Here is a collection of stories, events, and incidents that Master Chief Petty Office was present or received firsthand knowledge of those present at the time they occurred. The collection of stores reflects the American society at the time these sailors served on active duty in the United States Navy. Times and attitudes have changed over the years, and it may be easy to judge them by today’s standards, but those same standards were not at the time. I am aware that today, commanding officers of United States ships do not have the same judgmental options and authority as they did in the past. Therefore, many of the incidents if occurred today would result in court-martial’s and discharges from the service. Sailors walk in the footsteps of the sailors before them. The navy is tradition; therefore, sailors today think in some ways that they have to do as the sailors before them. To wearing the white hat on the back of the heads, create wings on the brim of covers, and to be a little mischief on liberty—to many, this is what they think is what a sailors does—work hard at sea, see the world, pull into a liberty port, see the sites, enjoy meeting the people, drink and have fun. Keep in mind as you read these stores, these are sailors that not only served their country, also made history. The sailors that are in the navy today are making history, one day at a time that will be in history books of the future. The highest form of respect that you can give any individuals that goes to sea is to call them a “sailor” or a “shipmate.” I, Master Chief Petty Officer Howard, wish all my follow sailors and shipmates—fair winds and smooth seas.

Here is a collection of stories, events, and incidents that Master Chief Petty Office was present or received firsthand knowledge of those present at the time they occurred. The collection of stores reflects the American society at the time these sailors served on active duty in the United States Navy. Times and attitudes have changed over the years, and it may be easy to judge them by today’s standards, but those same standards were not at the time. I am aware that today, commanding officers of United States ships do not have the same judgmental options and authority as they did in the past. Therefore, many of the incidents if occurred today would result in court-martial’s and discharges from the service. Sailors walk in the footsteps of the sailors before them. The navy is tradition; therefore, sailors today think in some ways that they have to do as the sailors before them. To wearing the white hat on the back of the heads, create wings on the brim of covers, and to be a little mischief on liberty—to many, this is what they think is what a sailors does—work hard at sea, see the world, pull into a liberty port, see the sites, enjoy meeting the people, drink and have fun. Keep in mind as you read these stores, these are sailors that not only served their country, also made history. The sailors that are in the navy today are making history, one day at a time that will be in history books of the future. The highest form of respect that you can give any individuals that goes to sea is to call them a “sailor” or a “shipmate.” I, Master Chief Petty Officer Howard, wish all my follow sailors and shipmates—fair winds and smooth seas.

When author Rod Leger got drafted in the middle of 1966, he was in his freshman year of college. The next few years transformed his life. In this memoir, he recalls his feelings as a college student in the period leading up to the war. At the time, he never considered that the war might not be the best idea. After all, if the country was drafting young men to fight and die overseas, then it must have been right. He enlisted in the US Navy’s American Seabees, and because he completed a year of college, he was designated as a “striker” and trained as a builder. Although he spent some time in the States, he was destined to go overseas to Vietnam, where he served two tours of duty. As a member of the Seabees, he helped bring free medical care to outlying villages. The Seabees built permanent clinics, constructed roads, improved or installed infrastructure, provided clean water wells, and improved the quality of life for many Vietnamese citizens. The members of Leger’s squad also made it a personal mission to help an area orphanage. In A Tramp’s Tour, Leger shares the story of his Vietnam experience and of how the Seabees lived up to their motto: “We build for the fighters, we fight for the builders.”

Powell B. Brown enlisted in the Marine Corps as a young man and went on to serve in combat units during World War II, the Korean War, and in Vietnam. In these memoirs, Brown recalls his burning desire to serve his country and the adventures he has along the way. He tells the story of his life as a new recruit, in the mess hall, and then being sent out to sea. Not everything is as he expects, but he learns quickly. Though he participates in some of the bloodiest battles of World War II and later joins in the fight against communism, Brown survives and thrives as a Marine—earning numerous medals for his bravery in combat. Join Brown as he remembers a wide variety of escapades and duty assignments, including his time spent as a drill instructor, a recruiter, and even as a teacher at a Marine Corps school. This was all in addition to his regular duty in the Amphibious Tractor Battalion. The story told in Memories of a United States Marine reveals important historical information as well as what it truly means to serve with honor.

This book may be dry in parts, but it is exactly how a serviceman’s life unfolds. It may seem strange to some people that your day-to-day existence (daily life) is dictated by pieces of paper. It is not like a civilian that does not have a rigid routine with military precision. In one sense, it gives you a feeling of security, knowing what is laid out for you. On the other hand, it gives you the feeling that someone else is pulling the strings for you to act. As you retain copies of all these orders (paperwork) for your personal files, you have a running (chronological) history of your life. It covers all aspects—the good, the bad, and the ugly. It may be hard for a civilian, nonmilitary person, who has not had any exposure to military life, to understand all the paperwork in this book. While reading this book, take a moment to see how different a serviceman’s life is compared to a civilian’s.

It is 1966, when a nineteen-year-old boy from Three Rivers, Michigan, follows family tradition by enlisting in the United States Navy. A plan which he “thinks” will guarantee an uneventfful tour of duty aboard a US naval ship goes awry when he is deposited in the middle of a war zone in South Vietnam. For the next gruelling year, he performs the duties of a fleet marine force medic, caring for wounded and dying American marines. Dubbed Doc John by his comrades, he soon becomes entrenched in a strange, dangerous world, where he becomes both witness and reluctant warrior. Whether he is patching up wounded comrades or placing Band-Aids on scrapes of native children, young Doc John somehow manages to do an impossible job, even as the world is falling down around him. He not only learns the sad lessons of war, but survives them and finds himself in the process. These are the experiences of a different kind of soldier, who manages to traverse a minefield of emotional upheaval and can still tell his stories with honesty and self-deprecating humor, exemplyfying the resiliency of the human spirit.

Master Sergeant Gordon L. Ewell is a combat engineer and expert in the tactics and techniques the enemy used in Iraq to assemble, disguise, and detonate deadly improvised explosive devices (IEDs). He became part of the first special two-solider team whose mission was to find and render safe the IEDs, before they could unleash their deadly force upon other soldiers, convoys, civilians, and local civilian commuters during the War in Iraq. He performed fifty-nine dangerous missions, coauthored a first-of-its-kind manual used for the training of special teams that would have the mission of finding IEDs, was “blown-up” six different times, and saved countless lives. He received the Bronze Star Medal for “demonstrating personal courage and conviction on multiple occasions by continually performing his duties while under enemy attack,” and the Purple Heart Medal for “wounds received while engaged in combat” during the war. Though permanently disabled, he continues to fight. A Lifetime at War is more than just an incredible and inspiring personal account of his road to recovery. Once again Ewell is using his expertise and experience—this time to help wounded warriors navigate the hell of recovery. He helps us all to understand that while the War in Iraq may have ended on December 15, 2011, for the thousands of soldiers severely wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan, their war will never end.

A Jamaican English colonialist (Edmund George Ford), is found to have not descended from inquisition-related Jewish Spanish royalty. Nor is a Virginian (John Stuart Gladwell) related to a famous American Civil War Confederate general. Each grew to earn, on their own, the great respect of their colleagues and acquaintances, beyond anything they could have foreseen. Theirs became one story when the Virginian met and married the Englishman's daughter. To their children neither left anything that could have been called a fortune. What they did leave was a good name that could not be easily frittered away and soon forgotten.

This is the story of the son of the Virginian. It is a story that is quite different from that of his Ford cousins. It is one that involves considerable education, progressively responsible positions throughout the USA and finally an important position with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organizations in Paris.

With the advent of World War II, the Virginian volunteers for active duty with the US Navy. But his physical examination reveals that he is suffering from a serious illness. In 1943, after a major session in two Veterans' Hospitals he dies, leaving behind a devastated widow and an 11-year old son. We then follow the son in his new environment in the Canal Zone and with his second family with his Uncle and Aunt.

Although he was still young and relatively inexperienced, following two years in the U.S. Army in Korea and Japan, the respect of the son's friends was important. His Texas A&M time of studies proved to be the perfect one for him to grow. Following graduation he moves to Alaska to work for the US Forest Service. On the way north he visitsVancouver, Canada, and meets the woman to whom he soon becomes engaged and marries a year later. Before the wedding he is offered and accepts a fellowship to work for an MS in civil engineering at Texas A and M.

owing receipt of the graduate degree he is employed as a research hydraulic engineer at Washington State University. This lasts almost four years when he decides that he is interested in teaching. He is offered a position at the University of Maine. Soon after he returns to the West he begins studies toward a PhD at the University of Idaho. In 1970 he graduates, and accepts a position on a US Presidential water commission. A year on the Commission is followed by two more years in Washington, DC. He is then offered and accepts to be the Director of the Idaho Water Resources Research Institute.

When the political wheels begin to turn and UNESCO realizes that the US is interested in seeing its candidate placed Jack is given the nod. His position in UNESCO's International Hydrological Programme is given great responsibility when the Director is picked to be Acting Assistant Director General for Science, and Jack is asked to run the Division. This lasts for five years, without title.

Travel to fulfill IHP projects requires a great deal of time. Jack finds the trips very interesting, and before retiring he will have visited 62 countries.

Finally convincing his parents to sign his papers at the age of seventeen, James Snellen enlisted in the Navy in 1944-the middle of World War II. A young farm boy from rural Kentucky, James was anxious to see some action! His boat crew was assigned to an Armed Personnel Destroyer, USS Cofer (APD-62). Being assigned the position of gunner, signalman, and radioman aboard a LCVP landing craft that would put assault troops ashore onto the enemy beaches in the South Pacific, he certainly saw more "action" than he had bargained for. His role later included sweeping for mines in between the Japanese boat docks before any other Navy ship could enter the enemy harbors.

James Snellen successfully landed troops in all eight of the United States invasions in the South Pacific that led up to the surrender of the Japanese. From Balikipapan to Bora Bora, Okinawa, Japan to Fusan, Korea, he received two bronze starts and many other medals for his bravery and for "doing his part." "Even though I was awarded two bronze stars, the things that I did were the same things being done by countless others.'

James is now the historian and coordinator representing the Cofer's association. Sixty-one years later, his remaining shipmates and families still get together yearly for a reunion to reminisce and renew old friendships.

The late James Mahoney went overseas in the spring of 1944 as the leader of one of the four bomb squadrons in a B-24 bomb group (the original 492nd) which endured extraordinary losses for 89 days of operation before being disbanded. The enduring mystery of why such an exceptionally well qualified and prepared group suffered so singularly is one of many significant themes he addresses in his 52 vignettes. Mahoney was reassigned to a bomb group with much better luck (the 467th), and finished the war as their Deputy Commander.

As both a 'man among men' and a recognized natural leader, he was positioned to note character and ability, and took it as his charge to develop both of these in the course of administering to the technical and demanding business of a combat organization comprising 3,000 souls.

Later in life, wanting to make sense of what he experienced and to record the terrific sacrifice of his peers, he distilled and organized his memories. Overcoming his natural reticence to show his hand emotionally, and fearful that grisly accounts might register as sensational horror instead of sobering lesson, he labored carefully to build for his readers a rich context for his 'war stories'.

These memoirs take the reader through the methodology and equipment of aviation and strategic bombing in the era before stand-off weaponry, when hundreds of planes at a time, each with ten-man crews, flew in unpressurized planes through flak and fighter filled skies for hours at a time at 40 degrees below zero, to bomb targets in Hitler-occupied Europe.

He introduces the reader to his acquaintances and friends, commanders and charges - a range of memorable rascals, unforgettable heroes, and ordinary mortals showing their true mettle and courage under dire circumstances.

Jim Mahoney's account of his 13 months in combat is an engaging mix of timeless morals and enduring humor. The big themes are laid out with common sense, while the practical joke, the stroke of genius, or personal quirk are offered as clear windows to the host of characters and their relationships. These certainly capture the fact and flavor of the daylight bombing campaign over northern Europe and make a contribution to the historical record, but they also transcend that specific time and place, drawing the readers in any era into human drama, played out in all of its variety in the pressure-cooker of wartime.

The son's contribution has been to document some of the more unusual aspects of his father's account, so that these can be received as more than just precious memoir - as contributions to the historical record. This has entailed many interviews, travel to remnants of his father's Rackheath and North Pickenham bases in East Anglia, and contemplation of the horrible effectiveness of aerial bombardment on several of the Mighty Eighth Air Force's 'ground zeros' in Germany.

Additionally, the son supplies the reader with a variety of material designed to make the dated technology of aviation in its 20th century adolescence more understandable, and to put into broader contexts the struggles to control European airspace and weaken the foe through costly strategic bombardment. Tables and an extensive WW II timeline give a framework for understanding American involvement and the role of air power. A comprehensive glossary of terms makes the aviation and military lingo clear, and his bibliography will equip the motivated reader to delve deeper.

Photographs from 'then' and 'now' bring the reader along on the son's odyssey, retracing the father's steps and honoring the sacrifices of survivors and the fallen alike.

A foreword by Brigadier General Robin Olds, USAF (Ret.), fighter leader in three wars and a WW II ace, adds important insight to the riddle of why survivors of grisly combat action are typically so tight-lipped about their experience.

Reluctant Witness is the combined effort of a pragmatic realist and a hardened optimist. This rich account of one witness's experience is offered to a general audience of conscientious citizens everywhere, with encouragements to never let their guard down and enable the tyrant, or ever despair of their ability, when committed to what is just and fair, to set things right. Widespread appreciation of the waste and senselessness of war impells practical efforts to 'wage peace'.

Milhouse's Dad is a heartfelt account of a grieving father's memories of his exceptional son, of their life together and of the father's struggle to find meaning in the seemingly empty existence that followed the violent death of the son who had filled his life with joy.

The happy "coming-of-age" stories and warm descriptions of family adventures are interspersed with soulful chapters revealing the deep feelings of grief experienced by the family, of their post-traumatic quest for some understanding of their loss and of their painful efforts toward accepting a life without the beloved young man who was so cruelly taken from them.

This is a story about the heights of joy we can all experience and of the depths of despair that can lurk, unexpectedly, around ever corner.

The Mortarmen is an untold story of world War II. The book details the fighting history of the men of the 87th Chemical Mortar Battalion. The battalion was armed with the powerful 4.2 mortars and following its landing on Utah Beach on D-Day fought in every major engagement in France, Belgium, and Germany.

The 4.2 mortar battalions were the most sought after fire support units in Europe. The 87th was in combat for 326 days and the book follows each of the four companies as they participate in the Battle for Normandy, the fight for Cherbourg, the battles of Aachen and the Hurtgen Forest, the Battle of the Bulge, and finally the crossing of the Rhine and the final victory in Germany.

The book contains excepts of diaries and quotations from the men who fought in the unit and from some of the German soldiers who opposed them. It is a story of heroism, tragedy, and the triumph of soldiers fighting for freedom.

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Veterans of the 87th Speak out about The Mortarmen:

"The author has performed admirably in depicting the complete story of the 87th Mortar BN from training camps thru D-Day and the entire WWII operations in Europe.

"A great contribution to WWII History, comparable to Stephen Ambrose's story of E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne Division in 'Band of Brothers'."

1st Lt. Sam Deal
B Company
87th Chemical Mortar Battalion

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"I browsed your book first, and now am reading it line by line slowly. You have done the most wonderful job in the writing, You have brought back all the feelings, the fear, the wonder, the comradeship; all of those feelings and more. I thank you !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Alexander Cannon
Pvt. B Company
87th CMB

This material was written by a former Shake'n'Bake, instant NCO who survived a year in the jungles of central Vietnam on search and destroy missions with the 173rd Airborne Brigade. It pays tribute to the soldiers he served with and expresses his feelings of responsibility for his men. It also lays bare his realization of the fine line between rational leadership, irrational killing, and young men conquering their daily fears in the elements knowing if they are exposed long enough to the enemy they are challenging the odds of survival. Through a potpourri of combat yarns, he gives extraordinary glimpses of the chancy and hard life of the airborne grunt that actually did the fighting. Included in One More Wake-Up, are stories about life after Vietnam where as a veteran remembering the past he copes with the present.

There are 96 narratives in Another River to Cross. I decided that the "Field of Honour" deserved to be the first story in the book. It is about my visit to my brother's grave site in Beny-sur-Mer Canadian War Cemetary in Normandy. He was with the Royal Canadian Engineers and was killed, on June 6th, 1944, as he began his task of clearing obstacles from Juno Beach.

There are humorous stories, sad stories, action stories, and some are of events that took place on the periphery. Some accounts are descriptions of happenings that are one of a kind and probably would not be read elsewhere. My experiences are not exceptional and are probably the same as other front line soldiers and certainly not as intense as those of the Infantry fighters. However I did have a few close calls and certain actions will never leave my memory. I can still smell the acrid odour of burning cordite from the shells exploding very close to me. it was a time to pray for protection from above. I still think back to the time a V1 rocket (Buzz Bomb) landed, very close to me, many miles short of its intended target. It exploded with a tremendous blast shaking the very foundations of buildings along the street and left me bleeding from superficial cuts from flying glass.

Read about "Washing Machine Charlie" (also known as "the Mad Major"), the lone nightly visitor, a German pilot, harassing our area.

Marking Time is an autobiographical account of a life that was mostly devoted to service in the armed forces of Australia and the UK. The author migrated to Australia in the mid-fifties and enlisted in the army at seventeen, serving initially with an infantry battalion and, later, with an airborne unit.

Returning to the UK in 1969, the author joined a parachute unit of the RAF Regiment and served actively in the Oman and Northern Ireland, making a full career that included exchange duties with the Royal Marines.

In recounting his service, active and otherwise, the author seeks to preserve the humour that is the warmth and depth of service experience anywhere.