An Cosantóir

40 REVIEWS It all started because of a rifle. The Rifle is an inspirational story and hero's journey of a 28-year- old U.S. Marine, Andrew Biggio, who returned home from combat in Afghanistan and Iraq, full of questions about the price of war. He found answers from those who survived the costliest war of all -- WWII veterans. It began when Biggio bought a 1945 M1 Garand Rifle, the most common rifle used in WWII, to honor his great uncle, a U.S. Army soldier who died on the hills of the Italian countryside. When Biggio showed the gun to his neighbor, WWII veteran Corporal Joseph Drago, it unlocked memories Drago had kept unspoken for 50 years. On the spur of the moment, Biggio asked Drago to sign the rifle. Thus began this Marine's mission to find as many WWII veterans as he could, get their signatures on the rifle, and document their stories. For two years, Biggio traveled across the country to interview America's last-living WWII veterans. Each time he put the M1 Garand Rifle in their hands, their eyes lit up with memories triggered by holding the weapon that had been with them every step of the war. With each visit and every story told to Biggio, the veterans signed their names to the rifle. 96 signatures now cover that rifle, each a reminder of the price of war and the courage of our soldiers. In this new and updated edition of Heroes of Jadotville: The Soldiers' Story, Rose Doyle uses interviews, reports, journals and letters to bring answers and clarity to an episode long ignored. In 1961, during the United Nations intervention in the Katangan conflict in the Congo, central Africa, a company of Irish peacekeeping troops was forced to surrender to soldiers loyal to Katanga's prime minister, Moise Tshombe. They were isolated, without water, supplies or support when they were attacked and forced to defend themselves in a brutal and bloody five- day battle. Shamefully neglected by their superiors, they were portrayed as cowards upon their return home. In this new and updated edition of Heroes of Jadotville: The Soldiers' Story, Rose Doyle uses interviews, reports, journals and letters to bring answers and clarity to an episode long ignored. She blows the lid on the real story of what happened in Africa, exposing how Irish peacekeeping soldiers became pawns in an international struggle for control of Katanga and its mineral wealth. Doyle seeks to grant these soldiers the recognition their bravery deserves. This is their story. An Irish soldier is kidnapped whilst on peacekeeping duty in Chad. New York, Brussels and Dublin must react and the Irish government is confronted with a major international crisis, while an aspiring African politician has an agenda of his own. Different people, with different priorities, become entangled in a web of connections - and a diplomatic storm - to rescue one peacekeeper or to save a country's population from violence and chaos. David Malloum is an aspiring Chadian politician with hopes of securing a better future for his country. But he is walking a tightrope between ambition and civic duty; to achieve his goals he is going to need help. Help from his past and the possibility of being forced into extreme and unpalatable measures, even kidnapping an innocent soldier on peacekeeping duty in his country. As the story unfolds, David finds himself connecting with more than just one person from his past and in making the transition from revolutionary to parliamentary hopeful, he rediscovers friendship. But will it all be enough for him to challenge the might of the long serving president Constant Okoro? The Chadian Connection is a fictional thriller set in 2008 against the real events of political unrest and humanitarian crisis that plagued Chad and its neighbouring countries in North Central Africa at the time. Taken from Amazon.com Taken from www.easons.ie Provided by Garrett James The Rifle Heroes of Jadotville The Chadian Connection Author: Rose Doyle Publisher: New Island Books ISBN: 9781848404885 Pages: 416 Price: €16.95 Author: Andrew Biggio Publisher: Regnery History ISBN: 9781684510795 Pages: 278 Price: £30.80 Author: Garrett James Publisher: Choice Publishing ASIN: B08MYDX8WV Pages: 154 Price: $13.69 (Kindle) BOOKS

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