Memoir

Title: A Long Hard Ride
Author: Richard Simmons
Genre: Non-Fiction, Memoir
Reviewer: Bill McDonald

ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): 1420832476

This is an inspirational story that shows how the author overcame poverty, the lack of education, low self-esteem and alcoholism. These stories come from the life experiences of a man fighting the demons within as he rode the racetracks of America in search of his soul. The book follows his life as he gives up his career as a jockey and joins the U.S. Air Force, eventually taking up a third career in management at the USPS. Hope and inspirations come from many unexpected places as the miracle of recovery and rediscovery of love - for himself and life - change him in ways he never thought possible. He knows that he was fortunate to survive

Title: Thunder in the Night - A Sailor's Perspective on Vietnam
Author: Raymond Kopp
Genre: Non-Fiction, Memoir
Reviewer: Bill McDonald

ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): 189245128X

A personal account of one sailor's experiences in the last days of America's most unpopular war

Title: The Angel from Vietnam: A memoir of growing up, the Vietnam War, a daughter, and healing...
Author: Jim Stewart
Genre: Non-Fiction, Memoir
Reviewer: Bill McDonald

ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): 1413723187

In 1970, after four years in Vietnam, Jim Stewart left behind his daughter, Phuong. It is estimated that fifty thousand Amerasians were left behind when America pulled out of the country for good in 1973. Jim carried this with him for years after the war. Join him on his journey through personal tragedy as a young boy in Maryland, his often humorous adventures in the Army, and the serious events that took place during his years in Vietnam and afterwards. Often humorous, with a wide array of memorable characters in his life, this is a story that will bring a smile to your face, a tear to your eye, and leave you with a sense of spiritual healing. All from The Angel from Vietnam.

Title: Fire from the Sky: A Diary Over Japan
Author: Ron Greer, Mike Wicks
Genre: Non-Fiction, History
Reviewer: Bill McDonald

ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): 0976871203

"May 26, 1945 target Tokyo; the target was the eastern part of the industrial section of Tokyo. It was hot as hell too, because the Japanese were waiting for us. We went into the target individually and as we made our sweep, one Jap twin-engine fighter was waiting about 20 miles off the coast and followed us over the target. Flak was very heavy and searchlights were estimated at about 400 in number in the Tokyo area. We were in the searchlights all the way through the target. Losses were estimated to be about 18 B-29's. One crew came back with the tail almost shot off and the tail gunner had been killed instantly. On both raids the industrial centers we hit had an estimated civilian population of 50,000 to 75,000 people per square mile area. Fires started by the incendiary bombs covered 10 square miles and could be seen 200 miles out to sea."

If this dialog sounds like a plot from a war movie it well could be, however the account consists of the bombing mission quotes taken directly from the diary of S/Sgt Herb Greer, Radio operator on a B-29 Superfortress named the "City of Monroe" during the war with Japan. The diary takes each of the 28 missions flown by the B-29 "City of Monroe" one by one and details those events as they happened over Japan. The accounts are filled with such phrases as "Great Fires, clouds of thick black smoke, horrific smells meaning flesh burning, which permeated the aircraft over the target area and lingered until they landed some 8 to 10 hours later on Guam. Bombing missions were repeated until most of the industrial areas of Japans major cities were nothing but ashes. The final days were approaching when Hiroshima and Nagasaki would be devastated with the two atomic bombs. The gentleman that I speak of is my father, Herbert L. Greer and this is a book of his diary, supplemental comments and pictures that reflect on a period of time that the United States freedom and liberty were highly at risk.

Title: A Thousand Tears Falling: The True Story of a Vietnamese Family Torn Apart by War, Communism, and the CIA
Author: Yung Krall
Genre: Non-Fiction, Memoir
Reviewer: Bill McDonald

ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): 1563522314

In 1977, a woman called "Keyseat" arrived in Paris with 49 classified U.S. documents. Two days later, Hanoi representatives to the Paris Peace Talks possessed the documents, believing that Keyseat, whose father was a Viet Cong official, was their agent. In the United States in 1982, the Vietnam era's only convicted spies, antiwar activist David Truong and USIA officer Ronald Humphrey, were sentenced for document theft. The main U.S. witness was Keyseat, both a CIA and FBI agent. Yung (then Dung Krall) was Keyseat. Her memoir juxtaposes two phases of her unusual life: her early years in South Vietnam and her adult time as a U.S. Navy wife and career espionage agent. She also provides unique details of village and family customs, patiently describing her childhood, revealing the pain she suffered in a family split by ideology. Yung, anti-Communist from childhood, who shared her mother's views, was also a daughter of Dang Quang Minh, the Viet Cong's ambassador to the Soviet Union, whose life was threatened by his daughter's testimony. Yung led a fast-paced life that in its details rivals spy thriller fiction. A recommended first-person account for larger public collections.
Margaret W. Norton, J. Sterling Morton H.S., Berwyn, Ill.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.