the US and from every branch of the military and tell their story.
The result was ‘The Rifle:Combat Stories from America’s Last WWII Veterans, Told Through an M1 Garandâ€, which was released on Amazon last week and quickly became the #1 best selling United States Military Veterans History book on the website.
Biggio got the idea from the book while trying to find out more about his great uncle’s death in Italy in WWII. This research set Biggio down a path of visiting Veterans in their home across the country, opening them up to share their combat stories, some of which they have been unable to do for decades. Biggio documented their stories, eventually got in touch with someone from his great uncle Andrew’s company, and had nearly 100 heroes sign a M1 Garand rifle along the way.
“Over 1,000 people showed up for my first book signing. I dreamed of this since I was a kid,†said an emotional Biggio after the event.