In Memory of Those Who Served...Storytelling

            You might say I'm a 'military brat'.  My life was certainly changed by members of my family serving in the armed forces.  So what better time than on this Memorial Day to remember and honor them....those who keep us SAFE and FREE!

 

Gerald Guyer (great uncle)   US Marines**WWI - gave his life - Western Front

Brother to Violet, Gladys, Ivah, Lillas and LaVerne, of whom I have written many stories. ("Wild Violets")  

 

W. Jay Woods (biological father)  US Navy ** WWII -   South Pacific campaign - PTSD

Came back an alcoholic, experienced rages and had a parrot named Butch.

 

Johnny Cable (step-father)  US Army ** WWII South Pacific campaign - lost an eye, jungle rot, PTSD

He later served on a ship in the Korean War.

At seven years of age I could not run and jump on the bed and 'wake Daddy up' in the mornings.  He would come up fighting the 'Japs'. We had to call to him from the bedroom doorway, to wake him.

Doris B. Gill  (sister)  US Marines ** WWII

My sister joined the Reserves, at age nineteen, to meet guys.  Pearl Harbor was attacked and she  was called up to active duty.

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Violet Guyer (mother) US Armed Forces ** Wife, sister, mother of members of the military.

My mother, who I write about a lot, (Wild Violets, The Guyer Girls) was sister to Gerald.  She married Jay (active Navy) and Johnny (army) and was a military wife for two decades. She was mother to Jack (US Air Force) and Doris, (US Marines).

Jack Borden (brother)  US Air Force ** Loaded B52 bombers - hot spots around the world - 20+ years of service.

My brother would come home from far away places like Germany, Iceland, Africa, Panama and because he  didn't have a hometown girl, he would take me, his teenaged sister, ballroom dancing. [image error]

 

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Robert Berry (second husband)   US Navy Seals, US Coast Guard ** 20+ years of service.

Robert was a Navy Seal, underwater demolition during the Viet Nam years.  He later served as a warrant officer aboard an icebreaker and was certified to scuba dive under the Arctic ice.

Thomas Berry (stepson)   US Navy ** 20+ years of service

Robert's son, he served with honor and was considered a 'star' on whatever ship he served.

John Sugarek (husband)  US Marines ** Viet Nam - PTSD.  John was my husband for 30 years. He was kind-hearted and funny and everyone loved him.  I witnessed two of his  flashbacks to battle in Viet Nam (twenty years later)  and he suffered, untreated, from PTSD.  His fellow wounded warriors celebrate at the Whiskey Battery Reunion, once a year.[image error]

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...... oh yeah, and me!   Trisha Sugarek -  US Coast Guard ** Eight years, a military wife.

 

We are all grateful to our military for their unswerving bravery, service and loyalty and honor those who have come home, battered but alive. [image error]

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DON'T MISS UPCOMING BLOGS. INTERVIEWS with other best-selling AUTHORS!      A SERIES, "The Writer's Corner"

I have had a wonderful response from other authors and will feature an interview with one of them once a month . I have invited such luminaries as: Ann Purser, Susan Elia MacNeal,  Mark Childress, Rhys Bowen, Dean Koontz, Sheryl Woods, Jo-Ann Mapson, Jeffrey Deaver, Elizabeth Gilbert, Amber Winckler, Robert McCammon, Sue Grafton, Walter Mosley, Nora Roberts, and many others.

So come along with me; we shall sneak into these writers' special places, be a fly on the wall and watch them create!  Mark Childress is our April author.  Robert McCammon is scheduled for May. Caroline Leavitt is June's author.  July features Rhys Bowen.  Sue Grafton is August's author and September will feature Tasha Alexander.  Slick mystery writer, Andrew Grant will join us this winter. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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