In 1942, Virgil Westdale was a successful young flight instructor when the government ousted him from the Air Corps and demoted him to army private. Having grown up as a Japanese American midwestern farm boy, Westdale had his first taste of Japanese culture when he was sent to train with the all Japanese American unit, the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. He was ultimately transferred to the 522nd Artillery Battalion, where, as a member of the Fire Direction Center, he helped push the Germans out of Italy, rescue the Lost Battalion in France, and free prisoners from Dachau Concentration Camp in Germany. After the war, Westdale went on to pursue a career in research and development with large corporations. He received twenty-five U.S. patents and earned an international award for his work with photocopier components. In retirement, he has been working for the TSA, returning to the worlds of aviation and national security. Written for the lay reader as well as the history buff, Westdales stories of World War II challenge preconceived notions of what we think we know about a soldiers life in Europe and offer images that go beyond the history books. ---"Spanning over ninety years, Virgils amazing and complex life story vividly reflects Americas history from the early 1900s to our current fight against terrorism. His book reads if he were sitting before me casually sharing his life. A highlight of my careerboth as an Army officer and a Federal Civil Servanthas been the honor of working with and getting to know Virgil Westdale, a great American. This is a truly fascinating and memorable autobiography." John H. Mumma, Colonel, US Army Retired Federal Security Director, Transportation Security Administration ---"Virgil Westdales Blue Skies and Thunder tells a story that is both unique in American history and uniquely American. After growing up as a Midwestern farm boy whose Japanese father had largely assimilated into the local community, he found himself after Pearl Harbor viewed with suspicion by the very government he wanted to serve in the Second World War. Denied a chance to serve as a military pilot, or even as a pilot trainer, he eventually found his way into a newly created Japanese American artillery unit and served with distinction in Italy, France and Germany. Back in the United States, he completed college and made a career for himself as an engineer with multiple patents to his credit, and eventually served his country a second time, as an airport security officer. His account is highly readable and offers insights into a wide range of aspects of both his own life and the world around him." Dr. James Smither, Director Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project

From the bestselling author of the hit Netflix series, Virgin River Three friends journey to discover the value of family, second chances, and choosing to live your best life in this fan-favorite romance by #1 New York Times bestselling author Robyn Carr. Nikki survived a terrible marriage and a worse divorce, but now suddenly has custody of her kids again. Dixie is through with looking for love when all she gets are expensive gifts and heartache. Carlisle is trying to move forward from a bad relationship that has destroyed his trust. When Nikki, Dixie and Carlisle are offered the chance to join a new airline in Las Vegas, they don’t hesitate. With nothing to lose and everything to gain, these three friends are starting over in search of their own blue skies. Previously published.

This isn't an ordinary Civil War tale. It is the all-true but little-known story of Adam "Stovepipe" Johnson-Kentucky legend, Texas hero, and Confederate cavalry officer-who boldly led the first Confederate raid across the Mason-Dixon Line to capture the thriving river-port community of Newburgh, Indiana, during the American Civil War. Not a shot was fired. With the politically divided landscape of Civil War Kentucky and the steamboat economy of the Ohio River as its backdrop, this is the historically accurate account of surprise nocturnal strikes, opportunistic military occupations, and a swashbuckling Rebel icon's daring daylight invasion into the Northern homeland that sealed the fate of western Kentucky for the remainder of the war. Vivid, thorough, and painstakingly researched, Thunder from a Clear Sky documents five critical weeks of 1862 Civil War history and shares the untold tale of one man's immeasurable impact on a nation at war. "A fascinating account of how a skilled former Indian fighter gathered a few Kentucky rebels and 'woke up' the slumbering Indiana Home Guard." -Evansville Courier & Press Book Reviews "An important and, until now, largely neglected story about the American Civil War... Thunder from a Clear Sky stands as a fresh and important contribution in a field long studied."-Professor Randy K. Mills, Ph.D., Oakland City University, author of Jonathan Jennings: Indiana's First Governor

An instant New York Times bestseller, this prequel to the acclaimed Cork O’Connor series is “a pitch perfect, richly imagined story that is both an edge-of-your-seat thriller and an evocative, emotionally charged coming-of-age tale” (Kristin Hannah, #1 New York Times bestselling author) about fathers and sons, small-town conflicts, and the events that shape our lives forever. Aurora is a small town nestled in the ancient forest alongside the shores of Minnesota’s Iron Lake. In the summer of 1963, it is the whole world to twelve-year-old Cork O’Connor, its rhythms as familiar as his own heartbeat. But when Cork stumbles upon the body of a man he revered hanging from a tree in an abandoned logging camp, it is the first in a series of events that will cause him to question everything he took for granted about his hometown, his family, and himself. Cork’s father, Liam O’Connor, is Aurora’s sheriff and it is his job to confirm that the man’s death was the result of suicide, as all the evidence suggests. In the shadow of his father’s official investigation, Cork begins to look for answers on his own. Together, father and son face the ultimate test of choosing between what their heads tell them is true and what their hearts know is right. In this “brilliant achievement, and one every crime reader and writer needs to celebrate” (Louise Penny, #1 New York Times bestselling author), beloved novelist William Kent Krueger shows that some mysteries can be solved even as others surpass our understanding.

ANGLICO: "Super Grunts" of 1st ANGLICO were deployed to all four tactical zones of Vietnam in small mobile fire control teams, providing support to U.S. Army and allied elements. This organization was the last tactical unit to stand down from the war and gained distinction as the only Marines in-country reporting directly to MACV. Working closely with Korean Marines, recounting several actions involving these legendary warriors from the Land of the Morning Calm, this little known but highly effective unit had an impact on the war far greater than their small numbers. Field radio operators and naval gunfire spotters composed the tactical membership of this unit. Both professions were cross trained in each competence, and each in turn was further qualified as tactical air controllers. An airborne capable platoon was established, mandating many ANGLICOs attend jump school and undertake other specialty training in the event they are called on to enter combat by unconventional means. Not being able to predict who they may be called on to support, training was pushed to the level of the most elite forces in the free world. BLUE DRAGONS: Most men of the Blue Dragon Brigade came of age during a war that raged fierce on their own homeland little more than a decade earlier. During a short lived occupation by North Korea, the people of the south endured extremely harsh treatment by would be conquerors. Events of recent history still burned in their hearts and haunted their dreams. They were mostly all children at the time leaving scarcely a man untouched by personal tragedy that could only be forged in a crucible of terror. Many were orphaned and all shared a thirst to settle a score that only those who drink deep from the same cup of dread can truly understand.

Lightning kills more people in North America than tornadoes, hurricanes, or floods. Hikers, campers, and golfers will learn to stay safe when lightning strikesPractical safety strategies for everyone who recreates or works outdoorsA quick, highly-informative read with interesting anecdotes, myths, and lore about lightningWritten by award-winning author and meteorologist Jeff RennerDiscover the risks of thunder, thunderstorm winds, lightning, and flashfloods. Lightning Strikes reviews how thunderstorms form, explains the different types of storms, and provides a guide for staying safe using the four As (Anticipate, Assess, Act, and Aid). Interwoven throughout the text are thought-provoking questions to help readers assess dangerous situations and form strategies to make sound decisions.Lightning Strikes livens its safety advice with often-humorous lore dating back to ancient Greece. This useful how-to book will appeal to anyone who spends time outdoors - hikers, climbers, golfers, construction workers - and has felt threatened by lightning.

Note: This eBook file contains many richly detailed full-color images and makes use of unconventional page layouts. Because of this, readers will be required to zoom in on each page to read the text and see the finer detail of the artwork. [It has not been optimized for devices that display only in black and white.] From the National Book Award finalist Lauren Redniss, author of Radioactive, comes a dazzling fusion of storytelling, visual art, and reportage that grapples with weather in all its dimensions: its danger and its beauty, why it happens and what it means. WINNER OF THE PEN/E. O. WILSON LITERARY SCIENCE WRITING AWARD • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, KIRKUS REVIEWS, AND SHELF AWARENESS Weather is the very air we breathe—it shapes our daily lives and alters the course of history. In Thunder & Lightning, Lauren Redniss tells the story of weather and humankind through the ages. This wide-ranging work roams from the driest desert on earth to a frigid island in the Arctic, from the Biblical flood to the defeat of the Spanish Armada. Redniss visits the headquarters of the National Weather Service, recounts top-secret rainmaking operations during the Vietnam War, and examines the economic impact of disasters like Hurricane Katrina. Drawing on extensive research and countless interviews, she examines our own day and age, from our most personal decisions—Do I need an umbrella today?—to the awesome challenges we face with global climate change. Redniss produced each element of Thunder & Lightning: the text, the artwork, the covers, and every page in between. She created many of the images using the antiquated printmaking technique copper plate photogravure etching. She even designed the book’s typeface. The result is a book unlike any other: a spellbinding combination of storytelling, art, and science. Praise for Thunder & Lightning “[An] aesthetically charged and deeply researched account . . . a wild rainstorm of a book, pelting the reader with ideas and inspiration.”—Nature “A gorgeous and illuminating illustrated study of weather in all its tempestuous variety . . . Redniss’s combo of fact, folklore, and vibrant etched copperplate prints enthralls.”—O: The Oprah Magazine “Eerily beautiful . . . Contains plenty of scientific explanation (including more than a few nods toward global warming), but also far-flung personal stories that illuminate the beauty, wonder and chaos inherent in the elements.”—The New York Times “Magical . . . Redniss has . . . shown us how human beings live with nature—fighting, coexisting, taming, predicting via leech barometer and radar and intuition.”—The New York Times Book Review “[A] twenty-first-century genius . . . The reader willing to put herself fully in Redniss’s hands will be rewarded with a delicious feeling of being enveloped by a phenomenon that eclipses the chiming trivialities of daily life.”—Elle “Redniss is one of the most creative science writers of our time—her combination of beautiful artwork, reporting, and poetic prose brings science to life in ways that words alone simply cannot.”—Rebecca Skloot “Redniss combines her own dual punch of expressive art and impressive erudition to give an entirely new take on all that happens above our heads.”—Adam Gopnik “A strange and wonderful thing, the work of a first-class mind that refuses to submit to any categories or precedent.”—Dave Eggers