BEHIND THE LINES
FJ: You’ve invested years of research for this book, and interviewed veterans who were actually there. As the author, what’s the most interesting part(s) of the story for you and why?
Being an ex-para, the role of an airborne soldier has always held a special fascination for me, but it was a random purchase back in 1999 that really ignited by Mark A. Bando, was a compilation of brilliant short stories that gripped and captivated me like no other. I read the book dozens of times until the pages were tattered and worn but, for some reason, kept returning to chapter 22, “The Bridges at Brevands.” Although scant, and as I was later to discover, a little inaccurate, the nucleus of information uncovered by Mark on 3rd Battalion’s role on D-Day was the bait that set me on a quest to learn more. Over the next six years I managed to track down over 50 veterans of the battalion, who, by good fortune, slowly opened up to reveal their innermost memories, which had been buried for 60 years. This huge undertaking took over my life, and with help from many people including Bando, led to the creation of my first book, co-authored with Roger Day. I was lucky to stumble across this human story of adversity that resonates down the decades. The modern-day 506 Infantry Regiment based at Fort Campbell in Kentucky recognized this when, in 2016, I accepted their offer, along with Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks, to become an Honory Member of the Regiment (HMOR).
