A monument honoring US Soldiers who fought in South Korea, placed in Hadong by greatful South Koreans in 2002.
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Hadong, South Korea -- Memorial
Sherman Jones
Captured in Anui, South Korea, in July 1950, Sherman Jone
s was part of a 'death' march that lasted almost three months. In the end, the North Koreans shot everyone with him in what came to be known as the Sunchon Tunnel Massacre. Sherman was criticially injured and it took many years to restore him to health. Pat Avery and I will include his story in our upcoming book, They Came Home: The Sunchon Tunnel Massacre Survivors".
Japanese Flag flying over Philippine Internment Camp
Historian and collector Rick Libby with a Japanese flag that flew over the Santo Tomas internment camp in Manila in 1945. It has the names of all the men in the unit that participated in the liberation.
In the fall, Red Engine Press will launch a book about a young American girl whose family were internees of the Japanese from December 26, 1941 until the end of the war. At that point, they were being kept at the Biblibid prison in Manila.
Military Vehicle Preservation Association Convention
Pat Avery and I attended the MVPA Convention in Little Rock, AR the end of June 2007. We met lots of interesting folks with a variety of stories. This picture is of Pat and I with William McGinley who was shot down over Belgium in World War II and rescued by the Belgian underground. For seven months, he evaded the Germans and during that time the military notified his parents that he was KIA. Throughout it all, his mother prayed for his safe return -- and when he was rescued and sent back to London, he sent her the telegram she'd been waiting to see. "Hi Mom. I'm okay."
2007 Memorial Day in Branson
Pat Avery and I attended the 2007 Memorial Day services in Branson MO with five of the survivors of the Sunchon Tunnel Massacre. We are currently writing a book, due out in November, about this event. This photo includes, l-r, Ed Slater, Bob Sharpe, Walt Whitcomb, Jim Yeager and Sherman Jones.
Sunday, July 22, 2007
World War II Veteran & Author, Billy D. Templeton
World War II veteran, survivor of the infamous Bataan Death March and author of "Manila Bay Sunset, Billy Templeton with Evelyn Harless at the 2007 Military Vehicle Preservation Society Convention in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Thursday, October 19, 2006
Sharon Rogers
Researching material for a book on the WWII-era all-girl band, The Sharon Rogers Band, led Joyce and me to a delightful day spent with Sharon, the leader of the band. Sharon now lives in a suburb of San Diego. We met her on Monday and shared photos, stories and a delicious lunch.
She delighted us with her charming personality and love of life. Music has always been important to her and she played the bass until recent years. We met her daughter and granddaughter.
Sharon spoke of the plane crash, managing the band and the USO experiences. Thus far, we've found that every member of the band was creative, adventuresome and talented. What a fantastic group of women - they make great role models! We're really pumped about starting on the actual writing.
Sunday, October 15, 2006
Military Writers Society of America
Pat McGrath Avery, Eddie & Connie & Beesley, Lloyd King and I attended the Military Writers Society of America "Salute to Veterans" in San Diego October 12-14. Lloyd King won the 2006 Gold Medal for a Book of Poetry for "From 'Nam With Love". My book, "In the Shadow of Suribachi", won the 2006 Gold Medal for Historical Fiction award. It was a wonderful few days and we met lots of other authors with interested in writing about military and veterans' issues.
Gene Putzier
Today Joyce and I visited Nancy Zeman. In 1950, her brother Gene Putzier was a 17-year-old soldier who shipped to Korea in the early days of the Korean War. On July 27, he was captured. He was on the death march with the survivors of the Sunchon Tunnel Massacre. He died while the group was held in Pyongyang.For the past ten years, Nancy has been searching for information on Gene. Her hope is to find someone who knew Gene and remembers him on the death march.We invited Walt Whitcomb, one of the survivors, to the meeting today. We spent several hours looking at photographs and documents. Walt shared memories of the death march and the different places the prisoners were held along the way.If anybody remembers Gene, please contact me.
Monday, September 12, 2005
Tuesday, September 06, 2005
Joyce Faulkner
Joyce Faulkner, author of "In the Shadow of Suribachi", "Losing Patience" and "For Shrieking Out Loud". She and writing partner, Pat McGrath Avery, are working on a new book about the Korean War to be called: "They Came Home: The Sunchon Tunnel Massacre Survivors".
http://www.intheshadowofsuribachi.com/
Monday, September 05, 2005
In the Shadow of Suribachi
These are pictures my father took of his buddies when they were at Camp Tarawa in December 1944 preparing for the Battle of Iwo Jima -- although they didn't know it at the time.
I grew up hearing stories about them. My dad's whole squad was killed off to a man except for him twice. That fact impacted the rest of his life -- and mine.
In 2000, I left my job at Consolidated Natural Gas to write a book about my grandfather's murder. After months of research, it became clear that it was impossible to write just one book -- several were needed to fully explore the many stories I found in my own family's history let alone the others I discovered in the process. I also decided that fiction was a better way to the truth than non-fiction. Some wounds are too painful to be probed in public. "In the Shadow of Suribachi" is the first book to come out as a result of the work I began in 2000. It's very close to my heart. If you are interested, please check out my website at www.intheshadowofsuribachi.com for more details. You can order it there or on Amazon. You can also order from any bookstore.
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