Ocean Ablaze

War Reaches the Outer Banks

Nonfiction, History, Military, Veterans, United States
Cover of the book Ocean Ablaze by Carlton Harrell, AuthorHouse
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Carlton Harrell ISBN: 9781491817865
Publisher: AuthorHouse Publication: November 29, 2013
Imprint: AuthorHouse Language: English
Author: Carlton Harrell
ISBN: 9781491817865
Publisher: AuthorHouse
Publication: November 29, 2013
Imprint: AuthorHouse
Language: English

Two yellowing envelopes in a long-untouched file, unmistakably of U.S. Army origin but addressed to a North Carolina housewife, caught the attention of her son as he sorted her papers after her death. The postmarks, Virginia Beach, VA., and dated in 1942, were puzzling, as was the official return address: 111th Infantry C.T., Mobile Defense Force. While the 111th regimental combat team could be deciphered, the Mobile Defense Force was not a recognizable term. The letters inside instructed her on the duties of a coast watcher, and evoked memories stored since childhood: The sickening thump of torpedoes striking U.S. ships just off the Currituck Outer Banks and the flare of flames, particularly when a tanker was hit, that were clear even to a youngster on his front porch 8 miles inland. Each boom and pillar of fire revealed that more men were dying in the freezing waters off North Carolina's barrier islands that winter. How did the United States get into such straits that its life was threatened as the Axis juggernauts rolled across Western Europe and Asia? What transpired during the crucial years when the outcome of the war could go against the United States as Axis aggression flooded the Atlantic with U-boats striving to cut the stream of ships laden with weapons, troops, and food flowing to the beleaguered British Isles - the last Allied outpost near the Continent? How did the Allies achieve victory first against the U-boats, then the war, for as Napoleon observed: "It is only a step from victory to disaster. "

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Two yellowing envelopes in a long-untouched file, unmistakably of U.S. Army origin but addressed to a North Carolina housewife, caught the attention of her son as he sorted her papers after her death. The postmarks, Virginia Beach, VA., and dated in 1942, were puzzling, as was the official return address: 111th Infantry C.T., Mobile Defense Force. While the 111th regimental combat team could be deciphered, the Mobile Defense Force was not a recognizable term. The letters inside instructed her on the duties of a coast watcher, and evoked memories stored since childhood: The sickening thump of torpedoes striking U.S. ships just off the Currituck Outer Banks and the flare of flames, particularly when a tanker was hit, that were clear even to a youngster on his front porch 8 miles inland. Each boom and pillar of fire revealed that more men were dying in the freezing waters off North Carolina's barrier islands that winter. How did the United States get into such straits that its life was threatened as the Axis juggernauts rolled across Western Europe and Asia? What transpired during the crucial years when the outcome of the war could go against the United States as Axis aggression flooded the Atlantic with U-boats striving to cut the stream of ships laden with weapons, troops, and food flowing to the beleaguered British Isles - the last Allied outpost near the Continent? How did the Allies achieve victory first against the U-boats, then the war, for as Napoleon observed: "It is only a step from victory to disaster. "

More books from AuthorHouse

Cover of the book Love on a Two-Way Street by Carlton Harrell
Cover of the book The Unsuspected Truth by Carlton Harrell
Cover of the book Still a Friend of Mine by Carlton Harrell
Cover of the book You Are What You Eat by Carlton Harrell
Cover of the book The School of Scary Stories by Carlton Harrell
Cover of the book Through a Pane on My Window by Carlton Harrell
Cover of the book The Saving Heritage by Carlton Harrell
Cover of the book The Brave Die Young by Carlton Harrell
Cover of the book Requiem for a Classic Second Edition by Carlton Harrell
Cover of the book Decisions and Consequences by Carlton Harrell
Cover of the book The Gateway to Understanding by Carlton Harrell
Cover of the book Politics and Religion in America--Post 9/11 by Carlton Harrell
Cover of the book My Footprints on the Sands of History by Carlton Harrell
Cover of the book The Cabin and the River by Carlton Harrell
Cover of the book The Psychic Life of George Herbert Leigh Mallory by Carlton Harrell
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy