Bridges to Baghdad
Bridges to Baghdad

Author: Charles R. Kubic

Publisher:

Published: 2009-01-01

Total Pages: 427

ISBN-13: 9780981992952

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The story of the U.S. Navy Seabees and the First Marine Expeditionary Force Engineer Group during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Bridges to Baghdad tells the story of the "fighting Seabees? and their role in the Iraq War, focusing upon their individual experiences from the time they "snuck" into Kuwait in the fall of 2002 through their redeployment to Iraq as part of Operation IRAQI FREEDOM II in 2004. Bridges to Baghdad also recounts the Seabees' operations at the command level from the perspective of their commander, Rear Admiral Chuck Kubic, including the story of the creation and employment of a new division-level organization, the First Marine Expeditionary Force Engineer Group (I MEG). This was the first such Naval Expeditionary Engineer formation of its kind since World War II. I MEF Commanding General, Lieutenant General James Conway, later summed up the Seabee?s value to the war effort when he told a key MEG task force commander that "the determination and skill that your Sailors displayed was nothing short of magnificent!"

The Baghdad Clock
The Baghdad Clock

Author: Shahad Al Rawi

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2018-05-03

Total Pages: 244

ISBN-13: 1786073234

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Shortlisted for the International Prize for Arabic Fiction 2018 This number one best-selling title in Iraq, Dubai, and the UAE is a heart-rending tale of two girls growing up in war-torn Baghdad Baghdad, 1991. The Gulf War is raging. Two girls, hiding in an air raid shelter, tell stories to keep the fear and the darkness at bay, and a deep friendship is born. But as the bombs continue to fall and friends begin to flee the country, the girls must face the fact that their lives will never be the same again. This poignant debut novel reveals just what it's like to grow up in a city that is slowly disappearing in front of your eyes, and how in the toughest times, children can build up the greatest resilience.

The Last Flight of the Blue Goose
The Last Flight of the Blue Goose

Author: Jacques Evans

Publisher: Jacques Evans

Published: 2009-10-03

Total Pages: 114

ISBN-13: 1452307261

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In 1942 the Blue Goose, a B-24 bomber, disappeared during a routine test flight from an airbase in Florida. After an intensive search, no trace of the plane or crew was ever found. Thirty years later, the remains of the copilot were discovered on a remote beach in northern Brazil. The pilot's son learns of the discovery and teams up with his father's former commanding officer. They mount an expedition to Brazil and find a Luger pistol that leads them to a Luftwaffe pilot who flew with the Condor Legion during the Spanish Civil War. While he is sympathetic, the former Luftwaffe pilot refuses to cooperate and the investigation reaches a dead end. Years later, the Condor Legion pilot dies in a crash at Tenerife and a bizarre Nazi plot is uncovered.

The Czar's Last Soldier
The Czar's Last Soldier

Author: Jacques Evans

Publisher: Jacques Evans

Published: 2009-10-05

Total Pages: 119

ISBN-13: 145230727X

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The Czar's Last Soldier is the story of the search for the Star of Golconda a 42.5-carat diamond slightly smaller than the Hope diamond. Before he was killed, a marine buried the diamond in his foxhole on the island of Corregidor during World War II. Thirty-two years later, at a Nebraska post office, Sam Gibbons and Roscoe Barnes are removing the old post office boxes and replacing them with new ones. Both men are World War II veterans who teamed up as general contractors after the war. When the old post office boxes are removed a letter hidden between warped boards falls to the floor. The letter, dated 1942, is from the marine who died on Corregidor and gives the particulars of a jewel theft he committed at the Shanghai Officer's Club in 1941. As there are no members of the marine's family still alive, they read the letter. Shortly after the theft, the marine's regiment was transferred from China to the Philippines. After the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, the regiment was tasked to defend Corregidor. When the order to surrender was given, not wanting the Japanese to gloom onto the stolen jewels, the marine buried them. Sam and Roscoe hunt for the jewels but are unaware they were stolen from a czarist officer and are thrust into the middle of an international legal battle.

The Mannerheim Line
The Mannerheim Line

Author: Jacques Evans

Publisher: Jacques Evans

Published: 2009-10-04

Total Pages: 160

ISBN-13: 1452307253

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The Mannerheim Line follows a historic timeline and is the story of two Americans, Jimmy Carson and Joe Lyons, who meet while flying for the Loyalists during the Spanish Civil War. After the Loyalist surrender, Carson and Lyons fly freight for a Canadian company based in Gibraltar. In 1939, they offer their services to the Finnish government and fly French built fighters during the Russo-Finnish War. After the Finns surrender, both men return to Gibraltar where they are imprisoned. President Roosevelt intervenes and the pilots are released to fly for the British.After the United States enters the war, Lyons remains in England while Carson is assigned to the China-Burma-India Theater. They meet briefly during the Berlin Airlift and the Korean War then go their separate ways. In 1961, Lyons is killed when his B-26 is shot down at the Bay of Pigs. Unwilling to admit Americans were involved, the CIA devises an elaborate cover story to explain Lyons' death. Years later, Carson decides to investigate and uncovers information that unravels the CIA cover story.

Von Weizsacker's Diary
Von Weizsacker's Diary

Author: Jacques Evans

Publisher: Jacques Evans

Published: 2009-10-06

Total Pages: 67

ISBN-13: 1452307229

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In the last days of World War II, an American bomber sinks a German submarine in the West Indies. The crew manages to board life rafts but a squall approaches and the weather turns deadly. Weeks later, off the Florida coast, a fishing boat recovers a life raft with two dead men aboard. One of the men is the submarine's captain, Oberleutnant von Weizsacker. The fishing boat captain finds a diary in a waterproof pouch sewn into von Weizsacker's jacket. He scans a few pages but is unable to read German. The captain tosses the diary and other personal effects into a shoe box. He turns the corpses and their identification tags over to the coast guard but neglects to mention he retrieved some personal effects. Twenty-eight years later, the diary turns up at a Florida flea market.

Mizrahi's Prison
Mizrahi's Prison

Author: Jacques Evans

Publisher: Jacques Evans

Published: 2009-10-07

Total Pages: 136

ISBN-13: 1452307288

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In 1942 two OSS officers, Major Huff a pilot and Major Murphy an infantry officer are tasked with kidnapping an Africa Corps officer from an internment camp in Turkey. During a meeting with Colonel Groves, the officer in charge of the Manhattan Project, they learn the Africa Corps officer is one of Germany's leading physicists who Groves believes was inadvertently assigned to the Africa Corps. After realizing their mistake, the Germans reassigned the officer to the Kaiser Wilheim Institute of Physics in Berlin. While flying back to Berlin, the aircraft was shot down and Turkish fisherman plucked the physicist from the Gulf of Adalia. Subsequently, according to international law, he was interned by the neutral Turkish government.From Harry Hopkins they learn the president has 'green lighted' the operation and are handed an OSS planning document. Huff, an experienced pilot, thinks the plan is absurd until he spots Jimmy Doolittle's signature. Days later a technically complex plan springs into action.

South of Cayenne
South of Cayenne

Author: Jacques Evans

Publisher: Jacques Evans

Published: 2010-05-22

Total Pages: 75

ISBN-13: 1452329435

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In 1945 after Germany surrendered Berlin was divided into British, French and American occupation zones (West Berlin) and a Soviet zone (East Berlin). For years West Berlin, surrounded by the Russian zone, was a simmering Cold War issue. From June 1948 until May 1949 West Berlin was blockaded by the Soviet Union. All rail, waterway and road traffic was cut off by the Russians. The Berlin Airlift by Great Britain and the United States was West Berlin's lifeline.In 1949, after a Berlin Airlift crew returns to the States an explosion rips the right wing of their C-54 open over an unexplored area of Brazil. Only two of the five-man crew survive. The information is closely held---only President Truman and a select few know the cause of the crash. On national security grounds, the information is classified 'Top Secret' and sealed for fifty years. After spending a year in the jungle with aborigines both surviving crewmembers reach Cayenne, French Guiana. Neither crewman has any idea what caused the explosion that forced them down. Through the years, the engineer blames the death of his crewmembers on something he did or didn "t do that he should have. After living with guilt for forty-five years he sets out to discover the truth and a bizarre plot is uncovered.

The Betty G's Gold
The Betty G's Gold

Author: Jacques Evans

Publisher: Jacques Evans

Published: 2010-06-23

Total Pages: 43

ISBN-13: 1452333858

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There was no name on the C-46 but the ground and flight crews who flew the Hump called her the Betty G. The airplane was identified by a painting of a scantily clad female on the left side of the nose. In 1944 the Betty G encountered severe turbulence and crashed into the side of a mountain. The wreckage was located in an uncharted area and attempts to reach the site were futile. Rumors circulated that gold coins for Chiang Kai-shek's payroll were aboard the Betty G.Fifty years later, faced with exorbitant taxes from inheriting the family business the young owner is unable to raise the money. Desperate and unwilling to sell the business and having heard about the Betty G from his father, he obtains satellite photographs and pinpoints the location of the aircraft. With help from his congressman, he receives permission from the Indian government to search for World War II artifacts and sets out to search for the Betty G's gold.

Kuchma's Dictum
Kuchma's Dictum

Author: Jacques Evans

Publisher: Jacques Evans

Published: 2009-10

Total Pages: 67

ISBN-13: 145230730X

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A former Russian paratroop commander, Colonel Yuri Vitrenko, attempts to terrorize the United States into withdrawing its troops from Europe so Russia can have a free hand in bringing the break-away republics back into the fold. Vitrenko is part of a military and civilian clique that includes retired Colonel General Alexi Kuchma. The general has a large following and is planning to run in the next presidential election. Vitrenko is convinced that getting American troops out of Europe will ensure Kuchma's election. To this end, he devises a series of terrorist plots but does not involve any members of the clique for fear of retaliation against Russia.Vitrenko begins his reign of terror by anonymously notifying the Americans of his intentions if they do not withdraw their troops from Europe. The Americans do not heed his warning. As a result, Vitrenko executes a congressman and a senator. When his next warning is not heeded, Vitrenko downs a Boeing 747 with a missile killing 230 passengers and crew members. The American president devises a strategy to counter Vitrenko's moves. Both politicians' deaths are described as accidental and the downing of Aeroexpress Flight 120 is attributed to a fuel tank explosion. Reluctantly, Vitrenko plans his next move and the plot continues...