Charlie, a country boy from Kansas volunteered to serve his country in a time of national emergency. Only one day after his nineteenth birthday, he enlisted into the USMC (United States Marine Corps) on December 8, 1942. He became a corporal, assigned to the Fourteenth Regiment (direct support artillery), Second Battalion, Fourth Division F. Battery, Fox Company. He and his Fourteenth Regiment fought in the famous Fourth Marine Division—a newly created amphibious landing assault fighting force during WWII in the Central Pacific Theater. They fought in the South Pacific against the Imperial Japanese Military. The Fourth Division was made up of the marine’s Twenty-Third, Twenty-Fourth, and Twenty-Fifth Regiments, along with the Fourteenth Regiment (artillery support). In Charlie’s marine records, it shows the following: muster date (April 1943), Battery F. Second Battalion, Fourteenth Marine, Twenty-Fourth Marine (reinforced) Camp Pendleton. The First, Second, and Third Battalions were the direct support battalions of the Twenty-Fourth Regiment. In combat, Charlie’s Fourteenth Regiment, F. Battery was assigned to a single, specific rifle regiment. Keep the Twenty-Fourth Regiment in mind as you read on. Charlie’s Fourteenth Regiment, Second Battalion would be the Twenty-Fourth Marine’s direct artillery support. The Fourth Division was known as the Magnificent Bastards, second to none. They became the fighting fourth. Their home base during the war was on the Island of Maui, Hawaii. This home base for the Fourth Division became known as Camp Maui. These brave marines became known and loved by the locals. They were soon called the Maui Marines, home only to the marine’s Fourth Division. My dad fought in the Kwajalein Atolls on Roi-Namur, Saipan, Tinian, and Iwo Jima in the South Pacific. These marines fought successfully against the Japanese, but not without a devastating number of loss from the original Fourth Division. This man Charlie, along with Geraldine, adopted me when I was about nine months old. I am the youngest and proudest daughter of the most loving and caring couple I had the privilege to call Dad and Mom. I have the deepest appreciation and admiration for both these special people. My devotion to their memory goes beyond measure. As an orphan in a Kansas orphanage at one time, I assure you the person that said, “Blood is thicker than water,” wasn’t adopted. I say, “Water is just as thick as blood.” This kind of love with an open heart runs deep into the very core of one’s soul. These gathered stories were recalled to the best of my family’s and my memories. There are stories of interest that I think will captivate you while reading. I hope you enjoy this collection of stories during WWII and get a little sense of the marine and the incredible man who was my dad.

Maj. Roger G. B. Broome, USMCR, died from wounds received on Saipan before his daughter had a chance to know him. Now a well-known naval historian and author of award-winning books, that daughter, Kathleen Broome Williams, has turned the research skills she honed studying naval technology to find her lost father. For this biography, she makes full use of an extensive collection of her father’s colorful and articulate letters along with the testimony of surviving Leathernecks who served with Major Broome, backed up by official records. The book reconstructs her father’s life as a University of Virginia Law School graduate who obtained a commission in the Marine Corps despite his colorblindness and eventually won the combat command he lobbied for. In April 1944 Broome took command of the Regimental Weapons Company, 24th Marines, 4th Marine Division. But his pursuit of glory came to an abrupt end just twenty-four days into the Saipan invasion when he sustained the wounds that condemned him to a lingering death. The author not only found a hero who was awarded the Navy Cross for his courageous actions, but also uncovered a profoundly human individual with strengths as well as obvious faults. In unfolding Broome’s story, she takes significant world events from seventy years ago and places them in an intimate context, to show how they affected Americans on and off the battlefield. Her efforts provide an inside look at the U.S. Marine Corps during the pivotal years of World War II, including recruit training, amphibious assaults, high casualties, and, not least, the personal feuds and rivalries that shaped it.

My hot Marine hero wants me to call him 'Daddy.' I wasn't looking for romance. I spend Saturday nights at home with my two favorite men—Ben& Jerry. Then Dane knocks on my door. Tall, tattooed, all muscle. He wants me, and he won't take no for an answer. He says I'm his 'babygirl,' and asks me to call him 'Daddy.' By day, he treats me like a lady. By night, he ties me up and does filthy, wicked things that make my lady bits swoon. And though it feels really naughty, I'm beginning to want to call him 'Daddy', too... Her Marine Daddy is a free novella starring one sassy babygirl and a Marine who will fight for her.

"Reading My Father" is an intimate, moving, and beautifully written portrait of the novelist William Styron by his daughter, Alexandra.

#1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER It never gets better, but it does get easier. That's the first thing Roz says to anyone who asks him for advice. Anyone who's lost, or just putting the pieces back together. When you're broken, fixed becomes an obsession. Roz is a multi-platform entertainer and storyteller who's used to hosting three shows a day on five hours of sleep a night. On The Roz & Mocha Show, ET Canada Live and Entertainment Tonight Canada, Roz built an audience and turned them into family. But as with most families, there is just some shit we don't talk about. From growing up in a small town to getting lost, drunk and terrified in New York; from finding comfort in the arms and beds of strangers to kicking an opioid addiction he didn't know he had; from broken bones to broken hearts and a broken marriage. From navigating grief and guilt following the devastating loss of his father to persevering in the face of an ongoing and private battle with his own body. All is shared in Roz's disarming signature blend of blunt truth and humour. A Little Bit Broken is a deeply personal and inspiring account of self-forgiveness, redemption and recovering from bad choices--because let's face it, the reason we make bad choices is that they usually feel really good. And Roz has made them all. We are not our mistakes. We are not our scars. We are not our guilt. This book is for anyone who thinks they're too far gone or beyond repair. Anyone too ashamed to admit to or face the hurt because their current place in the world seems too goddamn good to complain about anything. We hide it or deny it and carry on. But it's nothing we can't fix.

Silke, an easy-going German who prefers dodging problems to facing them, follows her job to the US when her bossy, longtime partner Alex refuses to start a family. Once in Texas, the cute blonde, who fixes medical analyzers for a living, is hit on by coworker Ana, a voluptuous and sexy Latina, who falls head over heels for her. Ana, formerly content with casual hook-ups, recognizes a good thing when she sees it and will do whatever it takes to win Silke. Still in love with Alex despite her shortcomings, Silke strings Ana along while at the same time getting increasingly chummy with her landlady, Lauren. The frumpy nurse is middle-aged and motherly, and best of all hetero, which makes her safe for Silke to hang out with. Or so she thinks. A kiss initiated by Lauren changes everything and they eventually become lovers. But Lauren has always struggled with putting herself first, and when her husband and daughter return home for the holidays, she resumes her wife-and-mother persona. Ana, on the other hand, is not only free, she is ready to start a family now and doggedly continues to pursue Silke. Of course there’s also still Alex, sophisticated as ever and used to getting what she wants, which is to keep Silke. Deceiving everybody and most of all herself, Silke procrastinates until being playful doesn’t cut it any longer. Can she take a stand and save the relationship with the one person who truly matters?