Book Reviews

Title: Semper Cool: One Marine's Fond Memories of Vietnam
Author: Barry Fixler
Genre: Non-Fiction, Memoir
Reviewer: Bob Doerr

ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): 0982518404

Semper Cool is the wrenching, sometimes hilarious and always thought-provoking true story of a well-off Long Island teenager who enlists in the U.S. Marine Corps seeking adventure and his father's approval and finds both, plus more danger than he ever could have imagined. Barry Fixler gets molded into a Marine at Parris Island and sent to Vietnam, where he is assigned to a company that would soon etch its place in Marine Corps lore. Fixler's Echo Company defends a hill at Khe Sanh against overwhelming enemy numbers in a 77-day battle that is considered one of the greatest military victories in the history of modern warfare. With its vivid imagery, Semper Cool thrusts readers into a grunt's eye view of the blood, guts, tears and laughter of war, as told by a Marine who returned home a man and a patriot. Be prepared to laugh and cry and ultimately thank God for the men and women willing to risk their lives for the freedoms that so many Americans enjoy.

Title: See the Dragon: One Wolfhound's Vietnam Story
Author: Don Arndt
Genre: Non-Fiction, Memoir
Reviewer: Tony Lazarini

ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): 1430308176

How could such a small portion of a man's life affect him so much? What can happen to a man in only two years that could so profoundly reshape the entire rest of his life? Why can't a soldier just forget it and let it go? I did hold it in and kept it mostly out of mind for decades. I've asked myself those questions, and my friends have asked that of me too. I have no answer except to understand that for those few months, every moment was so intense and so emotionally filled that it somehow burns into a man so deep that it becomes like a scar on the inside, but not visible on the outside.

Title: PIRATES The Midnight Passage
Author: Jim Hannibal
Genre: Fiction, Thriller, Mystery, Young Adult
Reviewer: Frank Evans

ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): 1590957253

The Midnight Passage debuts the chronicles of Jim Thatcher and the intrepid crew of the sloop Adventure. Pirates, puzzles, and peril await the privateer crew as they seek to recover the vast treasure of Morgan's Lost Gold from the mysterious Aztec underworld of the Midnight Passage.

Betrayal! A treaty is signed, and suddenly the British privateers are named pirates by the very Crown they serve. Some embrace the new title and the bloody life that comes with it; others, like Captain Jim Thatcher, are not so eager to turn against the world they love. Exiled from Port Royal, Thatcher and the crew of the Adventure set out on a new mission. They seek to recover a vast fortune in gold and emeralds that disappeared a half-century before, hoping it will be enough to buy their pardons. But Thatcher soon learns that the Adventure is not the only ship on the hunt for the treasure.

An Indiaman pursues them across the Windward Passage; it is the Havoc, captained by Thatcher's long-time nemesis, Edward Teach, the infamous Blackbeard. Fleeing the powerful pirate ship and following a questionable treasure map, the crew takes refuge at the mouth of an underground river system, the ancient Aztec underworld. They are trapped by the Havoc; there is nowhere to go but forward, but there are worse things than pirates in the Caribbean. Deadly puzzles, booby traps, and something even more sinister await the crew in the darkness of the Midnight Passage.

Title: The Kaiser's Yanks
Author: Gary C. Warne
Genre: Fiction, Historical
Reviewer: Weymouth Symmes

ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): 1935683098

Grab your parachute and join the pilots of Jasta von Steuben, the American-filled squadron of the German Army Air Service as they contest the skies over the trenches against the British and the French in World War I. Page after page of roaring engines, stuttering machine guns, the howl of artillery and anti-aircraft fire, the quiet of blossoming love amidst the terror and uncertainty of war, and the honor men find even as they attempt to kill the men they face in battle. This is aerial combat at its best!

Title: Mollie's War: The Letters of a World War II WAC in Europe
Author: Mollie Weinstein and Cyndee Schaffer
Genre: Non-Fiction, Memoir
Reviewer: Bob Ruehrdanz

ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): 0786447915

Why did an average American woman become a WAC during World War II and place herself in peril?
Mollie’s War documents the human side of life during the war—a life that alternates between fear and romance, exhaustion and leisure. Some of that story was picked up by the Detroit Jewish News in her hometown when a columnist for the paper asked her to be his overseas correspondent. The newspaper and B’nai B’rith raised $165,000 in War Bonds in Mollie’s name.

It took many letters home telling everything from daily challenges to exciting experiences (when the censors allowed) for her story to emerge. What was it like to be in England while the country was under constant bombardment by unmanned German missiles? Imagine being among the first WACs to enter Normandy after the D-Day invasion. Did you ever wonder whether you would use your foreign language skills from high school? Well, Mollie used those skills when she was transferred to Paris, acting as an interpreter in both work and social situations. Envision being a young Jewish woman in Frankfurt Germany on Rosh Hashanah 1945 and walking with other G.I’s to the rededication of the only standing synagogue.

This collection depicts vividly Mollie’s experiences from her first train trip to Daytona Beach, Florida for basic training in Oct. 1943 to the dramatic image of seeing the Statue of Liberty as her ship approached the shores of the USA in Nov. 1945.