Memoir

Title: Sketches of a Black Cat
Author: Ron & Howard Miner
Genre: Memoir
Reviewer: Dick Geschke

ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): 148026072X

Howard Miner was a student at a small Midwestern college when the War broke out. His journey through training and tours of duty as a PBY pilot in the South Pacific are skillfully captured in his art and narratives, framing a wartime drama with a personal coming of age story. This memoir has been reconstructed from a small library of unpublished artwork, journal entries, and writing, providing an enjoyable behind the scenes look at the Navy Black Cats. The descriptive verse from the artist’s viewpoint gives us a creatively told and intriguing portrayal of WWII’s Pacific Theater.

Title: RPM Rockin' in the Free World
Author: Heather Means
Genre: Memoir
Reviewer: Hodge Wood

ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): 0988175207

"Once in awhile, right in the middle of ordinary life, love gives us a fairy tale." So begins a gripping memoir written by a young Special Forces Army wife as her husband lay dying. Ryan Means grew up wanting to be a soldier. At age thirty-one, after the loss of his best friend in the 9/11 attacks, Ryan joined the US Army. He barely got to know his daughter Elizabeth when he was deployed to Iraq. In 2009, Ryan was diagnosed with an extremely rare form of liver cancer and quickly passed away due to complications. RPM Rockin' in the Free World is a raw and inspirational tale of modern love and war that reminds us to appreciate life and live it to its fullest. It is proof that grief does not have to prevail over eternal love. Portions of sales from this book will be donated to Special Operations Warrior Foundation.

Title: SUBIC: A Sailor's Memoir: Based on the Story of Bobby Earl Perkins
Author: Barbara Elleng Brown
Genre: Memoir
Reviewer: Jim Greenwald

ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): 1479134287

In this riveting memoir, Bobby Earl Perkins recollects the constitutional issue of racial discrimination and how his Christian faith ushers him amid the seemingly insurmountable struggles to establish his pride and dignity while stationed in Subic Bay Naval Base, Philippines. This sailor's account somehow mirrors the civil rights movements happening back in the U.S. soil in 1960s and provides a glimpse of how a group of servicemen, in a risk-taking effort, upholds the sense of justice and equality that every American is entitled of--even aboard a foreign land. Subic is a story that is not so ordinary; however, its significance is not alien to many.