Rescue from Innocence by Joseph Flint

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MWSA Review

In Rescue from Innocence, author Joseph Flint gives us a hard-to-put-down, action-packed, riveting mystery/thriller based on actual events. The main character, Walter Judge, finds himself embroiled in a web of deceit with money-hungry politicians, brutal thugs, third-world dictators, and investigative reporters trying to get to the bottom of a cauldron of corruption. Judge, a former Army Ranger and Vietnam chopper pilot works for a private helicopter outfit, testing experimental aircraft. Finding himself questioning the motives and legalities of his boss's dealings with a company in Chile, Judge becomes more involved in an effort to stop the activities of greedy men while realizing that he's become an expendable pawn in an intricate international plot. Judge has to outwit forces of evil wanting to destroy him and the love he has found in the midst of all the violence. I recommend this book but buckle up, you are in for a ride. 

MWSA Review by Nancy Panko (June 2018)


Author's Synopsis

Rescue from Innocence is a historical fiction adventure novel inspired by true events. Walter Judge thought he had put the dark days of Southeast Asia behind him. He tries a comfortable life testing aircraft for a small Texas firm when a mysterious call from an old friend hints at trouble. He arranges to meet after her return from an overseas assignment, but she never arrives. His attempt to solve the riddle nearly costs him his life and thrusts him into being the key player in a clandestine project to supply Saddam Hussein with American gunship helicopters. A chance to sidestep disaster in favor of a life-altering love affair is ruined when kidnapping and murder force his continued involvement until he formulates a plan to foil the conspiracy and find the men behind it.

ISBN/ASIN: ISBN-10: 1479799068 ISBN-13: 978-1479799060  ;ISBN-10: 147979905X ISBN-13: 978-1479799053         ;ASIN: B00BN5QZCI
Book Format(s): Hard cover, Soft cover, Kindle, ePub/iBook
Genre(s): Historical Fiction, Mystery/Thriller, Romance
Review Genre: Fiction—Historical Fiction
Number of Pages: 341

Racing Back to Vietnam, A Journey in War and Peace by John Pendergrass

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MWSA Review

In Racing Back to Vietnam, author John Pendergrass tells an interesting story about his experiences as a flight surgeon while stationed at Da Nang Air Base in VietNam from 1971 to 1972, and then goes on to relate that experience with his return to Vietnam to participate in a triathlon in 2016.  

As a flight surgeon, the author had the rare opportunity to fly as a GIB, or the guy in the back seat, of F-4 in actual combat operations. In reading the book, I could feel the author's emotions as he recounted these events. The experiences he had in the air are without a doubt memories that will never fade.  The author's work as a doctor in a wartime environment and descriptions of Da Nang and Vietnam are full of detail, but it's his flying that jump out at the reader.  

After leaving Vietnam in 1972 and returning to his medical practice and family, the author thought he had left Vietnam behind him; however, when an opportunity to participate in a triathlon in Vietnam in 1976 arose, he jumped at it. Now in his seventies, he participated as one of three in the relay portion of the half triathlon.  While he had participated in marathons and triathlons before, he knew his real reason to return to Vietnam wasn't for the race, but to revisit the country.  For the last third of the book author John Pendergrass, through his writing, let's the reader see the changes in the country and his impressions of the Vietnamese people.  Impressions that I believe surprised him.  This is a well written book and should appeal to anyone that is interested in the Vietnam war and in seeing today's Vietnam through the eyes of a returning airman.

MWSA Review by Bob Doerr (June 2018)


Author's Synopsis

In 1971,US Air Force flight surgeon John Pendergrass spent much of his time as a Weapon Systems Operator in the back seat of an F-4 Phantom,racing across the skies of Vietnam.

Forty -five years later he boards an altogether different type of aircraft and heads back to Vietnam for an altogether different kind of race-an Ironman triathlon.

A veteran of Ironman triathlons on six continents, RACING BACK TO VIETNAM follows John's year in combat and his return to Vietnam,revisiting a country that,for him, is bound up in history,memory,and emotion.A memoir of war as seen from the skies and a reflection on life's high adventure,John tries to reconcile the Vietnam he saw from the backseat of a fighter jet with today's modern nation.

ISBN/ASIN: 987-1-57826-699-9
Book Format(s): Hard cover
Genre(s): Nonfiction, History, Memoir
Review Genre: Nonfiction—Memoir/Biography
Number of Pages: 256
 

Through Smoke-Teared Eyes: The Vietnam War I Fought by Johnny F. Pugh

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MWSA Review

In Through Smoke-Teared Eyes: The Vietnam War I Fought, Johnny F. Pugh offers a compelling and often riveting account of his experiences in Cu Chi, Vietnam through the eyes of a combat soldier and, later, as a veteran struggling with PTSD. Pugh’s memoir opens with an account of nightmare, one of the traumatic after-effects of his wartime experience that accompanied him through many decades, then shifts in time back to his introduction to military life, through descriptions of boot camp and his arrival in South Vietnam. In the middle section of the book, Pugh describes his "fog of war," with no certainty of who or where the enemy might be and with little faith in the officers who don’t understand the situation on the ground; more significantly here, he highlights the camaraderie of his fellow soldiers, so that we get to know them as individuals. Then he moves into a gripping account of what appears to be a completely botched mission, “Operation Attleboro,” which left hundreds of his fellow soldiers dead or seriously wounded. Pugh ends his account of his Vietnam days ends with his transfer to the safety of HQ (headquarters) and his return to the States.

Pugh writes with a raw honesty of his wartime experiences and the traumatic personal results of his experience. He writes of the soldiers and officers of the war, their loss of innocence, their heroism, their cowardice. He pays particular homage to those who fought beside him. Writing the book, Pugh admits, was a way for him to heal his soul, a way to figure out what had happened to him in Vietnam. It is a personal story--but he also writes for those of us who were not there, clearly explaining the military operations he was engaged in, his role and that of others, the equipment used, even the history of the famous name of his infantry division, the “Wolfhounds.” Careful to define each acronym he uses, he writes as well for those who are not necessarily versed in military jargon, The inclusion of several photographs--of Pugh, his squad members, the rice paddies of South Vietnam, the choppers that rescued the stranded, dead or wounded—add to the authenticity of his account. This is an often sad but ultimately triumphant tale of one soldier finally overcoming the traumas of war. We should thank Pugh—and also his widow--for the immense effort it must have taken to compose and publish such an account.

MWSA Review by Nancy Arbuthnot (June 2018)


Author's Synopsis

To confront the demons of his past, author Johnny F. Pugh relives the year he spent as an army rifleman battling unseen guerilla fighters in one of the most dangerous places during the Vietnam War, the Iron Triangle. Through his stories and poetry, he shows how it felt to be trapped in a kill zone, enemy bullets just inches from his face, and the mind-numbing terror experienced after being thrown by a land mine explosion while fighting off bloodsucking leeches, vicious mosquitoes, and stifling heat and humidity. 
Through Smoke-Teared Eyes offers an engaging, sometimes bilingual, account of the close friendship Pugh shared with his fellow squad members, learning from them critical survival skills and his own identity as a Chicano. After witnessing numerous atrocities against the Vietnamese peasants at the hands of the American military, he is forced to question his own role as a participant in this bloody war.

ISBN/ASIN: ISBN: 9781532026881/ASIN: 1532026870
Book Format(s): Soft cover, Kindle
Genre(s): Nonfiction, Creative Nonfiction, History, Memoir
Review Genre: Nonfiction—Memoir/Biography
Number of Pages: 310
 

The Solomons Campaigns, 1942-1943: From Guadalcanal to Bougainville, Pacific War Turning Point (Amphibious Operations in the South Pacific in World War II Series, Vol. 2) by William L. McGee

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MWSA Review

William McGee in his book The Solomons Campaigns 1942-1943 provides an incredibly detailed and exhaustingly researched look at what some sailors from the campaign regard as a “forgotten little war.”  From the early struggle to claw Guadalcanal back from the Japanese to the more polished and less opposed island hopping operations later in the war, McGee does an excellent job of relating the issues faced by those in command of not only the combatant ships, but also the commanders of the aircraft, transport vessels, and Marine units that took part in the campaign.

I especially enjoyed how the author, himself a veteran of this very campaign, seasoned his work with “sea stories” from his fellow veterans, especially those on the smaller, “unsung” transport ships like the LST’s and LCI’s.  The end result is a work that not only tells the history of the geographical area during the war, but of the men who fought and sometimes died there as well.  I was also impressed by the level of detail spread across all the various facets of warfare involved.  There was equal time given to large ship actions, small ship actions, PT boat raids, and dogfights involving handfuls of aircraft.  Platoon and company size actions were discussed along with Corps-sized movements.  It was expected that there would be discussions about sailors, soldiers, Marines, and airmen.  Less expected but much appreciated was the time given to corpsmen, Seabees, Pioneers, and other support forces, without whom there would have been no victory.

Those who enjoy historical work on World War Two, especially in the Pacific, will appreciate this book, as will those with a  general interest in naval history or a particular interest in Admiral “Bull” Halsey, destroyer combat, Marine Raiders, or Navy Seabees.

Review by Rob Ballister (May 2018)


Author's Synopsis

On the morning of 7 August 1942, eight months to the day after the surprise Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the U.S. 1st Marine Division, under MGen Alexander A. Vandegrift, landed on the islands of Tulagi and Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands. This was the beginning of the bloody and brutal six month Battle for Guadalcanal. 

For those who were there, Guadalcanal is not only a name; it is an emotion, recalling desperate fights in the air, furious night naval battles, frantic work at supply or construction, savage fighting in the sodden jungle, nights broken by screaming bombs and deafening explosions of naval shells.

Under one cover, military historian William L. McGee details all the campaigns fought in the Solomon Islands in the Pacific theater of war — from Guadalcanal to Bougainville — and summarizes the valuable lessons learned from these bloody battles.

"Enough gripping drama, heroism and heartbreak in McGee's almost encyclopedic work to supply Hollywood with material for a century." -Marine Corps League

“As a Marine who landed on Guadalcanal on 7 August 1942,  Bill McGee’s The Solomons Campaigns, 1942-1943 is the most comprehensive book I’ve read on the subject. It covers all the campaigns — Southern, Central and Northern — and sums up the tough lessons learned. It brings back memories of those very dark days. Semper Fi.” -William J. Carroll, President, Guadalcanal Campaign Veterans

■ Part I, The Southern Solomons – Covers the bloody six-month struggle for Guadalcanal. The relationship between ground fighting, naval warfare and air combat is described in considerable detail as first one side and then the other gains the advantage. Seven major naval engagements are recounted, including America’s severe defeat at Savo Island and decisive victory in the three-day naval battle of Guadalcanal – another notable turning point.

■ Part II, The Central Solomons – Chronicles the amphibious operations in the New Georgia Islands group, including the five separate landings at Rendova, Segi Point, Viru Harbor, Wickham Anchorage, and Rice Anchorage, plus three more significant naval battles and the occupation of Vella Lavella.

■ Part III, The Northern Solomons – Recounts the seizure of the Treasuries, the Choiseul Diversion and the Bougainville campaign, plus two more significant naval battles.

■ Lessons Learned – Summarizes the many valuable lessons learned during all the Solomons Campaigns, ranging from logistics support and force requirements to offshore toeholds and leapfrogging, most becoming doctrine in later Pacific campaigns.

688 pp, 310 b/w photos, 44 maps, plus charts, notes, appendices, bibliography, and index. Paperback 6”x9”, $39.95.

Other Titles in the Series: 
The Amphibians Are Coming! Emergence of the ‘Gator Navy and its Revolutionary Landing Craft (Vol. 1)
Pacific Express: The Critical Role of Military Logistics in World War II (Vol. 3)

ISBN/ASIN: 978-0-9701678-7-3
Book Format(s): Soft cover
Genre(s): Nonfiction, History
Review Genre: Nonfiction—History
Number of Pages: 688
 

From Both Sides Now by Harry Stevenson

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MWSA Review

From Both Sides Now provides the rare insight of author Harry Stevenson's experiences as an Army officer thrust into combat in Vietnam and his subsequent transition into the Air Force as a fighter pilot.  While his experiences in Vietnam alone were fascinating and made an interesting story, being an air force vet myself, I found Stevenson's career in the Air Force fascinating.  It seemed to me he was one of the few officers with whom the Air Force got it right and utilized his talents to their full potential. Jump qualified and very experienced with army combat tactics, Stevenson had assignments in the F-4 and A-10 with a focus in close air support, along with a variety of joint jobs that had him coordinating tactics and policy between the Army and the Air Force. Anyone with an interest in learning more about the Vietnam war, careers in the military, and family life in the service of one's country should find this book interesting. After reading this book, one can't help but want to thank Colonel Stevenson for his service to the United States.

Review by Bob Doerr (July 2018)


Author's Synopsis

From hot, sweaty, often bloody infantry battles in Vietnam to high-altitude supersonic fighter engagements in the Middle East lasting only seconds, Steve Stevenson mixed two disparate careers into one.  Not appreciated at home, Steve and the Vietnam era troops performed every challenging task assigned.  Many of the painful Vietnam problems were corrected in Middle East conflicts twenty years later by senior leaders who fought as junior officers in Vietnam.

Known by his Air Force call sign “Grunt” in F-4s, he pushed the importance of and need for Close Air Support for the ground troops, to an extent that occasionally got him in trouble.  Steve takes you into the life of young paratroopers in combat, into the mostly untold lives and actions of US Special Forces, into the rowdy squadrons and cramped cockpits of fighter pilots.  Along the way, he preaches Jointness and inter-service cooperation, accepted by the “boots on the ground”, but often opposed by the parochialism of senior leaders in all services.  The generals often talk a good game until it comes down to their dollars. 

From the Vietnam War, Yom Kippur War, Turkish Invasion of Cyprus, Desert Storm to “black” special ops, Steve volunteered for or was at the right place at the right time.  He captures the comradeship, dedication, and patriotism of these warriors and their families, raucous parties and the heartbreak of friends lost.

Steve believed people were his greatest assets and rewarded his troops, sometimes when it may have been unauthorized.  But, higher headquarters never knew.  Ms. Joni Mitchell’s 1967 song “Both Sides Now” seems a perfect summary of Steve’s unique career.


ISBN/ASIN: 978-0-692-71989-3
Book Format(s): Soft cover, Kindle
Genre(s): Memoir
Review Genre: Nonfiction—Memoir/Biography
Number of Pages: 396
 

Sins of the Fathers by Joseph Badal

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MWSA Review

When I finished Death Ship, the fifth in the Danforth Saga, Bob Danforth retired again and I didn’t suspect that I’d soon have the pleasure of reading book six, Sins of Our Fathers.

If, like me, you’ve read the previous adventures of the Danforths, you most likely consider Bob and Liz, their son Michael, his wife Mariana and son Robbie as good friends. Bob Danforth may be retired but when his family and his former boss need help, he answers the call.

Joseph Badal develops real-to-life characters and intricate plots revolving around perilous scenarios. He takes us across America, the Middle East and Mexico in search of terrorists. From kidnappings, terrorist attacks and the Mexican cartel, Badal takes us into the innards of timely, and believable, threats to peace.

If you like thrillers, I highly recommend the entire Danforth series. Badal meets the challenge of sustaining freshness and his trademark adventure and suspense.

Reviewed by Pat McGrath-Avery (April 2018)


Author's Synopsis

The Danforth family returns in this sixth edition of the Danforth Saga. Sins of the Fathers takes the reader on a tension-filled journey from a kidnapping of Michael and Robbie Danforth in Colorado, to America’s worst terrorist-sponsored attacks, to Special Ops operations in Mexico, Greece, Turkey, and Syria. This epic tale includes political intrigue, CIA and military operations, terrorist sleeper cells, drug cartels, and action scenes that will keep you pinned to the edge of your seat.
Joseph Badal’s 12th novel is complex, stimulating, and un-put-down-able. You will love his heroes and hate his villains, and you will root for the triumph of good over evil.
 This is fiction as close to reality as you will ever find.

ISBN/ASIN: B0764KCDR8
Book Format(s): Soft cover, Kindle
Genre(s): Fiction, Mystery/Thriller
Review Genre: Fiction—Mystery/Thriller
Number of Pages: 399
 

Death of an Assassin: The True Story of the German Murderer Who Died Defending Robert E. Lee by Ann Marie Ackermann

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MWSA Review

Death of an Assassin is a well-researched history of a murder that occurred in Germany in 1835 that remained a cold case for 37 years.  The author intertwines the German crime scene with highlights of Robert E. Lee's early years and brings players from both continents together in Lee's first battle experience.  The book includes extensive appendices, chapter notes, Bibliography, and an Index.

Review by Nancy Kauffman (April 2018)

Author's Synopsis

From the depths of German and American archives comes a story one soldier never wanted told. The first volunteer killed defending Robert E. Lee’s position in battle was really a German assassin. After fleeing to the United States to escape prosecution for murder, the assassin enlisted in a German company of the Pennsylvania Volunteers in the Mexican-American War and died defending Lee’s battery at the Siege of Veracruz in 1847. Lee wrote a letter home, praising this unnamed fallen volunteer defender. Military records identify him, but none of the Americans knew about his past life of crime. This story tells American military history in an exciting true crime format.

ISBN/ASIN: 1606353047
Book Format(s): Hard cover, Kindle, ePub/iBook
Genre(s): Nonfiction, History
Review Genre: Nonfiction—History
Number of Pages: 204
 

Wonderful Flying Machines by Barrett Beard

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MWSA Review

This well-written book is not just an interesting read; it is both historic and inspiring. It delivers insight into how a few special people (American Exceptionalism) changed history for the better, and how they paid a high price for doing the right thing, for disrupting the status quo.

The history of aviation progress followed that model: the Wright Brothers with their bicycle shop and Glen Curtiss with his reliable engines and better designs. The small band of Navy officers (Admirals Byrd and Moffit, and Commander George Noville) who set records and brought aviation to the fleet were similar. There was General Billy Mitchell, who was court-martialed for daring to show that his ragtag bombers could sink battleships. Names like Jimmy Doolittle and Kelly Johnson also come to mind.
The first part of the book writes this history, featuring Captain Frank Erickson and Captain William Kossler. This is the history of helicopters. The research is extensive, built on several failed efforts to tell the tale, and hundreds of cited documents and interviews.
The book starts small and personal. Lt. Erickson was the duty officer at Pearl Harbor on December 7th. The first bombs came down at 0753 and the world changed. Erickson witnessed the deaths of more than two thousand men within a radius of a mile and a half, and he watched helplessly as thousands more wounded and oil-covered victims struggled ashore. His immediate duty was flying patrols in the few planes that survived the raid—unarmed J2F and JRS scout planes. He felt helpless, but his greatest fear was not the war itself. It was that its duration would keep him in the Pacific, unable to pursue his dream of a way to rescue victims at sea, using helicopters.

It proved to be a long and rocky road. The helicopters of the era were barely able to fly. They had some promise for ASW work but could not hope to sink a submarine even if they found one. The war was over before they managed to show that helicopters with dipping sonar could track the best German submarines, XXIs with a submerged speed of 15 knots in 1946.
Unfortunately, that demonstration ended with the helicopter “getting dunked.” It didn’t have enough power to stop its descent to the deck of an LST. Both the copter and the sonar gear were lost. Rescue demonstrations were also spotty. Hydraulic hoists helped, but a heavy “victim” was about as likely to pull the copter down as the converse. A long dry spell followed, save for things like MASH in Korea and one critical Coast Guard mission. Helicopters proved indispensable for icebreakers. Ship’s captains would not give them up, and in at least one case, Byrd’s “High Jump” December 1946 mission, a single helicopter might have saved an entire fleet from the worst pack ice in Antarctic history or at least prevented the mission from being canceled.

Then came Vietnam, with its incredible stories of rescues of downed airmen under heavy fire behind enemy lines. To me, these stories were the best part of the book. The only chance of survival or avoiding horrific treatment in a POW camp came from helicopters. The NVA used our downed airmen as bait to target rescue aircraft. The rescuers came anyway. No one was abandoned. This was perhaps the brightest part of the American Vietnam experience, one marked by impossible rescues like BAT-21 (the greatest losses) and Spectre-22 (the most people rescued).

What’s missing from this book is the Army’s airmobile story which centered on helicopters. That changed the nature of war, but this book’s focus is on the Coast Guard. It convincingly makes the case that it was the Coast Guard that inspired, wet nursed, and nurtured the helicopter. Without that, the rest of this history would not have happened. Thus, the book’s focus is on copters as “fishers of men,” as lifesaving tools “that others may live.”
The book notes that the 42% of the U.S. Navy’s crews operate helicopters. That surprised me. What surprised me more was that only 29% of U.S. Army aircraft are attack helicopters. So perhaps it is true that helicopters did do more “saving” and “preventing” than “killing.” Interesting to ponder.

Is there anything I didn’t like about this book? The writing and editing is first rate, but I thought the production was substandard. I expected better from the prestigious Naval Institute Press. Better paper, larger fonts, a sharper cover. Small things, perhaps, but they make a difference.
I recommend the book.

Reviewed by John D. Trudel (April 2018)


Author's Synopsis

The story of the helicopter and its creator, Igor Sikorsky, and chief promoter, a young Coast Guard lieutenant, Frank Erickson, closely parallels that of Wilber and Orville Wright and their first flying machine. A small cadre of courageous visionaries, joining with Erickson, also risked their lives and careers on a dream. Dubbed "Igor's Nightmare" the helicopter brought derision and ridicule on its few supporters. The pioneers' story demonstrates the problems encountered by the personalities involved and their eventual strengths in overcoming adversity and overwhelming opposition in developing the helicopter for naval service (Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard). Erickson, with his friend and mentor, Coast Guard Captain William Kossler, undaunted by their lack of support, fought with single-minded intensity to establish the helicopter as a vital aviation tool. Kossler died in the project's infancy leaving Erickson undefended to suffer in disgrace for nearly a decade following. However, Erickson endured and did live to see his efforts succeed when the helicopter revolutionized, among its many eventual tasks foreseen by him, the saving of millions of lives worldwide, Erickson's first dream.

ISBN/ASIN: 1-55750-086-X
Book Format(s): Hard cover, Kindle
Genre(s): Nonfiction, History, Biography, Reference
Review Genre: Nonfiction—History
Number of Pages: 240
 

A Diary for 1849 by Barrett Beard

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MWSA Review

Diarist Elihu Burritt Beard takes the reader back in time to the 1849, a little more than a decade before the Civil War. Having lived in Ohio and Indiana, he captures his everyday activities as a twenty-four-year-old college student within the context of the main American societal issues of his time and the expansion of “America” westward.

A 21st century reader is faced with the realities of illnesses rarely experienced today as the author weaves widespread cholera into the account of 1849. Its cause was unknown. His string of respiratory ailments throughout the year makes us appreciate we now know about bronchitis, and don’t particularly fear tuberculosis. Medicine at the time was primitive compared to today, and makes the reader appreciate the extent to which medical knowledge has advanced since Mr. Beard wrote his diary.

Most interesting is his mention of a new transcontinental railroad that was being discussed as a proposed infrastructure project, although it was not constructed until the 1860s. He attends church services regularly and supports temperance. Religion plays a significant role in his life and his love of poetry comes through as he captures poems of Pope, Longfellow, and others in his diary. He also writes a few poems himself. The social gatherings of this young man also give him pleasure. Although he vacillates between loving and hating his academic life, he knows he must attain an education.

Elihu left us his thoughts about slavery and the subjugation of women, and made it known he did not understand how anyone could be kept in a subservient position in society. His anti-slavery beliefs were honed by his activities assisting his father, who shielded and helped runaway slaves. In this diary, Elihu strongly censures the evil of man’s inhumanity, including any law he considers unjust.

This diary provides a view to the past that lets us relive the excitement of the coming railroad, the changes brought by increasing industrialization, and the adventure of a land that had seemingly endless horizons—all on the threshold of monumental social changes.

Barrett Thomas Beard, Elihu’s great-great-grandson, brought this diary to us. We should thank him.

Review by Patricia Walkow (March 2018)


Author's Synopsis

A Diary for 1849, written by Elihu Burritt Beard and edited with revealing evidence by great-great-grandson, Barrett Thomas Beard, reveals the story of the American frontier's middle road--Indiana and Ohio--in the great Manifest Destiny. These contemporary, personal observations of a 24-year-old student completing college open a small window through which the modern reader views thoughts about the state, slavery, church, health, education, and social intercourse in mid-nineteenth century America. The practice of medicine teeters between sophistry and learned inquiry. Cholera reaps a broad swath of death in the frontier civilizations. Robust evangelism blends established religious orders. Emancipation is a wound on the nation festering without cure. The loom of war creeps up on the political horizon. The young man, Elihu, sees it all, records it and reacts. Elihu, in private thoughts, condemns man's evil to man. Civil War more than a decade away is already an issue blisteringly debated. Through the teachings of Friends Church, Elihu develops a deep conviction for rights of individuals. With boldness, he embraces equal rights for all, including women and slaves. He abhors demeaning of mankind with punitive laws or liquor--both made by men. This is the attitude he took west to California with the Gold Rush, there to become an influence on a new frontier in the last great leap in America's destiny.

ISBN/ASIN: ASIN: BOOGNIJB94  ISBN: 0-7392-0178-6
Book Format(s): Kindle
Genre(s): Nonfiction, History, Memoir
Review Genre: Nonfiction—Memoir/Biography
Number of Pages: 114
 

The Shadow Tiger: Billy McDonald, Wingman to Chennault by William C McDonald III

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Click on cover image to purchase a copy

MWSA Review

The Shadow Tiger, Wingman to Chennault by William C. McDonald III and Barbara L. Evenson is the story of the life of William C. “Billy” McDonald Jr., written by his son as a tribute to his father whom he calls an unsung hero, “a man who contributed to world history.”

I was attracted to this title because I was familiar with the name Chennault, as in U.S. Army Brigadier General Claire Lee Chennault, legendary founder of the Flying Tigers. To many of us, the name Flying Tigers conjures up images of painted Shark nosed P-40 Warhawks flown by a group of American volunteer pilots in China fighting against a much more modern Japanese Air Force that was invading China in 1936 before the beginning of World War II. However, that part of the story is not part of the narrative in this book which is a prelude to that glorious history.

This an excellent reference book on the life of one of the American volunteer pilots who helped Chennault from the beginning, training Chinese pilots to fly before and during World War II. The authors call it an attempt to “portray events, locales, and conversations from the letters, magazines, and first-hand stories available to us. We have relied on personal accounts where ever possible.”

Having been passed over for a promotion to lieutenant in his late twenties, McDonald along with a colleague and fellow member of a flying demonstration group (the Flying Trapezers), fellow pilot Sargent Luke Williamson, had to face the prospect of no further promotions in the Army. Captain Chennault, who had known them for years, advised them to take the offer of a Chinese Nationalist General Mow Pang-Tsu to teach Chinese pilots to fly, using advanced U.S. military techniques and American planes. 

A few months later, Chennault’s dispute over air war policy with the brass found him without prospects for promotion and retiring as a Captain to take a contract with China to go travel there and evaluate the Chinese Air Force.

There are many colorful historical figures that the American volunteers interacted with, the most famous being Madam Chaing Kai-shek, who became Chennault’s boss. Upon first meeting with Chennault in China “Madam Chaing expressed concern about Chennault’s rank as Captain, considering he would be dealing with admirals and generals.” Chennault made a reference to the prospect of asking a cousin, a former governor of the state to appoint him as a colonel in the state militia, and Madam Chaing said “that will do nicely.” So he attained the rank at that moment and there is no evidence of him being appointed to the state militia.

The book chronicles the period when they were training Chinese pilots under their contract with the Chinese Air Force. Billy McDonald’s exploits as Colonel Chennault’s right-hand man and advisor come into sharp focus, including his time as a ferry pilot carrying supplies.

The book is heavily illustrated with Cartoons, photos, and copies of letters from the day—so much that they seem to get in the way at times with the flow of the narrative. Once the reader gets used to the style it is easier to follow the flow. And all this information is relevant to setting the context and enriching the historical account.

For anyone interested in aviation history, especially American aviation history and World War II, this would be an invaluable book.

Reviewed by Ronald Wheatley (April 2018)


Author's Synopsis

The Shadow Tiger: Billy McDonald, Wingman to Chennault is the story of a remarkable career, and a man who bore witness to some of the twentieth century’s historic events and pivotal characters. It traces Billy McDonald, Jr’s flying career beginning at  Maxwell AFB on "The Three Men on a Flying Trapeze" with Claire Chennault. Much of the book focuses on McDonald’s time in China where he worked  with Chennault to lay the foundation for the Flying Tigers, served as a combat pilot while  training the Chinese Air Force, and made hundreds of life saving flights through the Himalayas. Through McDonald’s own letters and photographs, readers will experience first-hand adventures including the Japanese invasion of Hong Kong, a spy mission to pick up Chennault in Japan, a harrowing landing in the middle of the Yangtze River, and countless flights ferrying world-famous passengers and high-value cargo for the China National Aviation Corporation.

ISBN/ASIN: 978-1-945333-05-7       978-1-945333-02-6
Book Format(s): Hard cover, Soft cover
Genre(s): Nonfiction, History
Review Genre: Nonfiction—History
Number of Pages: 338
 

The Devil's Horseshoe by Gary Best

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Author's Synopsis

Two young crop dusters from the San Joaquin Valley of California are recruited by the air force to fly C-47s during WW II in the China-Burma-India Theater of war. The people they meet and the relationships forged are tested daily by the stress and pressure faced by aviators who fly the twin engine, unprotected, unarmed, glider-towing cargo planes, the Skytrain.

ISBN/ASIN: ISBN: 978-1-55571-886-2
Book Format(s): Soft cover
Genre(s): Historical Fiction
Review Genre: Fiction—Historical Fiction
Number of Pages: 333
Link to Book on Amazon:
http://www.hellgatepress.com
 

Mission of Honor by Jim Crigler

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MWSA Review

Mission of Honor is an amazing memoir that tells a personal story about the author that exposes his flaws, immaturity, relationships, courage, sense of duty, and ultimate redemption. It took me back to the 1960s and 1970s, when our country was fractured by the Vietnam War and, in a concise, economical fashion, it told the history of that time. An underlying theme was that the United States shipped off hundreds of thousands of young people to a war zone with no regard for the changes that would occur in them and no respect for their sacrifices. The author reminds us that these young people returned to a country that more often showed them scorn than honor.
The story takes us on a young man's journey. He goes from being an irresponsible teenager who impregnates two women and does not "do the right thing." He is sent to Vietnam as a helicopter pilot and becomes an American hero. You begin to see him change through that experience, but not enough to gain complete redemption. It isn't until years later that he finds redemption and becomes a man of character.

This had to be an extremely difficult book for Mr. Crigler to write, but the payoff for him in the writing must have been huge. As a reader, I found the book cathartic and renewed my pride in my service in Vietnam.

The only thing that detracted from the reading was the less-than-stellar writing style. It was obvious that the author is not a professional writer. The book had many grammatical errors and poor word choices. But, despite this, I still enjoyed Mission of Honor and highly recommend it.

Review by Joe Badal (March 2018)


Author's Synopsis

Most of us never get to test ourselves in combat. As UH-1 Helicopter pilot flying in the jungle highlands of South Vietnam, Warrant Officer Jim Crigler and the men he flew with were tested daily. Coming of age in the late 1960s and early 1970s was challenging for most young men of that era. Throw in drugs, free love, draft notices, the Vietnam War and a country deeply divided, and you have one of the most important books of this genre. This true story is a raw, bold, introspective autobiography where the author openly wrestles with his personal moral dilemma to find meaning and purpose in his life. He calls it his "Mission of Honor."
 

ISBN/ASIN: 978-1-784521-08-0
Book Format(s): Soft cover, Kindle
Genre(s): Nonfiction, Memoir, Biography
Review Genre: Nonfiction—Memoir/Biography
Number of Pages: 305

The Assassins by Gayle Lynds

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MWSA Review
 

Review Missing
 

Author's Synopsis

Six master assassins, each a legend in the dark corners of international espionage, banded together to steal a fortune in the midst of a war zone. But the mission went tragically wrong, and they retreated into the shadows―until now…

Former military spy Judd Ryder is walking in his own Washington, D.C. neighborhood when he spots someone coming out the front door of his home―who looks just like him, and is wearing his clothes. Just as Ryder starts to trail him, the imposter is killed in a hit-and-run that’s no accident. Was the man the intended victim, or Ryder himself?
Ryder learns that a link to his double’s murder is an infamous Cold War assassin: Code name, the Carnivore. Two of the last people to see the Carnivore were Ryder and CIA trainee Eva Blake, and someone is using them to lure him out. Now, from D.C. all the way to Baghdad, the league of assassins will wage a final battle―even against one another―in a death match for Saddam Hussein’s long-missing billion-dollar fortune. And Judd and Eva are caught in the crossfire...

 

Edge of Valor by John Gobbell

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MWSA Review
The story begins on 9 August 1945, a date marking the end of the Japanese Empire and the end of WWII. USS Maxwell (DD 525), flagship of Destroyer Squadron 77 is part of a group of cruisers and destroyers protecting the battleship Iowa, which, after a day of shelling Hitachi, Japan, is withdrawing to the east. What is so important about the date? At 1102 hours Nagasaki, Japan was destroyed by the United States’ second atomic bomb, and Japan was forced to face defeat — but terms of surrender take time to arrange, providing ample opportunities for mischief and intrigue by our ally Joseph Stalin et. al.

As the sun sets on this fateful day, Commander Todd Ingram, the exhausted captain of the Maxwell, and Captain Jeremiah T. (Boom Boom) Landa, the squadron’s commodore, are standing n Maxwell’s bridge watching the sunset. Word of the second atomic bomb has reached the fleet, and everyone is wondering if the war is finally over. 

Joseph Stalin knew Japan has to surrender, and he makes a last minute grab for a piece of the Empire’s pie.

Maxwell’s executive officer, Lieutenant Commander Eldon (Tubby) White, enters the bridge with a message. The Soviet Union has declared war on Japan, invaded Mongolia, and plans to occupy one of the main Japanese islands.

The author weaves a complex tale encompassing the remainder of 1945, starting with events leading up to Japan’s formal surrender. A surrender opposed by elements of the Japanese military because surrendering violated the code of bushido. After the formal surrender, Ingram is sent on a top secret mission without being told its real purpose, and finds himself a pawn in a game between the NKVD and the OSS, with guidance (misguidance?) provided by the State Department. During the mission and afterwards, he encounters Soviet duplicity. In addition to naval action, the tale includes a double agent, two love stories, and lots of intrigue. 

Edge of Valor is a story built around real events and historical facts — Japanese Unit 731 for example. 

Interplay between characters is reminiscent of books authored by W.E.B. Griffin.

Edge of Valor is the fifth novel in the Todd Ingram series, which presents the author with a dilemma—how much of the story already told must be retold? In the case of Edge of Valor, the author thankfully provided a list of names and titles at the front of the book. A list I found very helpful.

This is an excellent, accurate, well-written and plotted historical novel. I highly recommend Edge of Valor.

Reviewed by: Lee Boyland (2015)


Author's Synopsis

EDGE OF VALOR is the fifth thriller by John J. Gobbell featuring the World War II exploits of Cdr. Todd Ingram, commanding officer of the destroyer USS Maxwell (DD 525) who saves his ship when it is hit by a kamikaze off Okinawa. For repairs, they pull into Kerama Rhetto, Okinawa, where they receive news of the war’s end. 

Ingram expects to be shipped home like the rest of his crew but instead receives orders to fly to Manila, where he is met by Brig. Gen. Otis Dewitt, an Army buddy from his days on Corregidor who is now intelligence aide to Gen. Richard K. Sutherland, chief of staff to General MacArthur. On Ingram’s C-54 are sixteen Japanese senior military and civilian diplomats who meet with Sutherland to discuss formal surrender arrangements. Two days later the terms are settled and Ingram is working with one of the Japanese delegates to ensure that mines laid in Tokyo Bay are neutralized, allowing for safe passage of more than two hundred Allied ships.

While Ingram is promised that he can attend the surrender ceremony on board the USS Missouri (BB 63), DeWitt, in concert with the State Department, has an ulterior motive and sends Ingram to Karafuto (Sakhalin Island, according to Soviet maps) to defuse a Soviet attack on Hokkaido, the northernmost home island of Japan. Ingram’s old adversary, Edward Dezhnev, is the brigade commander responsible for laying siege to a Japanese holdout garrison in Toro, a natural jumping-off place for an attack on Hokkaido.

Also in Toro, DeWitt explains, is Walter Boring, a Red Cross representative holding two crates of overwhelming photographic evidence of Japan’s experiments on live human beings in China. Ingram is expected to return with those crates, but how can he when Boring is being protected by the Japanese garrison in Toro, where Dezhnev and his troops stand ready to overpower them at any moment?

As his shipmates prepare to return to their loved ones, Ingram’s war continues. Three weeks earlier he had been fighting the Japanese, and the Russians were supposed to be friends. Now he doesn’t know whom to trust.

 

Emmerspitz, 1938 by David Andrew Westwood

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MWSA Review

David Andrew Westwood has written another historical fiction about the impact of war on people in Emmersmitz, 1938.  It is the story of three adventurous young British girls who set out to have an adventure with old family friends in Austria. 

It is a revealing portrait of the changes on society caused by political ambition and war.  The girls find their old friends will not be friends in the future.  Along the way one young lady finds love, loses it, but saves a national Jewish treasure that she didn't even fully comprehend.

It is a good book and highly recommended to lovers of history, especially military history.

Reviewed by: Michael D. Mullins  (2015)


Author's Synopsis

Over the summer of 1938, three spoilt English girls take a trip to Austria to visit the sons of family friends. They hope to recreate the enjoyment of the boys’ visit to Britain two years earlier, but in the intervening two years things have changed, and for the worse. Austria has voted to become part of Germany, a Third Reich run by an ever-increasingly powerful Hitler. 

Even the small Austrian town of Emmerspitz is affected by the spread of Nazism, and it seems that everyone there has their secrets. Without meaning to, the girls discover the darker side of their friends’ lives, and the mountain itself hides the largest secret of all.

 

Charentin, 1918 by David Andrew Westwood

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MWSA Review

David Andrew Westwood tells a story about a young man who lies about his age to fight for his beliefs and country in World War I.

The story follows him through his youth, made complicated by his physical challenge, with all its ups and downs.

The story melds the impact of war on families, the horrors of "modern warfare" in the first major world war, and the results of the war on those fighting it.

It is emotional, intriguing and well written. I highly recommend this novel for anyone seeking a better understanding of the world's environment and the pain of battle during the period over which World War I occurred.

Reviewed by:Michael D. Mullins


Author's Synopsis

Arthur Wheatcroft, a hearing-impaired teen who works with his father on New Zealand’s railways, is content to sit out the war in the belief that he is not wanted. But his experience with trains is needed at the front, and he is recruited to train in England as an officer in the Royal Engineers.

In a town on the River Somme in France, schoolteacher and widow Anneliese Palyart is preparing to evacuate her frightened pupils to a small village away from the fighting. She has lost not only her husband to the war but also her will to live, and she holds no real hope that they will survive.

Meanwhile, General Major of German artillery Ernst Fleischer has been in the forefront of attacks across Belgium, and now it is France’s turn to face his cannon’s wrath. He intends to annihilate anything that stands in the way of his armor and his ambition.

All three are destined to meet on the latest battlefield: Charentin. But why is Arthur found wearing a German uniform and denied a British military burial?

 

Yankee in Atlanta by Jocelyn Green

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MWSA Review

In Yankee in Atlanta, author Jocelyn Green has given uIn Yankee s another fascinating look at life, death, and love during the American Civil War. This third book in Green’s Heroines Behind the Lines: Civil War series is a must read for those who enjoy historical fiction and romance.  The author’s heroin is indeed a Yankee trapped in Atlanta during the waning days of the Civil War. With Sherman on the steps of Atlanta, scarce food throughout the city, and suspicious eyes everywhere, Jocelyn Green has staged a setting that can’t help but grab the reader’s attention.  I found this book enjoyable, and I found myself cheering for the “good guys” as the book reached its climax.  If you want to know who those good guys are, read the book.  I recommend it!

Reviewed by: Bob Doerr (2015)


Author's Synopsis

When soldier Caitlin McKae woke up in Atlanta after being wounded in battle, the Georgian doctor who treated her believed Caitlin's only secret was that she had been fighting for the Confederacy disguised as a man. In order to avoid arrest or worse, Caitlin hides her true identity and makes a new life for herself in Atlanta.

 

Pass in Review: Country by Brian Utermahlen

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MWSA Review

A fascinating novel that reveals tenacious dedication to country in the midst of personal and political chaos during the Vietnam War. Excellent development of characters and places, written by a West Point graduate and Vietnam Combat Veteran.  The author does a splendid job of mixing the complex Vietnam War era issues together, both at war and home, to create a page turning stew.  He craftily ties in three generations of family military service to America with romances lost and found due to circumstances faced.  This third book in the author's series gives the impression you are "there" -  whether in a Senate hearing chaired by a powerful tyrant, in a violent fire-fight, or with family and loved ones during the socially conflicting 70's.  Scenes written were deeply believable ... and, as the author admits, were meant to mesh fact and fiction together.  An excellent, highly recommended read for anyone desiring a view of American history on a touching level!

Reviewed by: Hodge Wood (2015)


Author's Synopsis

Two brothers - one a helicopter pilot, the other an infantry soldier - and a gutsy, dedicated nurse bring to life the real story of Vietnam that the news media, protestors, politicians and the public never saw or understood.

COUNTRY takes you into the cockpit of the workhorse Huey helicopter to fly with Brad Nolan on combat assaults into hot Landing Zones, medical evacuations and night fire support missions.

COUNTRY puts you on combat patrol with Glenn Nolan, on an American firebase being overrun and in the middle of firefights with North Vietnamese regulars in the jungles of Vietnam and Cambodia.

And COUNTRY also puts you inside the trauma-laden operating rooms of American Surgical hospitals with Jenny Kolarik and her nurses as they fight for the life of every wounded soldier.

Pass in Review - COUNTRY is the third and final book of a three generational saga about the Nolans, a twentieth century military family. This is the story of a family, a nation, an Army and the institution of West Point struggling with challenges to the concept of Duty-Honor-Country during the Vietnam era.

Throughout this series, the fictional Nolan family interacts with actual historical characters including Douglas MacArthur, Dwight Eisenhower, Charles Lindbergh, FDR, Winston Churchill, JFK, Lyndon Johnson, and many others.

Book 1 (DUTY) is about the patriarch - Dave Nolan and covers the period from just before America's entry into World War I until the late 1930s. Pass in Review - DUTY won the 2012 Military Writers Society of America Bronze Award for best Historical Fiction.

Book 2 (HONOR) continues where DUTY left off. The book chronicles the story of both Dave Nolan and his son, Mitch, who is a fighter pilot in Europe during WWII. HONOR received the 2013 Military Writers Society Silver Award for Historical Fiction.

The final book of this trilogy brings to conclusion this saga and finally reconciles many of the personal and professional issues of family and service to country begun in the very first chapter of DUTY. Yet questions still linger about the future of the family, the country and the Academy.

Read the series and enjoy the ride.

 

Secret Assault by Don Helin

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MWSA Review

All the superlative clichés  used in describing extraordinary thrillers are applicable to “Secret Assault” – action packed, exciting, spellbinding, suspenseful, infighting -- just to list a few. Well written, this military thriller kept me up well into the night because I couldn’t put it down until its end.  The characters are well defined and realistic.

Author Don Helin, an Army veteran with years of service in the Pentagon, captures the reader from the start as he describes the shooting of the National Security Adviser, a retiring four-star general, at a Washington area hotel. The general’s protégé, Army Colonel Zack Kelly chases the shooter, a Vietnamese man who is killed in traffic as he tries to escape. Kelly soon learns that several other retired generals and two retired sergeants major has been assassinated or are targeted. A common thread connecting the victims is service with the Americal Division in Vietnam about the time of the My Lai massacre.   

Although working in the nation’s capital, Kelly’s military background includes extensive special operations service, which enhances his ability to rapidly adjust to the face-paced, white knuckled events threatening Vietnam veterans.

As Army, FBI and Washington area police investigators search for the assassins, personal tragedy hits Kelly in an unrelated situation. An old nemesis kidnaps Kelly’s daughter as a ploy to make the colonel suffer a horrific fate for ruining the kidnapper’s career and putting him in prison.

“Secret Assault” is a sequel to Helin’s acclaimed “Devil’s Den” published in 2013.

Reviewed by: Joe Epley (2015)


Author's Synopsis

 The President's National Security Advisor, General Aaron Hightower, is leaving his retirement party when he is gunned down by a Vietnamese assassin. Colonel Zack Kelly gives chase, but the shooter is hit by a truck and killed. Zack and his partner, Rene Garcia, determine that Hightower is the sixth military leader attacked in the past four months. They investigate the chilling possibility the shootings are part of a plot against the government. Things are not as they seem, however. After two more army retirees are murdered, Zack's world is rocked by an event so traumatic; the hunt for the killers turns deadly personal