Rona Simmons
A Message for Readers:
My latest book, The Other Veterans of World War II: Stories from Behind the Front Lines illuminates a little-understood and often ignored side of World War II—that of noncombat soldiers. These men and women who served in all branches of the military often miles from the front lines in Europe, North Africa and the Pacific, like their combat brothers, have remarkable stories to tell. It is the war in a nutshell, packed with details of the enormity of the global operation. The facts, figures, and asides gathered during extensive research complete the picture of these human-sized stories replete with the veterans’ sacrifices, their faith and their humor.
What I hope readers come away with is a better understanding about World War II and what drove sixteen million people to serve their country, and to understand that not everyone handled the controls of fighter plane, looked through the B17 bombardier’s scope, or took cover in a foxhole, but that all played a role in winning the war. All are worthy of our respect and honor. And, I will be satisfied if I have inspired one person to spend a few minutes with a veteran and ask them about their service and overjoyed if one of those encounters leads someone else to capture a veteran’s story and tell it and tell it and tell it. All so very relevant to what Stories Behind the Stars and Fold3 are about.
Author - Rona Simmons
Steve Snyder
My book SHOT DOWN is set within the framework of World War II and about the individual experiences of each member of a B-17 bomber crew after their plane (piloted by my father) was knocked out of the sky by German fighters over the French/Belgian border on February 8, 1944 and about the courageous Belgian patriots who risked their lives to help them.
However, it's purpose is more than just to remember and honor my father and his crew. It is to remember and honor all the men who served in the 8th Air Force fighting the deadly air war over Europe during which 26,000 men died (more than the entire Marine Corps fighting in the Pacific) and another 28,000 men became prisoners of war after their planes were shot down.
More generally, it is also to remember and honor all the men and women who served in the United States Armed Forces during World War II. No other event in history affected more people than World War II. Sixty million people died. Millions more were wounded. Millions more were displaced and left homeless. No one alive was untouched by it, and no nation was spared the cost and horror. World War II changed the course of America and the world forever. The brave young men who fought and died for freedom are The Greatest Generation, and we must never forget their sacrifice to preserve the freedoms that we enjoy today. It is our duty to remember
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Donna Esposito
My novel Flying Time is fiction, but it incorporates the true story of a young American soldier, Pvt. Roy Willis Humphrey, of the 3rd Infantry Division who was killed during the Sicilian Campaign in 1943 despite heroic efforts to save his life. This tragic loss inspires the heroine of the novel to join a traveling USO production to do her part for the war effort. She visits various bases in the South Pacific, including Guadalcanal and finds her destiny along the way.
After writing the book, I finally fulfilled a lifelong dream of visiting Guadalcanal myself. There I, too, found my destiny when local people told me they had discovered the dog tags and remains of a missing-in-action soldier, Pfc. Dale W. Ross, and asked for my help to repatriate his remains. Since then I’ve found myself on a journey to solve the mysteries of those we lost and have made trips to the Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Peleliu, and Sicily to uncover their stories.
I’m currently working on nonfiction books about these expeditions to tell the stories of those young men who never came home from such faraway places. While many MIAs will never be recovered, just documenting their stories is an honor for me and my small way to ensure that their sacrifices will not be forgotten.
Jeffrey R. Veesenmeyer
My first book, “Kamikaze Destroyer” began as a search for how my uncle was killed on the USS Hugh W. Hadley (DD-774). The Hadley Reunion website stirred my interest into writing the book. The crew’s 95-minute air/sea battle against waves of kamikazes at Okinawa was historic. They shot down 23 planes…an all-time naval record for a single engagement.
It was great story. But the two-year project became something more. It was really about the stories of 362 men who served on the Hadley that day. Details about their battle and 385-day journey is told from interviews, letters, and diaries. The ship was hit by three kamikazes and two bombs. There were 152 casualties. Thirty men were killed, including my uncle Louis J. Veesenmeyer. The ship nearly sank. A determined crew kept her afloat and she was towed for home. Along the way a typhoon nearly sank the ship again. This is not just a story about a ship, but about the men that made the ship a legend in the annals of the U.S. Navy history.
My most gratifying experiences from this book came from family members of Hadley shipmates. Many siblings, sons, daughters, and grandchildren thanked me for writing the book. Most had no idea what their loved one had experienced. My message through this book and other writing projects is for veterans to “tell your story.” And if they can’t…you can tell it for them.
Jon L. Strupp
With entry into World War II, the United States of America faced a daunting task of delivering men and material on two distant fronts on opposite ends of the world. Due to this, a logistical system was developed like never seen before. This book tells the story of the fleet oiler, USS Chiwawa AO-68. How both men and machine, not primarily designed for war, were called from civilian life to defend their country and become part of the backbone of the navy helping to tip the balance in the Allies favor. Loaded with cargo consisting of kerosene, gasoline, diesel oil, Navy Special Fuel Oil, top side cargo, and passengers, the Chiwawa participated in nine trans-Atlantic convoys, delivering the goods to the European theater. Facing bad weather and the imminent threat of U-boats, the Chiwawa performed the delicate job of refueling the escort ships protecting the convoy while underway. When the war in Europe was won, the Chiwawa was transferred to the Pacific theater to confront ever present mines and two typhoons. This often overlooked aspect of World War II is examined using U.S. Navy records, crew interviews, diaries, and letters written during the war, telling the Chiwawa’s story through first-hand accounts of life at sea and land while visiting ports throughout Europe, Mediterranean, Caribbean and Pacific. This story is unique because the Chiwawa avoided scrapping after the war to return to civilian use, and serves to the present day on the Great Lakes as the ore carrier M/V Lee A. Tregurtha. The author, Jon L. Strupp, is the son of USS Chiwawa crewmember James O. Strupp.
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John J. Turanin
As a volunteer researcher and writer for Stories Behind the Stars, I am humbled by the sacrifices made by US service members during WWII. Knowing that many were neighbors and classmates of my father, I dedicated my efforts toward telling their stories within the context of their hometown, the Pennsylvania mill town of Monessen. I walked these streets as a child and
knowing that they also walked the same streets made their stories come alive for me.
Eighty-one men from Monessen never returned alive from WWII. More than 90% of the lives lost were first generation Americans, the sons of immigrants of the early 1900's who came to Monessen to work in the town’s tin and steel mills.
TIN MEN STEEL SOLDIERS recounts the personal story of each of the city's 81 lives lost in service to their country. Every story tells of their family heritage, their life in Monessen, and the circumstances surrounding their loss during WWII. Their stories are each told separately in the chronological order of their loss within the historical context of the war as it progressed.
It is said that we die twice, once when we take our last breath, and the second time, when our name is last spoken. By telling the stories of these men, their names may continue to be spoken by future generation, giving life to their spirits and their legacies.
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Matt Zullo
Matt Zullo is the author of the definitive two-volume history of the "On-the-Roof Gang," the US Navy's radio intelligence pioneers. The On-the-Roof Gang was an elite group of 176 US Navy and Marine Corps radiomen, trained to intercept Japanese naval and diplomatic communications in the years leading up to World War II. Their training took place in a specially-constructed blockhouse on the roof of the old Main Navy Building in Washington, DC. The graduates of this training became known as the On-The-Roof Gang and were posted throughout the Pacific Theater at various intercept stations and aboard ships. Matt was first introduced to the On-the-Roof Gang when he was honored with a lifetime award for cryptologic excellence named after the group. He then began a 10+ year research project, seeking to uncover the stories behind the group. The result is his award-winning two book series, The US Navy's On-the-Roof Gang Volume 1 - Prelude to War and Volume 2 - War in the Pacific, both published in 2020. He continues his research into the group and speaks at military and historical conferences and events around the world.
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Michael Darter
Vanished In Valor unravels the true story of Staff Sergeant Eugene F. Darter, a crew member in the esteemed 8th Air Force during World War II. Originally recruited by the US Navy in 1931 to become an undercover investigator of subversive activities, he later went on to become a private detective investigator and then joined the Army Air Force war effort in 1942. In 1943 Eugene and his crew embarked on a perilous mission that led to injuries and imprisonment of seven (POW), and the mysterious disappearance of three who never returned at the end of the war (MIA), including Eugene.
Meet Dr. Michael Darter, a dedicated author and engineering professor, who has devoted years of his life to discovering the fate of his brother Eugene and crewmates.
The latest search for Eugene's remains led to the review of more than 800 X-files of buried, unknown Americans in Europe, and the discovery of a few potential matches with Eugene that after further documentation have been submitted to the US Government for DNA testing. Dr. Darter advocates for more DNA testing of remains of unknowns to "Bring Them Home," to better preserve and honor their ultimate sacrifice.
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