Mr. Coonts,
I read your book "VICTORY" Call To Arms, and must say I was riveted to the book till I finished it. My father was a Navigator on a PBY during WWII in the Atlantic and my stepfather was in charge of a paratroop platoon in the Pacific. I heard many stories from them growing up. Then I was drafted into the Army in 1968 and trained in infantry, paratroopers and NCOCS at Fort Benning before going to Vietnam as a Squadleader. All the stories and my experiences in combat have taught me how to survive in so many situations, and it never ceases to amaze me of the circumstances you find yourself in during combat. I often look back on the things we all have done to survive them and even come out on top. I am now 61 and as the Civil War song goes, "now we are aged and gray comrads and trials of life are nearly done, but to us life's as dear as it was comrads when you and I were young". I look forward to these kinds of stories so often and hope to see more like them in the future.
Sincerely.
Wayne Dufort
December 1, 2009

I read Victory a few years ago but just now am getting around to thanking you for this tribute. Barrett Tillman's story about Tarawa really struck Home for me, my father, Joseph John Simpson Jr., served in the U.S. Navy Construction Battalion in the Pacific. He could have stayed in his war essential job for Douglas Aircraft but couldn't stay home while so many risked everything in the Services. He landed on Tarawa, Fiji, Saipan and Tinian.  Dad very seldom talked about the war but he did one time tell me about Tarawa.  As I remember the story when they loaded the ship he was on they put the tanks in first which meant they couldn't be unloaded until everything else was out of the road. My dad drove a D8 bulldozer so they put him on his Cat with extension for the intake and exhaust and headed him for the beach. When he got there the Marines were pinned down by machine gun fire from Japanese pillboxes, Dad stripped off the extensions and a Marine Gunny Sargent asked if my Dad could help. The Sarge jumped on the Cat with his .45 Thompson and my Dad raised the blade, which I think he said was 8' x 12', and he ran up to a pillbox dropping the blade and covering the pillbox in sand. He said the pillboxes were open in the back so he attacked from behind, for years he had nightmares about the machine gunners being extruded through the gun slits like so much spaghetti. I remember him saying he knew he was going to die anyway so he just did what was ask of him.  I don't know if he was the only Cat driver who did this or not, He died about 11 years ago so I can't ask him more about the event and have to rely on my memory.  As far as I know he was never identified so as to receive any kind of commendation and most likely would have declined but I thought it might be nice for someone else to hear his story and have a name to put to it.
John Simpson
October 8, 2007

Steve- I am your errant ex-associate land man from Petro-Lewis. I am reading your latest compilation (VICTORY) and just wanted to tell you what a brilliant piece of writing and editorship that it is. The PBY stories that you and Mr. Cobb wrote were outstanding. I love his British take on the interplay between the US and UK navies. However, I wanted to give special kudos to Barrett Tillman on his Tarawa story. It is the best piece of fiction I have read since BATTLE CRY...I have been reading every book since Intruder, and enjoy your work immensely. If you ever need another proofreader, I would be honored to do so without charging you or your publisher... Also, I think you should do a follow-up on VICTORY. These guys are great." -- Mark L. Watson
June 20, 2003