Even though I am a retired banker, with that stodgy image, I love travel, meeting people and researching the little-known aspect of our military history. The books tell that story-
"One Day of the Civil War" - deliberately finding a day in which "nothing happened." Nothing except skirmishes, executions, raids, battles, parades, speeches and on and on.
"The Lightning Mule Brigade" - A Union brigade of four infantry regiments led by a Union Colonel, an Indiana publisher turned strategist, captured by the legendary Nathan Bedford Forrest's indefatigable cavalry regiments. Unbelievable!
"The Russian Sideshow" - America and its Allies invade Russia in North Russia and in Siberia in 1918. Hundreds of Americans die in the fierce winter combat and the Allies slink out of Russia with their dead and wounded as Russia gloats.
"An Airline at War" - the story of China National Aviation Corporation owned 55% by Chiang Kai-shek's Chinese government and 45% by Pan Am. They pioneered the famous Hump route that literally kept China in WWII, keeping one million Japanese soldiers tied up in mainland China instead of manning the defenses of the Pacific islands.
And most recently, "Wandering the World Doing Good: A Senior Volunteer Saves the World". Gives some details about volunteer projects in the world and how to look for them. Follow a different path, and share your experience in developing countries while being educated yourself.
A recurring quest is the subject for another new book, "The Search for Jimmie Browne: An MIA Pilot in WWII China." That book tells the frustrations of looking for, then finding, a WWII MIA. But finding the crash site has not brought Jimmie home. Bureaucracy and politics leave Jim, my cousin, and his C-47 crew still lying in the cockpit of their plane on Cang Shan Mountain.
Those six efforts have led to extensive travel in doing the research, visiting every theater of the Civil War; following the exact route of Streight in his abortive Alabama raid; cruising into the ports of Archangel and Murmansk, then spending a month in Vladivostok in Far East Russia. Finally, trips to China to see Shanghai, Nanking, Chungking, Kunming, Dali and the wreckage of a WWII CNAC C-53. And in addition I was fortunate to have done 20 volunteer bank consulting assignments in 11 countries including, Romania, Moldova, Poland, Uganda, Russia, Jordan, Iraq, Shanghai, and Vietnam. It has kept me busy since retiring in 1993!
It was all possible because of a wonderful wife, Donna, who loves to travel and research as well as being a proof reader and editor without par. And three great kids who live near us in Merritt Island, Florida (although one has the wanderlust, too)
