A Salute to Our Veterans
Vignettes of Those Who Served Side-by-Side For our American Freedom - 1918 - 2007
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A Salute to Our Veterans is a book about individual stories that veterans have told the writer during interviews, about when they were old enough to go into the service, where they signed up, what unit they served with, and in what wars they served during.
Following is an excerpt from a story told by Ray Cochran. “Ray’s first duty station when he arrived in Vietnam was Camp Campbell, at Phu Bai. An incident that took place while he was doing Jeep Patrol; as they proceeded down the dirt roads that turned into rutted paths. About an hour out they were approaching a village, he saw a gook standing on the edge of the jungle, staring intently at their patrol and carrying an M1 carbine. Ray asked permission to plug him, the LT. replied, “Hold your fire, he is probably a South Vietnamese Militia”.
After another mile they jostled into a sand dune area; near the coast. About ten minutes into the dunes, the LT. announced that he was getting hungry and ordered them to head back to camp for lunch.
The next afternoon, the Marine grunt battalion asked their battalion if they had any jeeps in that coastal area the day before. They informed him that they had a jeep patrol in the area. The Marine stated that they had a foot patrol in the same area this morning and had discovered a VC ambush site. The VC had a platoon ready for them on both sides of the dunes with three machine guns.
Ray’s group soon realized that they were lucky, that the gook with the M1 was a lookout for the ambush. The Marines asked why they turned around; it was thank God for the LT’s hunger pains.
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About the Book
A Salute To Our Veterans is about war stories never told before, compiled and documented from 35 United States Military Veterans that served in the military during World War One, World War Two, the Koren War, the Vietnam War, and the Gulf War. They also served during the Cuban Crises, Grenada Crises, Desert Storm and Desert Shield, in Lebanon, Afghanistan and the Iraq War, etc. All the veterans in the book have been interview by me, except the last five in the book that are deceased. The last five veterans in the book are family members of our friends or relatives that asked me to include them in the book, they gave me the information about them. I tried to stick to the veterans stories, but after interviewing them, and researching where they had served and visualizing them there, I felt it would be interesting to the reader to also tell about some of the battles that they serve during. I also included some veterans that didn't have to go to the battlefront, their assignments were at home in support of the fighting troops. The stories in this book mark the period from 1918, WW I and continue through to 2007. This book has thirty-four veterans in it, and tells about what they did in the military for our country.
About the Author
Born and raised in Trenton, New Jersey, was married and had five children(son Danny died in 2002 by first husband, he passed away in 1992. She worked for the Department of Environmental Protection in New Jersey as an Administrative Assistant. After retiring while living in Moorestown, New Jersey, she had written an unpublished folded-and stapled booklet about "Veterans and Still Rolling" after interviewing veterans at the skating rink Rink in Delanco,New Jersey where she skated.
Moved to Florida in 2004; started writing again, her first book titled "A Salute To Our Veterans" stories from 45 veterans that she interviewed was published in 2005. Irene was also featured in a local Winter Haven, Florida newspaper article featuring "Ordinary People Doing Extraordinary Things" in 2006. Irene was impressed when interviewing about their brave stories, she continued writing about Veterans. Irene's second book "A Salute to Our Veterans" (with different subtitles), featuring 36 Navy Seabee, was published in 2007. Again, the encouragement that she received was why she decided to write another book about Veterans that she interviewed. Irene stopped writing for a while after being involved in an accident in 2008. She remarried in March 2012 and still lives in Waverly and Lake land, Florida. Also, she feels it is important to have their military documented for future family reference.