Did you know that Alan Alda, "Hawkeye" of M*A*S*H, was an Army gunnery officer in the Korean War? Or that gourmet cook Julia Child served with the OSS-the predecessor of the CIA-in World War II? Or that Yankee Hall of Famer Yogi Berra participated in the D-Day landing at Normandy? These, and hundreds more fascinating facts make The Military Hall of Fame a fun-filled book that makes history come alive in an unexpected way.

The Military Hall of Fame

History

BARON, SCOTT

Military

UNKNO

Only the best officers are given command of U.S. Navy ships, and only the elite of these are selected for aircraft carriers. The USS America was the third of four Kitty Hawk-class super-carriers. Commissioned in 1965, decommissioned in 1996, she served three times in Vietnam, and once each in Libya, the Persian Gulf and Bosnia. This book profiles the 23 men who commanded the America and her crew of 5,000 during 31 years. Most of them were combat veterans--World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Mayaguez Rescue Operations, Lebanon, Haiti, Libya, Bosnia, and Desert Storm. Four were Naval Academy graduates; seven were test pilots; one became Inspector General of the Navy; one wore both Navy wings and submariner dolphins; and one was a prisoner of war in Vietnam for nearly six years. Two retired as admirals--one was Chief of Naval Operations--five as vice admirals, and 11 as rear admirals. Each profile gives a career account based on official biographies, published memoirs, and interviews with the commanders or their families.

At the Helm of USS America: The Aircraft Carrier and Its 23 Commanders, 1965-1996

Wise Jr., James E.

Americas

McFarland

Men and women who serve in the armed forces are subject to a different legal code than those they protect. Throughout American history, some have--through action or failure to act or by circumstances--found themselves facing prosecution by the United States military. One measure of a nation's sense of justice is how it treats those who surrender some of their rights to defend the rights of fellow citizens. 
Beginning with the first court-martial (predating the nation itself) and continuing to the recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the War on Terror, this book examines the proceedings of 15 courts-martial that raised such important legal questions as: When does advocacy become treason? Who bears ultimate responsibility when troops act illegally? What are the limits in protesting injustice? The defendants include such familiar names as Paul Revere and William Calley. 
The authors examine such overlooked cases as the Somers Mutiny, the trial of the San Patricios and the Port Chicago Mutiny. These trials demonstrate that guaranteeing military justice--especially in the midst of armed conflict--is both a challenge and a necessity in a free society.

Conduct Unbecoming: Fifteen Military Criminals, Rogues and Victims of Justice from the Revolutionary War to Vietnam

Wise Jr., James

McFarland Company

The award of a military decoration does not define valor--it only recognizes it. Many acts of notable courage and self-sacrifice occur on the battlefield but are often obscured in the fog of battle or lost to history, unrecognized and unheralded. The largely overlooked men and women in this volume did incredible things in dire circumstances. Although in some cases decorations were awarded--including several Medals of Honor--their stories remain unknown.

Valor of Many Stripes: Remarkable Americans in World War II

Biographies & Memoirs

Leaders & Notable People

The last in a popular series on movie stars in the military, this handsome book provides readers with a guide to film actors of many nations who served in various branches of their own military forces. Because they appeared in Hollywood movies, many of these figures will be familiar to Americans.
 A few even won Oscars. Others worked closer to home but are still readily recognizable. Most of them date their service to World War II, and the preponderance is British. Among the more than sixty stars featured are the British actors Richard Attenborough, Richard Burton, Michael Caine, Royal Navy gunner Sean Connery, Alex Guinness, Rex Harrison, Anthony Hopkins (who spent a year with the Royal Artillery during the Cold War), Ray Milland, Roger Moore (a first lieutenant with the Royal Army in occupied West Germany after World War II), David Niven, Michael Rennie, and Peter Ustinov. Those from Canada include Lorne Greene, Raymond Massey, and Walter Pidgeon. The Frenchmen include Maurice Chevalier and Charles Boyer. Also featured are Laurence Harvey of South Africa, Peter Finch of Australia, Oskar Werner of Germany, Toshiro Mifune of Japan, and Audrey Hepburn, who as a child was a courier for World War II resistance fighters in Holland.
 While the book focuses on the stars' military experiences, it also provides information about their earlier lives and screen careers after their service. Like the other books in the series, it will have wide appeal.

International Stars at War: Movie Actors in Service to Their Countries

Wise, James E.

Naval_Institute_Press

Today, women in all U.S. military services are involved in the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. They serve as pilots and crewmen of assault helicopters, bombers, fighters, and transport planes, and are frequently engaged in firefights with enemy insurgents while guarding convoys, traveling in hostile territory. They perform pat down searches of Arab women at checkpoints, carry out military police duties, and serve aboard Navy and U.S. Coast Guard ships at sea. Like their male counterparts, they carry out their missions with determination and great courage. The advent of the insurgency war, which has no rear or front lines, has made the debate regarding women in combat irrelevant. In such a war zone anyone can be killed or injured at any moment. 
The stories of these courageous women are told here by James E. Wise and Scott Baron, who use a format similar to the one employed with such success in the book Stars in Blue. The profiles of some thirty women and their photographs are included. 
To record their stories, the authors conducted numerous personal interviews, and utilized numerous oral history interviews conducted by staff at The Women’s Memorial, located in Arlington, Virginia. In every case Wise and Baron were struck by the women’s extraordinary display of dedication to their mission and to the soldiers and sailors with whom they served. Because the service of women in the military has been under reported to date, most of the women profiled here will be unknown to readers and reveal another dimension to the service of women in the desert and the vital role they play in the armed forces. While the book’s focus is on today’s women in combat, it also reaches back to Vietnam, Korea, and World War II to offer selected stories of inspiring women who served at the "cusp of the spear" as they fought and died for their country.

Women at War: Iraq, Afghanistan, and Other Conflicts

Naval Inst Pr

The incredible stories of twenty-two lone survivors of maritime disasters are presented in this collection of war and peacetime incidents. The dramatic accounts--including those of a British sailor who survived 133 days at sea on an open raft and a German sailor who spent 28 hours in the ocean without a life preserver are based on a wide array of sources, including interviews with the survivors and their families and official records to back up their accuracy. Most took place in World War II, when the navies and merchant fleets of many nations roamed the seas. Each story is one of boundless courage, a tenacious will to survive, and, in many cases, good luck.

Sole Survivors of the Sea

Heroism, tragedy, devotion to duty, and scandal are just a few of the ingredients that make up this dramatic first-time account of troopship losses in wartime. International in scope, it offers a compilation of stories about historic troopship disasters caused by torpedoes, aerial attacks, mines, surface fire, foul weather, friendly fire, and poor planning by military decision makers. Some are well known, like the explosion of the steamship Sultana on the Mississippi while transporting 2,000 Union soldiers home from Confederate prisons. Others, like the June 1945 sinking of the Japanese cruiser Ashigara by a British submarine that resulted in the loss of 800 Japanese soldiers, are little known. An extraordinary few far surpass the authors' criteria for selection of disasters with high troop loss and the involvement of heroic acts. Among the most memorable is the 1851 sinking of the British frigate Birkenhead with some 600 soldiers and their wives and children aboard. Lacking sufficient lifeboats, the men stood steady in their ranks on deck as the ship went down.
 Board of Inquiry hearings, action reports, survivor debriefings, and personal correspondence collected from archives in Germany, Italy, Russia, Australia, Britain, and the United States tell the story of some fifty vessels that went down. Many of these disasters, the authors explain, were kept secret for decades. An introductory chapter provides an overview of troop losses at sea beginning with the age of galley warfare, but the majority of the book focuses on losses of World War II Allied and Axis ships followed by incidents from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Soldiers Lost at Sea: A Chronicle of Troopship Disasters in Wartime

The Cold War was only cold in that the major powers, the U.S. and the Soviet Union, did not engage in a nuclear war. But during that period (1945-1991) there were wars, spying, shoot downs of numerous reconnaissance aircraft, captures of U.S. military personnel, murders, defections, a space race with men put in orbit and an eventual moon landing. 
Dangerous Games: Faces, Incidents and Casualties of the Cold War is a return to that era. This book contains many unknown and long-since forgotten stories of that period. With the resurgence of Russia, and its aggressive handling of the Georgian situation, Eastern European countries have become increasingly alarmed that Russia is attempting to recreate a sphere of influence over satellite states of the former Soviet Union. 
To add to the mounting tension with the West, Russia in its attempt to become a world power once again, has already begun to show its flag in the Western Hemisphere. Considering that we may be facing a second Cold War, this book is a timely reminder of some notable incidents from the intense political period following the end of the Second World War.

Dangerous Games: Faces, Incidents, and Casualties of the Cold War

Wise and Baron relate the compelling war experiences of thirty American female soldiers in the war zones of Iraq and Afghanistan, highlighting their extraordinary display of dedication to their mission and to the soldiers and sailors with whom they served. While the book's focus is on today's women in combat, it also reaches back to Korea, Vietnam and World War II to offer stories of inspiring women who served at the "cusp of the spear" as they fought and died for their country.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by BARON, SCOTT. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by BARON, SCOTT

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by BARON, SCOTT. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Military Hall of Fame

At the Helm of USS America: The Aircraft Carrier and Its 23 Commanders, 1965-1996

Conduct Unbecoming: Fifteen Military Criminals, Rogues and Victims of Justice from the Revolutionary War to Vietnam

Valor of Many Stripes: Remarkable Americans in World War II

International Stars at War: Movie Actors in Service to Their Countries

Women at War: Iraq, Afghanistan, and Other Conflicts

Sole Survivors of the Sea

Soldiers Lost at Sea: A Chronicle of Troopship Disasters in Wartime

Dangerous Games: Faces, Incidents, and Casualties of the Cold War

Women at War: Iraq, Afghanistan, and Other Conflicts