Van of Valor

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

‘VAN OF VALOR’ BOOK TELLS NORTH PORT’S STORY OF SACRIFICE, NOW AVAILABLE FOR PRE-ORDER

*Local authors and Purple Heart advocates chronicle 27,000-mile journey, 443 fallen heroes, and the city that became their permanent home*

NORTH PORT, FL – June 8, 2026 – The story that began on the sides of a converted FedEx truck and wound through 48 states has now found its way between the pages of a book. Dr. Kevin P. Wallace and L. Wright WallaceDr. , the husband-and-wife team behind the Van of Valor, have announced that their first book—titled simply Van of Valor—is now available for pre-order ahead of its June 30 release.

For North Port residents, the book is more than a travelogue. It is the official record of the vehicle that now rests in their city as “North Port’s Purple Heart Legacy Memorial,” a permanent walk-through museum bearing 443 names of fallen service members.

The 290-page book chronicles 280 days on the road, 27,106 miles driven, 317 interviews with Purple Heart recipients and Gold Star families, and the four major breakdowns that nearly ended the mission. But at its heart, the authors say, it is a story about home—and about the city that gave them one.

“When we limped into North Port on December 15, 2025, the van was barely holding together,” said Dr. Kevin P. Wallace, a retired Air Force senior master sergeant and Purple Heart recipient. “Three days later, Building Homes for Heroes gave us a mortgage-free home. And then the city did something we never expected—they declared the Van of Valor an official memorial. North Port didn’t just welcome us. North Port became the mission.”

The book weaves together interviews conducted from Manteo, North Carolina, to Billings, Montana, and from the redwoods of California to the converted church in Wallace, Idaho, where the authors finally caught up on writing. Readers will meet:

      Tom Higgins, the Vietnam veteran whose borrowed flak jacket saved his life

      Sergeant Breonna Moffett and Specialist Kennedy Sanders, two Georgia soldiers       killed in the same Jordan drone attack

      Joel Tavera, a blind, amputee Iraq War veteran who took the authors for ice cream

      Floyd Stapp, a Korean War POW whose granddaughter, a Billings bartender, asked      the authors to uncover his story from declassified CIA archives

“This isn’t a book about war,” said Lauren Wright Wallace, an anthropologist and Harvard graduate student who served as the mission’s documentarian. “It’s a book about what war leaves behind. And it’s a book about how communities like North Port can become sacred ground by choosing to remember.”

The Van of Valor originally bore 440 names when the mission concluded. Before parking permanently in North Port, the authors added three more: Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, Sergeant William N. Howard, and Sergeant Edgar B. Torrestovar—a reminder, they said, that “the present keeps giving us new heroes to mourn.”

The City of North Port formally adopted the van as an official memorial site along the National Purple Heart Trail in early 2026. The book’s final chapters describe that ceremony and the home provided by Building Homes for Heroes, with support from Lowe’s, Chase, JPMorgan, and the North Port Police and Fire Departments.

Pre-order Information

Van of Valor will be released on June 30, 2026. Pre-orders are available now through:

https://www.ballastbooks.com/ballast-bookstore/van-of-valor

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/van-of-valor-kevin-p-wallace/1150288571?ean=9781971678252

www.HelpVoV.com

About the Authors

Dr. Kevin P. Wallace is a retired Air Force senior master sergeant, Purple Heart recipient, and veteran of multiple Afghanistan deployments. L. Wright Wallace is an anthropologist, historian, and Harvard graduate student whose debut novel, A Wingman for Miss Universe, was published in April 2026. They live in North Port with their dog, Sunny.

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Note to Editors: High-resolution images of the Van of Valor, the authors, and select book pages are available upon request. Interview requests may be directed to Manteo.Creative.Spot@gmail.com