Operation White Star

U.S. Army Lieutenant Ed Meadows leaves West Point and becomes part of a top-secret advisor team in Laos during the early days of the Vietnam War

Two young women flying for their countries will form a lasting bond of friendship forged in the crucible of war! Angela Moretti is a 19 year old American WAFS ferry pilot, bringing Lend-Lease P-39 Airacobra fighters to Alaska for Russian pilots to fly into battle. Angela lives with a terrible pain in her soul. Her kid brother has been executed by the Nazi SS. No one understands her thirst for revenge except Katya Leonova, a Red Air Force fighter pilot her own age, whose own family was murdered by the Nazis. Their shared tragedies will bring these two women together in friendship, with a quirk of fate sending them together into battle over Russia. Concealing Angela’s true identity, the women will fight the Nazi invaders over Kursk, in the greatest land and air battle in history, and learn through an unexpected ally that forgiveness triumphs over hate and revenge. “Chris Berman has written an imaginative tale set against the backdrop of World War II. The world’s first women to fly military aircraft join forces in the skies above the Eastern Front culminating in a dramatic story of courage and comradeship.” —Amy Goodpaster Strebe, Author of Flying for Her Country: The American and Soviet Women Military Pilots of World War II

Americans have long debated the cause of the December 7, 1941 bombing of Pearl Harbor. Many have argued that the attack was a brilliant Japanese military coup, or a failure of U.S. intelligence agencies, or even a conspiracy of the Roosevelt administration. But despite the attention historians have paid to the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the truth about that fateful day has remained a mystery—until now. In Operation Snow: How a Soviet Mole in FDR’s White House Triggered Pearl Harbor, author John Koster uses recently declassified evidence and never-before-translated documents to tell the real story of the day that FDR memorably declared would live in infamy, forever. Operation Snow shows how Joseph Stalin and the KGB used a vast network of double-agents and communist sympathizers—most notably, Harry Dexter White—to lead Japan into war against the United States, demonstrating incontestable Soviet involvement behind the bombing of Pearl Harbor. A thrilling tale of espionage, mystery and war, Operation Snow will forever change the way we think about Pearl Harbor and World War II.

The untold story of US Special Forces in Laos, one of the longest secret wars of the Cold War—by a military historian and Special Forces veteran. The Secret War in Laos was one of the first “long wars” fought by US Special Forces, spanning a period of about thirteen years. It was one of the largest CIA-paramilitary operations of the time, kept out of the view of the American public until now. Between 1959 and 1974, Green Berets were covertly deployed to Laos during the Laotian Civil War to prevent the Communist Pathet Lao from taking over the country. Operators disguised as civilians and answering only to “Mister,“ were delivered to the country by Air America, where they reported to the US Ambassador. With limited resources, they faced a country in chaos. Maps had large blank areas. and essential supplies often didn’t arrive at all. In challenging tropical conditions, they trained and undertook combat advisory duties with the Royal Lao Government. Shrouded in secrecy until the 1990s, this was one of the first major applications of special warfare doctrine. Now, the story is comprehensively told for the first time using official archival documents and interviews with veterans.

The true story of the US Army legend who organized “Blackburn’s Headhunters” against Japan in WWII and went on to initiate Special Forces operations in Vietnam. The fires on Bataan burned on the evening of April 9, 1942—illuminating the white flags of surrender against the dark sky. Outnumbered and outgunned, remnants of the American-Philippine army surrendered to the forces of the Rising Sun. Yet US Army Captain Donald D. Blackburn refused to lay down his arms. With future Special Forces legend Russell Volckmann, Blackburn escaped to the jungles of North Luzon, where they raised a private army of 22,000 men against the Japanese. His organization of native tribes into guerrilla fighters would lead to the destruction of the enemy’s naval base at Aparri. But Blackburn’s amazing accomplishments would not end with the victory in the Pacific. He would go on to play a key role in initiating Army Special Forces operations in Southeast Asia, spearheading Operation White Star in Laos as commander of the 77th Special Forces Group and eventually taking command of the highly classified Studies and Observations Group (SOG), charged with performing secret missions now that main-force Communist incursions were on the rise. In the wake of the CIA’s disastrous Leaping Lena program, in 1964, Blackburn revitalized the Special Operations campaign in South Vietnam. Sending reconnaissance teams into Cambodia and North Vietnam, he discovered the clandestine networks and supply nodes of the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Taking the information directly to General Westmoreland, Blackburn was authorized to conduct full-scale operations against the NVA and Viet Cong in Laos and Cambodia. In combats large and small, the Communists realized they had met a master of insurgent tactics—and he was on the US side. Following his return to the US, Blackburn was the architect of the infamous Son Tay Prison Raid, officially termed Operation Ivory Coast, the largest prisoner-of-war rescue mission—and, indeed, the largest Army Special Forces operation—of the Vietnam War. During a period when US troops in Southeast Asia faced guerrilla armies on every side, America had a superb covert commander of its own. This book follows Blackburn through both his youthful days of desperate combat and his time as a commander, imparting his lessons to the new ranks of Army Special Forces.

"Describes the U.S. Army Green Berets, including their history, weapons, gear, training, and missions"--Provided by publisher.

Revised February, 2011 I called the book a researchers guide for a reason. This book is a compilation of the material I read about the assassination, but in a totally different format. Easy to read; direct and to the point. I tried to give as much information as possible. Obviously I could not possibly put all the information in one book, so I was a bit selective in the data I recorded. It contains numerous aspects of the case and nearly every line will lead the researcher to the source of the information so they can continue to look into that particular topic. When I started my research, my goal was to prove Lee Harvey Oswald did not murder John Kennedy. By the time I proved Oswald did not shoot Kennedy, I noticed Oswald did not shoot Tippet either. Noting where he was seen before the shooting and where he was after the shooting will prove he was not at the window at 12:30pm; I will prove my point. I determined Oswald did not have time to get into position to do the shooting. The motorcade was scheduled to pass the Book Depository at 12:25 pm. Oswald was in the lunch room at 12:15 and Bonnie Ray Williams was on the 6th floor, alone, until 12:20. A good sniper would have been in position well in advance of his preys expected arrival, which Oswald was not. But wait theres more. . . Looking at some of the evidence from a totally different perspective, I was able to prove, a conspiracy. I compared the wounds, with the Bullet count, and the time statistics of the rifle. I assure you no one has looked at it from this viewpoint. The closest any author came to mentioning this concept was Harrison Livingstones book, High Treason.