Days of Steel Rain

Days of Steel Rain PDF Author: Brent E. Jones
Publisher: Hachette Books
ISBN: 0316451096
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 384

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Book Description
This intimate true account of Americans at war follows theepic drama of an unlikely group of men forced to work together in the face of an increasingly desperate enemy during the final year of World War II. Sprawling across the Pacific, this untold story follows the crew of the newly-built "vengeance ship" USS Astoria, named for her sunken predecessor lost earlier in the war. At its center lies U.S. Navy Captain George Dyer, who vowed to return to action after suffering a horrific wound. He accepted the ship's command in 1944, knowing it would be his last chance to avenge his injuries and salvage his career. Yet with the nation's resources and personnel stretched thin by the war, he found that just getting the ship into action would prove to be a battle. Tensions among the crew flared from the start. Astoria's sailors and Marines were a collection of replacements, retreads, and older men. Some were broken by previous traumatic combat, most had no desire to be in the war, yet all found themselves fighting an enemy more afraid of surrender than death. The reluctant ship was called to respond to challenges that its men never could have anticipated. From a typhoon where the ocean was enemy to daring rescue missions, a gallant turn at Iwo Jima, and the ultimate crucible against the Kamikaze at Okinawa, they endured the worst of the final year of the war at sea. Days of Steel Rain brings to life more than a decade of research and firsthand interviews, depicting with unprecedented insight the singular drama of a captain grappling with an untested crew and men who had endured enough amidst some of the most brutal fighting of World War II. Throughout, Brent Jones fills the narrative with secret diaries, memoirs, letters, interpersonal conflicts, and the innermost thoughts of the Astoria men—and more than 80 photographs that have never before been published. Days of Steel Rain weaves an intimate, unforgettable portrait of leadership, heroism, endurance, and redemption.

Days of Steel Rain

Days of Steel Rain PDF Author: Brent E. Jones
Publisher: Hachette Books
ISBN: 0316451096
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 384

Get Book Here

Book Description
This intimate true account of Americans at war follows theepic drama of an unlikely group of men forced to work together in the face of an increasingly desperate enemy during the final year of World War II. Sprawling across the Pacific, this untold story follows the crew of the newly-built "vengeance ship" USS Astoria, named for her sunken predecessor lost earlier in the war. At its center lies U.S. Navy Captain George Dyer, who vowed to return to action after suffering a horrific wound. He accepted the ship's command in 1944, knowing it would be his last chance to avenge his injuries and salvage his career. Yet with the nation's resources and personnel stretched thin by the war, he found that just getting the ship into action would prove to be a battle. Tensions among the crew flared from the start. Astoria's sailors and Marines were a collection of replacements, retreads, and older men. Some were broken by previous traumatic combat, most had no desire to be in the war, yet all found themselves fighting an enemy more afraid of surrender than death. The reluctant ship was called to respond to challenges that its men never could have anticipated. From a typhoon where the ocean was enemy to daring rescue missions, a gallant turn at Iwo Jima, and the ultimate crucible against the Kamikaze at Okinawa, they endured the worst of the final year of the war at sea. Days of Steel Rain brings to life more than a decade of research and firsthand interviews, depicting with unprecedented insight the singular drama of a captain grappling with an untested crew and men who had endured enough amidst some of the most brutal fighting of World War II. Throughout, Brent Jones fills the narrative with secret diaries, memoirs, letters, interpersonal conflicts, and the innermost thoughts of the Astoria men—and more than 80 photographs that have never before been published. Days of Steel Rain weaves an intimate, unforgettable portrait of leadership, heroism, endurance, and redemption.

Cold Steel Rain

Cold Steel Rain PDF Author: Kenneth Abel
Publisher: Speaking Volumes
ISBN: 1628158158
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 437

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Book Description
Nothing stays dead in New Orleans. Not for long, anyway… No one knows this better than ex-district attorney Danny Chaisson—the dead show up in his bathroom mirror every morning, staring right back at him with hollow eyes. Chaisson is the legman for Jimmy Boudrieux, speaker of the Louisiana House of Representatives, for whom dirty dealing is more than just a way of life. So when Danny makes his regular pick-up of a briefcase full of handguns at a downtown Vietnamese restaurant, leaves the room for a moment, and returns to find a bloodbath, he knows the next bullet has his name on it. And nobody—least of all Boudrieux or the crooked cops who control the NOPD—is going to lift a finger to help him. From the bestselling author of Bait: “A scorcher . . . clever, tough and terrific enough to make you comb publishers’ lists for his next.”—Time Out

Rain of the Ghosts

Rain of the Ghosts PDF Author: Greg Weisman
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
ISBN: 1250029805
Category : Young Adult Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 216

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Book Description
Rain of the Ghosts is the first in Greg Weisman's series about an adventurous young girl, Rain Cacique, who discovers she has a mystery to solve, a mission to complete and, oh, yes, the ability to see ghosts. Welcome to the Prospero Keys (or as the locals call them: the Ghost Keys), a beautiful chain of tropical islands on the edge of the Bermuda Triangle. Rain Cacique is water-skiing with her two best friends Charlie and Miranda when Rain sees her father waiting for her at the dock. Sebastian Bohique, her maternal grandfather, has passed away. He was the only person who ever made Rain feel special. The only one who believed she could do something important with her life. The only thing she has left to remember him by is the armband he used to wear: two gold snakes intertwined, clasping each other's tails in their mouths. Only the armband . . . and the gift it brings: Rain can see dead people. Starting with the Dark Man: a ghost determined to reveal the Ghost Keys' hidden world of mystery and mysticism, intrigue and adventure.

Unsinkable

Unsinkable PDF Author: James Sullivan
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1982147849
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 416

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Book Description
Documents the true story of a U.S. Navy destroyer that inspired the writings of John Ford and Herman Wouk, drawing on the journals and other writings of five shipmates who witnessed the Anzio attacks and D-Day invasion.

Coconuts Kill More People Than Sharks

Coconuts Kill More People Than Sharks PDF Author: David Del Monté
Publisher: Authorhouse UK
ISBN: 9781477215524
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
this collection of 22 stories are as thought-provoking as the title suggests. But they are also humorous, poignant and wide-ranging, with a strong narrative pull. Well written and always entertaining, they are an excellent display of the short story writer's art.

Bloody Okinawa

Bloody Okinawa PDF Author: Joseph Wheelan
Publisher: Hachette Books
ISBN: 0306903210
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 508

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Book Description
A stirring narrative of World War II's final major battle—the Pacific war's largest, bloodiest, most savagely fought campaign—the last of its kind. On Easter Sunday, April 1, 1945, more than 184,000 US troops began landing on the only Japanese home soil invaded during the Pacific war. Just 350 miles from mainland Japan, Okinawa was to serve as a forward base for Japan's invasion in the fall of 1945. Nearly 140,000 Japanese and auxiliary soldiers fought with suicidal tenacity from hollowed-out, fortified hills and ridges. Under constant fire and in the rain and mud, the Americans battered the defenders with artillery, aerial bombing, naval gunfire, and every infantry tool. Waves of Japanese kamikaze and conventional warplanes sank 36 warships, damaged 368 others, and killed nearly 5,000 US seamen. When the slugfest ended after 82 days, more than 125,000 enemy soldiers lay dead—along with 7,500 US ground troops. Tragically, more than 100,000 Okinawa civilians perished while trapped between the armies. The brutal campaign persuaded US leaders to drop the atomic bomb instead of invading Japan. Utilizing accounts by US combatants and Japanese sources, author Joseph Wheelan endows this riveting story of the war's last great battle with a compelling human dimension.

One Day at a Time

One Day at a Time PDF Author: Danielle Steel
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 0552151831
Category : Domestic fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 452

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Book Description
Follows the lives and fortunes of Coco Barrington and her mother, a best-selling author, and her sister, Jane, a successful Hollywood producer, as they approach new relationships and important changes in their lives.

Send Down the Rain

Send Down the Rain PDF Author: Charles Martin
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
ISBN: 0718084764
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 350

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Book Description
Can two people brought together by desperate circumstances help one another heal, and maybe even begin a new life? New York Times bestselling author Charles Martin’s Send Down the Rain answers the questions of what it means—and what level of sacrifice it takes—to truly love someone. Allie is still recovering from the loss of her family’s beloved waterfront restaurant on Florida’s Gulf Coast when she loses her second husband to a terrifying highway accident. Devastated and losing hope, she shudders to contemplate the future—until a cherished person from her past returns. Joseph has been adrift for many years, wounded in both body and spirit and unable to come to terms with the trauma of his Vietnam War experiences. Just as he resolves to abandon his search for peace and live alone in a remote cabin in the Carolina mountains, he discovers a mother and her two small children lost in the forest. A man of character and strength, he instinctively steps in to help them get back to their home in Florida. There he will return to his own hometown—and witness the accident that launches a bittersweet reunion with his childhood sweetheart, Allie. When Joseph offers to help Allie rebuild her restaurant, it seems the flame may reignite—until a forty-five-year-old secret begins to emerge, threatening to destroy all hope for their second chance at love. Send Down the Rain will take you on a journey that spans the sweltering migrant worker routes of south Florida, muddy battlefields of Vietnam, thickets of northwest North Carolina, and the idyllic shores of America’s most beautiful beach (Cape San Blas). At the story’s center lies the question: What does it mean—and what level of sacrifice does it take—to truly love someone? Praise for Send Down the Rain: “Charles Martin understands the power of story and he uses it to alter the souls and lives of both his characters and his readers.”—Patti Callahan Henry, New York Times bestselling author Full-length, stand-alone novel Includes discussion questions for book clubs Also by bestselling author Charles Martin: The Mountain Between Us, Chasing Fireflies, When Crickets Cry, and The Letter Keeper

The Castaway's War

The Castaway's War PDF Author: Stephen Harding
Publisher: Da Capo Press
ISBN: 0306823403
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 322

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Book Description
The story of Lieutenant Hugh Barr Miller, marooned on a South Pacific island, and his one-man war against Japanese forces

Steel Rain, the Tet Offensive 1968

Steel Rain, the Tet Offensive 1968 PDF Author: john harrison
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781977045447
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 327

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Book Description
This book is about the bloodiest year of the Vietnam War, 1968, including the Tet Offensive. Like the original Band of Brothers, we were formed in the States as the 3rd Battalion (Airborne), 506th Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division. As the story shows we specifically formed the make the second large unit combat parachute jump in the Vietnam War. The first had been made by a battalion of the 173rd Airborne Brigade (Separate). Our original commanding officer was Lt. Col. John P. Geraci. Geraci had started his military career in the Marines during World War II. He continued it as an Army platoon leader in the Korean War and then went on to serve two tours in Vietnam with the Green Berets prior to heading up our battalion. He was good enough and famous enough to inducted into the Ranger Hall of Fame at Fort Benning. While we never made that jump, we were ready.The book starts with me attending Airborne School and ends with a case I had as a lawyer long after the Vietnam War was over defending a former 173rd Airborne trooper from criminal charges related to his use of marijuana while undergoing cancer treatment at Walter Reed Army Hospital. I tell our story episodically with each chapter capable of being read alone. Many of the stories have already appeared in my blog. Among the readers were many of the men that served with me and that literally brought me home. Some of their comments appear at the beginning of each story.It is a story of men at war doing the best they could in a war they did not choose, in a place we never really did understand. We managed to be there on the bloodiest day, the bloodiest week, the bloodiest month and the bloodiest year of a long bloody war. The 1968 Tet Offensive is a big part of what we saw and what we did in our year in country. War never really leaves you, it brings out the best and the worst in men and because of those two facts normally the story of a war is well told. However, the Vietnam War was different. Never have there been more myths reported as facts. Never has the actual story of the war been more ignored. If you read almost any history of the Vietnam War at some point it will say something like: "The enemy attacks during the Tet Offensive were quickly beaten back except in Khe Sanh, Saigon, Hue and Phan Thiet." Then the history will go on to describe the fighting in Khe Sanh, Saigon and Hue, but Phan Thiet will never be mentioned again. This is our story. We fought and won in Phan Thiet.