Book Details:
Book Title: They Called Him Marvin, A History of Love, War and Family by Roger Stark
Category: Adult Fiction (18+), 333 pages
Genre: Historical Romance, WW2 history, True Love Story
Publisher: Silver Star Publishing
Release Date: September 2021
Formats Available for Review: print- softback (USA), e-book (Gifted Kindle, mobi (for kindle), ePub, PDF)
Tour dates: March 28 to April 15
Content Rating: PG-13: No sex scenes, six mild profanities, depictions of war scenes.
Book Description:
They were just kids, barely not teenagers, madly in love, desperate to be a family, but a war and a B29 got in their way.
Three hundred ten days before Pearl Harbor, buck private Dean Sherman innocently went to church with a new friend in Salt Lake City. From that moment, the unsuspecting soldier travelled a remarkable, heroic path, falling in love, graduating from demanding training to become a B29 pilot, conceiving a son and entering the China, Burma and India theater of the WW2.
He chronicled his story with letters home to his bride Connie that he met on that fateful Sunday, blind to the fact that fifteen hundred seventy five days after their meeting, a Japanese swordsman would end his life.
His crew, a gaggle of Corporals that dubbed themselves the Corporalies, four officers and a tech Sargent, adventured their way across the globe. Flying the “Aluminum Trail” also called the Hump through the Himalayas, site of the most dangerous flying in the world. Landing in China to refuel and then fly on to to places like Manchuria, Rangoon or even the most southern parts of Japan to drop 500 pounders.
Each mission had it’s challenges, minus fifty degree weather in Mukden, or Japanese fighters firing away at them, a close encounter of the wrong kind, nearly missing a collision with another B29 while flying in clouds, seeing friends downed and lost because of “mechanicals,” the constant threat of running out of fuel and their greatest fear, engine fire.
Transferred to the Mariana Islands, he and his crew were shot down over Nagoya, Japan as part of Mission 174, captured and declared war criminals.
Connie’s letters reveal life for a brand new mother whose husband is declared MIA. The agony for both of them, he in a Japanese prison, declared a war criminal, and she just not knowing why his letters stopped coming.
They were just kids, barely not teenagers, madly in love, desperate to be a family, but a war and a B29 got in their way.
Three hundred ten days before Pearl Harbor, buck private Dean Sherman innocently went to church with a new friend in Salt Lake City. From that moment, the unsuspecting soldier travelled a remarkable, heroic path, falling in love, graduating from demanding training to become a B29 pilot, conceiving a son and entering the China, Burma and India theater of the WW2.
He chronicled his story with letters home to his bride Connie that he met on that fateful Sunday, blind to the fact that fifteen hundred seventy five days after their meeting, a Japanese swordsman would end his life.
His crew, a gaggle of Corporals that dubbed themselves the Corporalies, four officers and a tech Sargent, adventured their way across the globe. Flying the “Aluminum Trail” also called the Hump through the Himalayas, site of the most dangerous flying in the world. Landing in China to refuel and then fly on to to places like Manchuria, Rangoon or even the most southern parts of Japan to drop 500 pounders.
Each mission had it’s challenges, minus fifty degree weather in Mukden, or Japanese fighters firing away at them, a close encounter of the wrong kind, nearly missing a collision with another B29 while flying in clouds, seeing friends downed and lost because of “mechanicals,” the constant threat of running out of fuel and their greatest fear, engine fire.
Transferred to the Mariana Islands, he and his crew were shot down over Nagoya, Japan as part of Mission 174, captured and declared war criminals.
Connie’s letters reveal life for a brand new mother whose husband is declared MIA. The agony for both of them, he in a Japanese prison, declared a war criminal, and she just not knowing why his letters stopped coming.
Meet the Author:
I am, by my own admission, a reluctant writer. But there are stories that demand to to be told. When we hear them, we must pick up our pen, lest we forget and the stories be lost. Six years ago, in a quiet conversation with my friend Marvin, I learned the tragic story of his father, a WW2 B-29 Airplane Commander, shot down over Nagoya, Japan just months before the end of the war. The telling of the story that evening by this half orphan was so moving and full of emotion, it compelled me to ask if I could write the story. The result being They Called Him Marvin.
My life has been profoundly touched in so many ways by being part of documenting this sacred story. I pray that we never forget, as a people, the depth of sacrifice that was made by ordinary people like Marvin and his father and mother on our behalf.
connect with the author: website ~ facebook ~ instagram ~ goodread ~ bookbub
I am, by my own admission, a reluctant writer. But there are stories that demand to to be told. When we hear them, we must pick up our pen, lest we forget and the stories be lost. Six years ago, in a quiet conversation with my friend Marvin, I learned the tragic story of his father, a WW2 B-29 Airplane Commander, shot down over Nagoya, Japan just months before the end of the war. The telling of the story that evening by this half orphan was so moving and full of emotion, it compelled me to ask if I could write the story. The result being They Called Him Marvin.
My life has been profoundly touched in so many ways by being part of documenting this sacred story. I pray that we never forget, as a people, the depth of sacrifice that was made by ordinary people like Marvin and his father and mother on our behalf.
connect with the author: website ~ facebook ~ instagram ~ goodread ~ bookbub
My Thoughts:
They called him Marvin is written by Roger Stark. This is a fascinating story to read. It contains s a series of letters exchanged between Dean & Connie and it gives insight into their lives during the war. I feel that first person account of history is always the best to read because everyone views events differently. We follow the story of a very young married couple. Dean goes off to war in the Pacific as a B-29 Pilot. While we do see letters written, the author notes that some of the recreations in this book are based on historical research.
I enjoyed reading this. The book is well written, it's moving, it makes you appreciate what our ancestors before us went through with wars. A lot changed for them when Pearl Harbor happened. This book did a great job showing all perspectives of the war.
Thank you to the author, the publisher and IRead Book Tours for allowing me to read a copy of this book. All thoughts are my own.
Tour Schedule:
Mar 28 –Cover Lover Book Review – book review / giveaway
Mar 29 – Working Mommy Journal – book review / giveaway
Mar 29 -The World As I See It – book review / giveaway
Mar 29 -Kam's Place – book spotlight
Mar 31 - Rockin' Book Reviews – book review / guest post / giveaway
April 4 – mysweetenedlifebychix – book spotlight / giveaway
April 5 – Connie’s History Classroom – book review / giveaway
April 6 - Locks, Hooks and Books – book review / giveaway
April 7 – Literary Flits – book spotlight / giveaway
April 8 – Book Corner News and Reviews - book review / giveaway
April 11 – Jazzy Book Reviews – book spotlight / giveaway
April 12 - Reading Excursions – book review / giveaway
April 13 - fundinmental - book spotlight / giveaway
April 14 – Leels Loves Books – book review / giveaway
April 15 - My Reading Getaway – book review / giveaway
April 15 - Christine Marquez - book review
Mar 28 –Cover Lover Book Review – book review / giveaway
Mar 29 – Working Mommy Journal – book review / giveaway
Mar 29 -The World As I See It – book review / giveaway
Mar 29 -Kam's Place – book spotlight
Mar 31 - Rockin' Book Reviews – book review / guest post / giveaway
April 4 – mysweetenedlifebychix – book spotlight / giveaway
April 5 – Connie’s History Classroom – book review / giveaway
April 6 - Locks, Hooks and Books – book review / giveaway
April 7 – Literary Flits – book spotlight / giveaway
April 8 – Book Corner News and Reviews - book review / giveaway
April 11 – Jazzy Book Reviews – book spotlight / giveaway
April 12 - Reading Excursions – book review / giveaway
April 13 - fundinmental - book spotlight / giveaway
April 14 – Leels Loves Books – book review / giveaway
April 15 - My Reading Getaway – book review / giveaway
April 15 - Christine Marquez - book review
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