Synopses & Reviews
Major George Eyster V comes from a family of military officers dating back to the Revolutionary War. His tour of duty in Iraq, however, left him disillusioned and questioning. Then he accepted a posting to J-PAC, an elite division whose mission is to fulfill the most solemn promise of the military code: bring all fallen soldiers home to the country for which they gave their lives.
In 1944 Captain Ryan McCown, a dashing young Marine aviator assigned to the USS Nassau, was shot down over the jungles of Papua, New Guinea. McCowns diaries and letters home provide a powerful portrait of the fears and sacrifices of a very different war—and the pathos of the ultimate cost of duty.
Eysters mission with J-PAC eventually took him and his team deep into the sweltering interior of New Guinea to at last deliver this fallen veteran to his loved ones—while perhaps also recovering something lost in himself.
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“An epic drama. . . .
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“Destined to be a classic.”
—Pat Conroy, author of The Great Santini and Prince of Tides Doug Stanton
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“An amazing story of faith and redemption across the generations. . . . It puts real meaning behind . . . ‘leave no man behind’.”
—Col.(Ret.) Peter Mansoor, PhD, General Raymond E. Mason, Jr. Chair of Military History, Ohio State University Pat Conroy - Pat Conroy
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“An epic drama. . . .
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“An epic drama. . . .
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"A great read, linking two wars, and young men two generations apart. The tragedies of war, promise unfulfilled, and lives thrown off course have seldom been so sensitively portrayed and skillfully examined. One of the best of the Iraq War vintage books."
--General Wesley K. Clark, US Army retired and author of A Time to Lead: For Duty, Honor and Country Col.(Ret.) Peter Mansoor, PhD - Col.(Ret.) Peter Mansoor, PhD
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“An epic drama. . . .
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“An epic drama. . . .
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“An epic drama. . . .
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“An epic drama. . . .
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“An epic drama. . . .
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“An epic drama. . . .
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“An epic drama. . . .
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“Johnny Heller’s gravelly voice imbues Eyster’s real-life story with a sense of family and duty.”
—AudioFile
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“An epic drama. . . .
Synopsis
The inspiring tale of loss and redemption about two American servicemen: a Marine Corps pilot shot down in WWII and the modern-day soldier determined to bring him home six decades later.
About the Author
Journalist BRYAN BENDER wrote for Inside the Army and was a military correspondent for Jane’s Defense Weekly and other publications. He is the national security reporter for The Boston Globe.