The Forgotten War Begins -- A Novel of the Sea War in Korea Nonstop action set in the actual events of the times It is 1950. World War II is over, the nation is at peace and the US armed forces are drastically cut back in size. The new, bomber-centered, nuclear-armed Air Force is now king and the Army, and especially Navy forces, are cut to the bone. Unexpectedly, 100,000 North Korean troops cross the border into South Korea driving the lightly equipped South Korean Army down the peninsula. President Truman, with United Nations backing, pledges to help South Korea and directs the US Navy to blockade the Korean coast and to patrol the Formosa Straits to prevent the Red Chinese Army from invading Formosa. A single aircraft carrier, a couple of cruisers and a handful of destroyers is all that is left of the once mighty 7th Fleet. This skeleton force is ordered into the breach to carry out the President's mandate. In USS Percival steaming north from Hong Kong on the first day of the war, Lt. j.g. David "Hutch" Hutcheson wonders whether the few, undermanned, under-supplied US ships can meet the challenge. Percival forms up with the rest of the 7th fleet in a show of force in the Formosa Straits on their way to Buckner Bay in Okinawa. During the transit, Percival escorts the aircraft carrier Valley Forge, serves as radar picket and chases down a false submarine contact. Under the United Nations Mandate, the US 7th Fleet is joined by ships of the British Far East Fleet to form Task Force 77 at Buckner. Percival has a war-hero Captain, an alcoholic Executive Officer and a crew of junior officers that have never seen combat. However, Percival and Hutch are plunged into the fray, escorting aircraft carriers, as their aircraft attack North Korea. At General MacArthur's direction, Vice Admiral Struble, Commander 7th Fleet, boards Percival for a quick trip to Formosa to reassure Chiang Kai Shek that the US has his back. Hutch acts as Struble's aid in his meeting with Chiang, Madam Chiang, the US Charge' de Affaires and Admiral Kwei. With the shortage of naval fighting ships, Percival is constantly at sea. Hutch has Percival's conn during the rescue of a pilot whose plane crashed while attempting a landing on Valley Forge. Percival plays "Train Buster" against a Communist ammunition train trying to hide in a tunnel. A North Korean torpedo boat attacks Percival with disastrous results. Percival joins the Gunfire Support Group in bombarding North Korean troops and industrial centers. Percival attacks a sonar contact that turns out to be an enemy submarine. Percival's Landing Party goes ashore to bring fuel to embattled and surrounded Republic of Korea forces and ends up in a fierce firefight on the beach. During all of this, General MacArthur, Admiral Joy and Air Force General Stratemeyer struggle with problems revealed by a resurgent, combative, naval air and an impotent US Air Force unprepared for this kind of war. Navy aircraft carriers are directed to bring Air Force planes from the US. The inability of Air Force controllers to direct Navy planes in close troop support frustrates Navy fliers and morale plunges. Seventh Fleet aircraft are tasked to attack targets that are rightfully the Air Force's leading to strained relations between Navy and Air Force brass. With his first taste of war at sea, Hutch ponders whether he made a mistake in following the family naval tradition and if he will ever again see Peggy, his wife, and their infant son. Finally, during MacArthur's daring invasion of North Korea, Hutch meets the enemy in fierce combat at close quarters in the intertidal waters off Inchon. If you like books by Tom Clancy, W.E.B. Griffin, Claude Berube or Stephen Coontz, you will want to read "The Forgotten War Begins."

On June 25, 1950 the North Korean Peoples Army crossed the 38th parallel and invaded South Korea. The United Nations, primarily the United States, came to South Korea's aid. Because America had largely dismantled its Army and Navy after World War II, the Navy needed to quickly take 110 WW-II destroyers out of mothballs, return them to fleet service and staff them with crews. Many young men answered their country's call and joined the Navy -- among them was a young music school student named Archie T. Miller. This book depicts his sailor's story of adventures in the "Tin Can" Navy. Plucked from a comfortable civilian life Miller and his shipmates adapted to the spartan conditions of life at sea in a small hard riding ship. The discipline, responsibility, danger, travel and camaraderie of those four years forever changed their lives. The crew of USS Wren traveled over 50,000 miles completely around the world while taking their ship to Korea. This book describes life in a small ship in smooth and rough seas while operating with Fast Carrier Task Force 77 off the coasts of Korea, dodging and sinking mines, conducting antisubmarine operations and searching for North Korean ships above the 38th parallel in blinding snowstorms. Home from Korea, Wren aided a burning troopship, rode out hurricanes, visited Havana, participated in fleet exercises and trained midshipmen. Wren also blockaded Puerto Barrios while the CIA overthrew the freely elected government of Guatemala. The Wrens lived the slogan "Join the Navy and see the world" -- and still treasure their experiences. They were funny, scary, awe inspiring, sobering and exciting. They still talk about them -- they call them Sea Stories. And this book is those stories.

BIRDS IN HAND: RCA and a Communications Revolution In the 1970s, the cable television industry was transformed - not by cables, but by communications satellites flying more than 23,000 miles above the earth. These satellites enabled a programming revolution that made household names out of HBO, CNN, ESPN, Ted Turner and Pat Robertson. The common thread in the emergence of these global brands was a fleet of satellites built and operated by RCA, which extended the reach of cable TV in ways that previously were unimaginable. This revolution was made possible by the technologists who built and flew these satellites - especially a team of engineers from RCA. But it wasn't easy or dull. One satellite blew up four days after launch. Another almost shook itself to pieces in deep space. Armed only with telemetry, engineers had to trouble-shoot problems on satellites worth tens of millions of dollars as they hurtled through the harsh environment of space.