Four teenagers battle for justice and create a legend. Montana’s tall mountains and deep valleys have produced many legends, but this one is more recent than most. The events that created the legend occurred in the summer of 1949. During World War Two, the sheriff in a remote part of Montana dodged the draft and avoided the war. With the local men fighting overseas, the sheriff built a vicious organization that ruled through fear and intimidation. By the time the war’s survivors came home, the sheriff was in firm control of the county and its commerce. The sheriff’s reign of terror was finally challenged when he crossed paths with young Jerry Flynn and his friends; four teenagers who still believed in right, wrong, truth, and justice. When the teens innocently questioned the sheriff’s actions, the retaliation was immediate and brutal. But the sheriff underestimated the four teenagers. Instead of running, they began secretly investigating and recording the gang’s activities; an investigation which revealed that the sheriff was far worse than anyone suspected. Soon the four teens found themselves fighting for their lives as they tried to rescue innocent women who had been enslaved by the depraved sheriff and his deputies. By the time the summer was over, the battle had expanded to include a group of former Marines, the FBI, and two Indian Nations. Together they brought their version of justice to the sheriff and his gang, creating The Legend of Camel’s Hump.
Author’s Note: The following description was generated by the book’s publisher and it makes the book sound a lot bleaker than it really is. There are a lot of great, sometimes risqué, sea stories in it. It’s a good “sailor story”. For info, I was an original Plankowner as well as the Total Ship Test Manager in Philadelphia Naval Shipyard when we rebuilt the Belknap after the collision. The Belknap will always have a special place in my memories.
This is a true story; a story of survival. The story starts in the 1950s, when a boy and his family lived a life of hellish abuse. The story ends after the boy defeats the abuser and moves on with his life. During the last six chapters of the book, the boy is a First Class Petty Officer aboard USS BELKNAP (DLG-26) during its Pre-Com Period and Shakedown Cruise.
Jeff was raised in a happy home in the mountains of Montana where he idolized his father, a former professional boxer. But before Jeff was twelve, his idol turned to alcohol and became a violent abuser, repeatedly beating Jeff, his mother, and his seven younger siblings. In desperation, Jeff resorted to digging hidden bunkers where the family could hide when they were attacked. Life became a daily struggle, both physically and financially.
He left school and worked wherever he could find a job, using the money to help feed his family. He labored in lumber mills, railroads and ranches until, at the age of seventeen, he joined the military.
This story follows the boy from the hell of his childhood through Pacific island love affairs, killer typhoons, and Hong Kong bar battles as he fights his way to acceptance in the rough and tumble world of a destroyer sailor. In his first Navy assignment, he finds that his poor education has resulted in a job he despises; working as a permanent head cleaner on an old destroyer. But through perseverance, hard work, and an iron will, he becomes a leader, supervising teams working on experimental shipboard missile guidance systems.
But you can’t run from yourself. Jeff’s family problems haunt him, frequently bringing him back to Montana; to increasingly violent confrontations with his father. Tensions build until the inevitable happens and Jeff is drawn into a final, epic, battle with the abuser.
A sobering, visceral, and shockingly real portrait of domestic violence, the boy’s relentless drive for survival is nothing short of extraordinary. An uplifting journey to redemption and self-acceptance, The Long Escape sends an unforgettable message to the abused that there really can be hope and love in their future. It also brilliantly captures the sometimes hollow feeling of victory and the scars of abuse that are carried for a lifetime
As we travel along the road of life, steering around the pot holes and trying to avoid the bumps, we sometimes find ourselves somewhere that we never intended to go. Sometimes we wander into what looks every bit like a dead end. Meet John Coffee who once upon a time headed off on the road to the American Dream only to find himself in the middle of a nightmare. He is a man at the end of his rope until he wanders into Baret Park and meets Charlie. Charlie, the old man that for forty years made that park his home. He knows a thing or two about nightmares, failure, wishing wells and dead ends. Old dogs may not be able to learn new tricks, but an old man like Charlie, well that is a different story. Meet June, John’s wife, and her best friend, the world wise Helen, they are as different as night and day and best friends forever. Sometimes the obvious is not so obvious when your glasses are fogged over with the color of your own life. Spend a few hours laughing, crying and just plain feeling good. Spend a few hours discovering the secret of “Spit Shine”.
The first book in the Trilogy by Tage N. Wright“Operation Armageddon is the first installment in the “Brotherhood of the Sword” trilogy. It begins the story of “The Brotherhood”. The evil swells from before the birth of Christ to present day in this first installment.
The second book in the Brotherhood of the Sword trilogy is now available.
Buy a copy and help a veteran.
Please note that I am donating 50% of the royalties from my novel ”Project Vengeance” to “Soldier On”. They provide housing for homeless veterans. Please help me help those who have given so much to provide the freedom we all enjoy.
If you could forward this to anyone on your friends list that may be interested
both myself and our homeless veterans would appreciate it.
My name is Tage N. Wright, I served aboard from 1968 to 1972.
Do you like to read or do you know someone who does?
The publisher has posted a preview chapter online at this link:http://bookstore.authorhouse.com/Products/SKU-000277603/The-Armageddon.aspx
Introduction:
Our story takes place in the present day, yet it really began a thousand years before the birth of Christ. It was then that the sword was forged and its blade tempered in blood. It was then that The Brotherhood of the Sword found its birth. Buried in a dead city, surrounded by a fortune in treasure the sword awaited its next owner. In 1868, nearly three thousand years after its birth, the wait was over. Another took up the sword and again evil began to grow. For one hundred and twenty-five years the Brotherhood of the Sword grew secretly in power and strength. Using the fortunes massed by the people of the dead city they built a secret society of power and wealth. A society so entwined with the world around it as to be almost invisible. Only the coming of the proper time stood between the Brotherhood and their plans for world domination. As the crucial moment approaches and the Festival of Eternal Power begin, the world unknowingly lies on the brink of an evil never before known. The ceremony of blood will open a new and terrifying dispensation of evil. The Brotherhood led by its prophet and High Priest Sam Clayton moves on an international scale. With weapons of mass destruction at their call Clayton and his followers stand ready to cut out the very heart of the world they want to control. Only a chosen few led by Craig Mason a tough ex-marine chosen by a dead man to carry on his fight stand against the evil of the Brotherhood. Join the life and death struggle in the battle against the Brotherhood and the evil that surrounds the Brotherhood of the Sword. Join in the battle to stop The Armageddon.
Come with me and experience the adventure of a lifetime!
Explore the lands and cultures of thirty-six countries.
Interact with crews of thirteen U.S. Navy warships as you traverse the oceans of the world.
Watch how the ships’ personnel earn college credits under the little-known Program for Afloat College Education (PACE).
Ride with the Marines as they enter Iraq during the first Persian Gulf War.
Witness some behind-the-scenes that made worldwide headlines from 1989 to 1994.
Table of Contents
1. Adrift 2. USS Belknap CG-26 3. USS Stein FF-1065 4. USS John F. Kennedy CV-67 5. USS Gridley CG-21 6. USS John F. Kennedy CV-67 (Deployments 2 and 3) 7. USS O’Brien DD-975 8. USS Cushing DD-985 9. USS Orion AS-18 10. USS Austin LPD-4 11. USS Barnstable County LST-1197 12. USS Wasp LHD-1 13. USS Guadalcanal LPH-7 14. USS Harry E. Yarnell CG-17 15. USS Belknap CG-26 16. USS Mobile Bay CG-53
The New York Testament: A Story of God in Today’s World is an attempt to project a childlike faith onto the backdrop of a faithless world. Times may change but faith is eternal. We have learned to push back at the foundations of our being but we seem to find that we leave some of the best of ourselves behind in the wake.
Giovanni Ferro attempts to capture the agony of a faithless world and juxtapose it with the beauty of grace and spirit that could sustain us. His methods are the fictional use of characters mixed with religious mainstays. His lifelong love of faith is mixed with the reality of a world that believes it has moved on from faith.
It is time for a different messiah, never before has the time been ripe for new thoughts on old religion; a break from and a cleaving to the faiths of old. Would Jesus be welcomed today; would he even be recognized as a transformational and authoritative figure for our era, or would he be rejected and relegated to bygone times? Race, religion, and intelligent dissent are the opposing forces in this book. Take a ride through the streets of New York and watch the story unfold.
Save the Belknap is the fast-paced story of the collision at sea of a cruiser and an aircraft carrier by the commanding officer of the primary rescue ship, with pictures taken during rescue operations. In November 1975, the cruiser USS Belknap collided with the aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy resulting in a situation where fires on the Belknap threatened a magazine containing nuclear weapons. The guided missile destroyer USS Claude V. Ricketts was designated the primary rescue ship by Commander, Destroyer Squadron 22. The Claude V. Ricketts went along the side of the burning and exploding cruiser in rough seas, fought the fires with Belknap’s crew, and rescued burned sailors. This is the first-person account of that rescue by the former commanding officer, USS Claude V. Ricketts (DDG-5). It contains a complete analysis of the collision and its causes.
The Belknap book project has been completed and the book is available for sale at Lulu.com and at Amazon.com. As promised at the 2011 reunion, we were able to keep the book at a reasonable cost of $24.95. This is not bad considering the volume contains over 500 pages.
When I ordered a copy for review, it was shipped only 2 days after I ordered it.
They have a preview of the first 12 pages of the book posted.
Thanks to all of you who contributed stories, photos, and ideas to what will hopefully be a great success for our organization. – Mike Abbott
“…The Navy has a way of taking care of its own; I can attest to that. And to us, as members of the Belknap family, sailors are special, very special indeed! You can test these waters yourself by reading and enjoying their stories in this book. No hoaxes here! – only a genuine love of life, honor, and integrity experienced while serving our nation aboard the USS BELKNAP.”
– Mary Belknap Edgar Walmsley, granddaughter of RADM Reginald Rowan Belknap
Click on this link to order “Starbuster” on www.lulu.com.
List of links referenced in the Belknap book -“Starbuster”
