Title: The Cave
Author: Same McGowen
Genre:
Reviewer: Bill McDonald
ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): 1403302448
The story of an Air Force enlisted man shot down over Laos during the Vietnam War. A cave explorer and marksman, Samuel Tobin Carter discovers a cave and uses it as sanctuary from which to wage his own personal war.
Title: Outlaws in Vietnam
Author: David L. Eastman
Genre: Non-fiction, History
Reviewer: Bill McDonald
ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): 0914339974
Ride a Huey with the Outlaws of the 175th Aviation Company (AML) in the Mekong Delta and experience a first-hand, first Lieutenant's account, of a tour in Vietnam from 1966-1967. Eastman's lively prose reveals an exciting untold story of camaraderie, competence and fellowship. The aviation units were the sole combat element of the U.S. Army that kept their discipline and spirit.
Title: Rough War: The Combat Story of Lt Paul J Eastman, a "Burma Banshee" P-40 & P-47 Pilot
Author: Walt Shiel
Reviewer: Jim Greenwald
ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): 1934631159
"One of the most unusual and insightful stories of a young American at war, and it has a particular significance for today." --from the Foreword by Walter J. Boyne.
Paul Eastman was one of thousands of fighter pilots who served honorably, bravely, and with little fanfare during World War II. He did not end the war as a celebrated national hero. No air base was ever named for him. He never became an ace. He never became famous. Paul spent 20 months flying daily combat sorties in one of the most difficult environments of the war -- the China-Burma-India Theater.
Paul Eastman maintained a daily diary throughout the war, covering his life in the air and on the ground. "Rough War" is based on those diaries and the many letters he wrote to his wife. His letters professed his love, expressed his post-war hopes, documented his ongoing fears, and voiced his concerns for his wife and family stateside. Would he survive the war? What would he do afterward?
Although the CBI has been labeled the "forgotten theater" of WW II, Paul Eastman's story helps ensure that the men who fought the air war over its unforgiving jungles and mountains will never be forgotten.
"Rough War" is an important story that makes an equally important connection to the effects of war on the members of the US military today.
"'Rough War' presents a history of the making of a combat fighter pilot. Interspersed with World War II events and in-theater events from the rarely mentioned CBI theater are writings from Paul's journals and letters home detailing his journey into and through combat. While aviation technology changed for America's next war in SE Asia, the threats of the jungle, monsoon, and a determined enemy created similar issues during my own fighter-pilot experiences in Vietnam." -William H. Lawson, Brig. Gen., US Air Force, Retired
"This book brings back lots of memories of my time in that part of the world. In '66-'67 our combat maps of Vietnam and Laos still had large holes of data, and we had to work our way to the war and home just like Paul did. I really enjoyed the format -- chronological, big picture, CBI, and Paul's War helped put it all in perspective. Here's to you, Paul. As we say in 2011 -- Thanks for your service and a job well done." -Ace Rawlins, Col., US Air Force, Retired
Title: The Devil’s Own Day
Author: John D. Beatty
Reviewed by Jack Manick
ISBN (for Amazon store): 160910661X
The Devil's Own Day is a story of three armies-two Union and one Confederate-that fought for two days near an obscure flatboat landing in southeastern Tennessee that lay just two miles from a Methodist meeting house called Shiloh. The battle would determine the course of the Civil War in the Mississippi Valley, the fate of two generals, Ulysses S. Grant and Albert S. Johnston, and the course of American history.
Title: Barksdale Chronicles in America, Vol I
Author: Robert A. Groves
By Lee Boyland
ISBN (for Amazon store): 1452059969
Barksdale Chronicles in America, Volume I is the first published book by Maj Robert A. Groves. His research into his maternal ancestors began at the millennium due, in large part, to the colorful family stories he recalled his mother and her siblings sharing during his childhood. Family chronicles define and preserve the contributions of ancestors to their families and communities. Through a study of our roots, we gain an appreciation of what helped shape us as individuals and citizens. This edition captures but a small part of the Barksdale family as it starts out in the New World. As followed through the lineage of John Hickerson Barksdale, early ancestors began forging a life for themselves in Virginia, South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, Texas and Arkansas. They courageously served their country in the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, and the Civil War. Some dipped their toes into the political waters of our country and served their communities, states and nation as elected officials. Using their creativeness, they turned resources available to them into entrepreneurial opportunities in agriculture, merchandising, and manufacturing. Some heard a higher calling and faced the moral issues of the time from rural pulpits. Indeed, the early Barksdale ancestors played a vital role in shaping the communities where they settled and the environment into which following generations were born