"***SOON TO BE A MAJOR HOLLYWOOD FILM***
‘This is aerial drama at its best. Fast, powerful, and moving.’ Erik Larson
‘A must read.’ New York Post
Devotion is the gripping story of the US Navy’s most famous aviator duo – Tom Hudner, a white, blue-blooded New Englander, and Jesse Brown, a black sharecropper’s son from Mississippi. Against all odds, Jesse beat back racism to become the Navy’s first black aviator. Against all expectations, Tom passed up a free ride at Harvard to fly fighter planes for his country. Barely a year after President Truman ordered the desegregation of the military, the two became wingmen in Fighter Squadron 32 and went on to fight side-by-side in the Korean War.
In an enthralling narrative, Adam Makos follows Tom and Jesse’s journey to the war’s climatic battle at the Chosin Reservoir, where they flew headlong into waves of troops in order to defend an entire division of Marines trapped on a frozen lake. It was here that one of them was faced with an unthinkable choice – and discovered how far they would go to save a friend."
"A young adult adaptation of the national bestseller that details the true story of two Navy pilots from divergent racial and economic backgrounds who forge a deep friendship during the Korean War as they face extraordinary circumstances.
Soon to be major motion picture starring Jonathan Majors and Glen Powell, with a supporting cast including Joe Jonas!
Lieutenant Tom Hudner and Ensign Jesse Brown, both Navy pilots during the Korean War in 1950, come from different backgrounds: Hudner is a white New Englander, a son of privilege; Brown is an African American son of a sharecropper from Mississippi. When the two men join forces in Fighter Squadron 32, they forge a deep friendship at a time when racial inequality was prevalent in America.
An unwavering commitment binds Tom and Jesse to each other as well as to their comrades. The two fly to save a division of US Marines cornered during the battle at Chosin Reservoir, but catastrophe strikes when one of them is shot down behind enemy lines and trapped in the wreckage of his plane. The other will face an unthinkable choice: watch their friend die, or attempt one of history's most audacious one-man rescue missions.
What transpires is harrowing and heartbreaking, an inspirational story for all time."
"Adapted for young adults from the New York Times bestseller, a riveting and true WWII story of a young man--an American tank gunner--who meets his destiny in an iconic armor duel and forges an enduring bond with his enemy.
Shut the hatches. It's time to roll out. You'll find yourself behind enemy lines with Clarence Smoyer and the 3rd Armored Division, the workhorse unit known as 'Spearhead,' the best in the tank armor ranks.
You'll feel as if you are right beside Clarence and his fellow crew members--all formerly strangers from across America who have now become family to each other. You will be jarred by enemy fire, and then explore the other side, stepping into the boots of German tanker soldier, Gustav Schaefer and his crew. You'll witness the heartbreaking tragedy, when an innocent young woman is caught in the crossfire. You'll see what happens when all of these lives collide, and realize how the aftershock still affects the survivors more than a half a century later. A riveting and true account of the perils of war as well as the prospect of forgiveness.
Cover images courtesy of Chuck Miller (Easy Company commanders); National Archives (medics, Clarence in cap, Spearhead dough); Bryan Makos, Valor Studios, Inc. (background map); U.S. Army photo by William B. Allen, courtesy of Dave Allen and Darren Neely (Panther); Steven Zaloga (Fury); Buck Marsh (A-Company doughs); Clarence Smoyer (Clarence sketch)"
"From the bestselling author of A Higher Call and Spearhead comes an unflinching firsthand chronicle of the heroic US Marines who fought on Guadalcanal, Peleliu, Iwo Jima, and in other pivotal battles during the Pacific War, a classic book now expanded with new stories from the flyboys overhead and the home front at war.
Following fifteen Marines from Pearl Harbor, through their battles with the Japanese, to their return home after V-J Day, Adam Makos and Marcus Brotherton have compiled an oral history of the Pacific War in the words of the men who fought on the front lines. With vivid, unforgettable detail, these Marines reveal harrowing accounts of combat with an implacable enemy, the camaraderie they found, the friends they lost, and the aftermath of the war's impact on their lives.
With unprecedented access to the veterans and unpublished memoirs, Voices of the Pacific presents true stories of heroism as told by such World War II veterans as Sid Phillips, R.V. Burgin, and Chuck Tatum-whose exploits were featured in the classic HBO miniseries The Pacific-and their Marine buddies from the legendary 1st Marine Division."
