Major General James Pocock, USA (ret.)
is “a 38-year veteran of the US Army and Army Reserve, Major General (Retired) James Pocock patrolled the East-West
German border with the 14th Armored Cavalry, saw combat in Vietnam, commanded the 300th Military Police Command during Desert
Storm, and later commanded the 70th Training Division. Major General James Pocock is the author of Across the
Barbed Wire.
According to the book description of
Across the Barbed Wire, it “is a historical novel about an East German family attempting to
escape to the West in 1964. But tragedy strikes, and Gisela awakens with her infant daughter in an American outpost, to find
her husband gone. Her three-year-old son, Dieter has been snatched by border guards in front of American soldiers and returned
to East Germany. From that moment she faces a monumental struggle to penetrate the Iron Curtain to find her son. This is also
a story of soldiers and their families on both sides of the Iron Curtain. While it follows the fate of Gisela and Dieter,
it tracks the lives of an American officer, John Parker, his wife, Gail, and others who become involved with them over the
course of the Cold War, the Vietnam War and Desert Storm. Dieter is placed with an East German couple, and develops into an
ardent communist who becomes an officer in the Volksarmee. Yet he is haunted with doubts about his past and what he has been
told. After Parker returns from being mobilized for Desert Storm, he and Gail assist in Gisela's search for Dieter; but
another tragedy in the form of a terrorist plot on a US Air Force base threatens to thwart the reunion of mother and son.
Across the Barbed Wire is an incredible portrait of a mother's faith and a soldier's sense of closure as he looks
back on the tumultuous events that impacted the lives of these characters.”
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One reader of Across the
Barbed Wire said, “As a former member of the 14th Calvary who served in Germany from 65-67, and have personally
met the author, I was very surprised to find that not only was this a book I could not put down, but that my family and friends
also found it compelling and are recommending this book to their friends. It is fiction, but very plausible, and could vey
well have happened. In fact there are many East Germans who did indeed escape from behind the barbed wire. The story has many
twists and turns and ends with a Twilight Zone type twist. Do yourself a favor and get a copy of this wonderful story of the
Cold War.”
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