Navy

Title: The Recipient's Son: A Novel of Honor
Author: Stephen Phillips
Genre: Literary Fiction
Reviewer: Betsy Beard

ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): 1612511163

Set at the U.S. Naval Academy in the 1990s, this novel tells the story of a young man's struggle to come to terms with his legacy as the son of a war hero and with doubts about his own courage. Donald Durago's father was killed in the Vietnam War where his actions as a POW earned him the Medal of Honor. That honor provided Durago with an appointment to the Naval Academy, a benefit offered to all children of Medal of Honor recipients. But in his plebe year, Durago struggles under the burden of being worthy of his father s memory. With the help of Master Chief Strong, he begins to identify with his father s sacrifice, his own naval heritage, and Academy life. An incident in his senior year brings on terrifying nightmares that make Durago realize he has not completely dealt with his father s death. However, with the support of his roommate and a pretty JAG officer he finds the confidence to pursue a military career. The Recipient's Son is a stirring tale of a young man coming to grips with the heroism of his father and overcoming his self-doubts to accept the challenge of serving his country on his own terms.

An Academy graduate himself, author Stephen Phillips draws an intimate picture of life in the Yard as he examines the concepts of leadership, honor, service and personal sacrifice in the Navy. Readers of Phillips' award-winning first novel, Proximity, will find his new novel an equally authentic read.

Title: Sketches of a Black Cat
Author: Ron & Howard Miner
Genre: Memoir
Reviewer: Dick Geschke

ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): 148026072X

Howard Miner was a student at a small Midwestern college when the War broke out. His journey through training and tours of duty as a PBY pilot in the South Pacific are skillfully captured in his art and narratives, framing a wartime drama with a personal coming of age story. This memoir has been reconstructed from a small library of unpublished artwork, journal entries, and writing, providing an enjoyable behind the scenes look at the Navy Black Cats. The descriptive verse from the artist’s viewpoint gives us a creatively told and intriguing portrayal of WWII’s Pacific Theater.

Big Mother 40: "A great read on Navy helicopter rescue operations in the Vietnam era. A very well-written, exciting, fast moving book about the life of two Navy lieutenants. A Navy Helicopter pilot and a Navy Seal and their teams performing their duties in extremely hazardous conditions. Although fiction, Marc's knowledge of Navy Helicopter and Navy SEAl operations and the planning it takes to complete these types of missions is evident throughout the book. His understanding of the overall concept of joint and naval operations and the specifics of both Special Forces and helicopter missions during the Vietnam era makes this a very believable scenario. I personally know that Marc lived the life of a Navy rescue helicopter pilot during the Vietnam War."
Ken L. Fisher Rear Admiral USN (retired) Naval Aviator and fighter pilot

ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): 1611792312

The U.S. Navy entered the Vietnam War prepared to fight either a conventional, or God forbid, a nuclear war with the Soviet Union. In the mid-sixties, as the Vietnam war escalated, the U.S. found itself without significant aviation capability to support special operations or combat search and rescue (CSAR). To support SEAL operations in the Mekong Delta, the Navy created a Helicopter Combat Attack Squadron that was eventually split into four squadrons tasked with combat search and rescue and special operations missions. Its call sign was the Sea Devils, but over time, the matte-black Sea King helicopters became known as the "Big Mothers." BIG MOTHER 4O is about the life of a Navy helicopter pilot, a Navy Seal, and their teams performing under extremely hazardous combat conditions and includes the women they loved.

Title: SUBIC: A Sailor's Memoir: Based on the Story of Bobby Earl Perkins
Author: Barbara Elleng Brown
Genre: Memoir
Reviewer: Jim Greenwald

ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): 1479134287

In this riveting memoir, Bobby Earl Perkins recollects the constitutional issue of racial discrimination and how his Christian faith ushers him amid the seemingly insurmountable struggles to establish his pride and dignity while stationed in Subic Bay Naval Base, Philippines. This sailor's account somehow mirrors the civil rights movements happening back in the U.S. soil in 1960s and provides a glimpse of how a group of servicemen, in a risk-taking effort, upholds the sense of justice and equality that every American is entitled of--even aboard a foreign land. Subic is a story that is not so ordinary; however, its significance is not alien to many.