This is a true story of a man going off to war, leaving his wife and four children vulnerable to the world. The story is told by his granddaughter, with the help of information collected by family and friends. This is the story of what happened to her grandparents in the 1930's as they waited for him to leave for battle. He would never return.After his death, the family endured numerous struggles until one morning her whole family would be changed forever by tradgedy. Forty years following her mother's death the granddaughter is ready to tell the story of the worst crime in the history of her community- a tragic crime that would affect her family forever.
Inspired by the true story of John F. Kennedy's daring naval mission at the height of World War II, this historical thriller brings the unanswered question of the past to life with fast-paced action and vivid detail. After surviving a near suicidal mission on Mondo Mondo Island, Lieutenant Commander Todd Ingram is sent back to the States on a thirty-day leave-but the war waits for no one, and trouble is already rippling through the Pacific Theater. Fresh from Stateside training, Lieutenant JG John Kennedy takes command of the PT 109, a torpedo boat in desperate need of repairs, for the upcoming mission to retake the Western Solomon Islands. But the war isn't the only thing on Kennedy's mind: he's torn between his family's expectations and his forbidden love for Inga Arvad, a beautiful Danish columnist who narrowly escaped Nazi occupied Germany. When a disastrous attempt to interrupt Japanese supply lines slices Kennedy's PT 109 in half, Ingram and his six destroyers must pick up where Kennedy left off. Can Ingram save Kennedy and his stranded men while defeating the Japanese? Ingram is prepared to fight to the end, but victory comes at a steep price behind enemy lines... In this 7th Installment, Todd Ingram reflects back on a simpler time, when he was on leave but the war was not. This is the story of what happened during his 39 day leave following When Duty Whispers Low, and takes place between When Duty Whispers Low and The Neptune Strategy. _____________________ "John Gobbell tells Navy tales like no other writer. Here, he combines historical facts, reasonable conjecture and authentic Navy culture and language to bring a new flavor to the epic story of PT-109, its famous skipper and the woman who captivated him. It is an enlightening and entertaining visit to the danger, discomfort and drama of the South Pacific at war." -Admiral Eric Olson, U.S. Navy (Retired), Former Commander, U.S. Special Operations Command "From John Gobbell's preface, to the last revealing page, Somewhere in the South Pacific is a riveting, entertaining, and historical page turner. This Todd Ingram series is well researched and an engaging must read." -Howard G. Kazanjian, Executive Producer: Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Arc, and Producer: Return of the Jedi, The Rookie, Demolition Man
In what may be the last memoir to be published by a living veteran of the pivotal invasion of Guadalcanal, which occurred almost seventy years ago, Marine Jim McEnery has teamed up with author Bill Sloan to create an unforgettable chronicle of heroism and horror McErery’s Rifle Company—the legendary K/3/5 of the First Marine Division, made famous by the HBO miniseries The Pacific—fought in some of the most ferocious battles of the war. In searing detail, the author takes us back to Guadalcanal, where American forces first turned the tide against the Japanese; Cape Gloucester, where 1,300 Marines were killed or wounded; and bloody Peleliu, where McEnery assumed command of the company and helped hasten the final defeat of the Japanese garrison after weeks of torturous cave-to-cave fighting. McEnery’s story is a no-holds-barred, grunt’s-eye view of the sacrifices, suffering, and raw courage of the men in the foxholes, locked in mortal combat with an implacable enemy sworn to fight to the death. From bayonet charges and hand-to-hand combat to midnight banzai attacks and the loss of close buddies, the rifle squad leader spares no details, chronicling his odyssey from boot camp through twenty-eight months of hellish combat until his eventual return home. He has given us an unforgettable portrait of men at war.
LOST IN THE PACIFIC is the first book in a new narrative nonfiction series that tells the true story of a band of World War II soldiers who became stranded at sea and had to fight for survival. World War II, October 21, 1942. A B-17 bomber drones high over the Pacific Ocean, sending a desperate SOS into the air. The crew is carrying America's greatest living war hero on a secret mission deep into the battle zone. But the plane is lost, burning through its final gallons of fuel.At 1:30 p.m., there is only one choice left: an emergency landing at sea. If the crew survives the impact, they will be left stranded without food or water hundreds of miles from civilization. Eight men. Three inflatable rafts. Sixty-eight million square miles of ocean. What will it take to make it back alive?
Lessons from Veterans provides an array of personal stories—from nightmarish fights on the islands of Iwo Jima to the shores of Normandy on D-Day. With unprecedented access to veterans and unpublished memoirs, Life Lessons from Veterans provides a new voice to the bravery and sacrifice of the American soldier defending our freedom through more than thirty stories.
The first comprehensive account to place the Pacific Islands, the Pacific Rim and the Pacific Ocean into the perspective of world history. A distinguished international team of historians provides a multidimensional account of the Pacific, its inhabitants and the lands within and around it over 50,000 years, with special attention to the peoples of Oceania. It providing chronological coverage along with analyses of themes such as the environment, migration and the economy; religion, law and science; race, gender and politics.