This story first appeared on this website with a Prologue and Chapter One in May of 1997. At the rate of one chapter per month, the basic story was completed when Chapter Twelve was added in May of 1998. See

Several hundred readers, including U.S.World War II veterans, their sons, daughters, sons and daughters-in-law, and grandchildren have responded with e-mails and letters. Every response has been warm and supportive. Each has given the author a stimulating insight. France, Spain, the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand are also represented in the reader circle. Better pictures of Beaufighters, Do-217s, Ju-88s and Fx-1400 radio controlled bombs have been offered by readers who have demonstrated their familiarity with the book. Robert Burns, nephew of one of the Red Cross nurses plucked from an open lifeboat in the North Atlantic in July of 1941 by the U.S. destroyer Charles F. Hughes has provided a followup on her story. A 460 page paperback incorporating some of those insights is now available in its 2nd Edition dated June 1999. The book can be ordered by clicking here. The paperback contains about 35% more information than this web edition. The original Appendix in the first edition of the paperback has been replaced with Appendix A, "A Throttleman's Response."

I have gone back through e-mails and regular mail for a two year period and listed World War II ships and units represented in the responses to both the web edition and the paperback editions of this story. I collected them in a paragraph that you can find below. If you wish to have your unit listed as responding to the story or you discover that I have mislaid your previous input and thus failed to include your ship or unit, send me an e-mail to dailey@crocker.com.

Now in its third printing, 500 paperbacks have been sold. Here is the list of WWII ships/units that have been heard from (these responses have come from the original generation of those who fought or from the next two generations of descendants) :

the minesweepers USS Broadbill and USS Pioneer; the U.S. destroyers Buck, Benson, Edison, Ericsson, Lansdale, Lardner, Ludlow, Mayo, Thomas E. Fraser (DD 736 then DM-24), Wilkes, and Woolsey; the U.S.cruisers Augusta, Philadelphia, Savannah, and the British cruiser HMS Spartan; the repair ship USS Vulcan AR-5; the troop transports HMTS Rohna, SS Awatea, SS Mallory, SS Santa Elena, SS Santa Margarita, SS Toward (aka R.S. Toward for Rescue Ship) SS Vigrid, U.S. Army Transport Dorchester, and USS West Point; the tanker SS Yankee Arrow; the supply ship USS Electra; the amphibious ship USS Doyen (PA-1); Darby's Rangers. An officer on the staff of Rear Admiral Richmond Kelly Turner has commented favorably and recommended Richard Frank's excellent book, "Guadalcanal", a pertinent reference. Also, responding from a later generation, were a U.S. Marine, two U.S. Army tank soldiers, and the destroyer USS Dyess. Franklyn E. Dailey Jr. Updated to 24 February 2000.