Author: Robert Quinn

Publisher: iUniverse

Published: 2000-12

Total Pages: 414

ISBN-13: 0595146902

Damon trembled and caught his breath as the President of the United States placed America's highest military honor around his neck. It had only been three days since he was notified, while returning from Tokyo Bay to the United States aboard the battleship, Missouri, that he was to be awarded the Navy Congressional Medal of Honor. The President's lips were moving, but no sound came out. It was as in a dream; a dream come true. Joining the Navy,during World WarII, at the age of sixteen, Damon LeMasters participates in the beach landings of the Japanese occupied islands of Tarawa, Saipan and Guam. Wounded at Tarawa, he recuperates in California where he meets and falls in love with beautiful auburn-haired Melanie Wells. He is transferred to the aircraft carrier, USS Bataan where he heroically saves his ships captain as the mighty carrier, mortally wounded by a kamikase attack, slips beneath the surface of the Philippine Sea. Assigned later to the newly commissioned battleship, USS Missouri, Damon witnesses the Japanese unconditional surrender ceremony in Tokyo Bay aboard the deck of the Missouri. Damon's rite of passage take him through adventure, romance and a distinguished naval career.