Colonel Bruce F. Meyers, USMC (ret.) “joined the NROTC in 1942. He served as a platoon leader in World War II, a rifle company commander in Korea, and a commander of Special Landing Force Alpha on LPH Iwo Jima and of the 26th Marine Regiment at Khe Sanh. After twenty-eight years of service, he retired as a colonel in 1970 and entered the practice of law in Seattle as a trial attorney. He later served as an associate dean and associate professor of law at a West Coast law school. He lives with his wife in Seattle, Washington.” Colonel Bruce F. Meyers is the author of Fortune Favors the Brave and Swift, Silent, and Deadly: Marine Amphibious Reconnaissance in the Pacific, 1942-1945.

According to the book description of Swift, Silent, and Deadly: Marine Amphibious Reconnaissance in the Pacific, 1942-1945, “An experienced reconnaissance Marine officer, Bruce Meyers paints a colorful and accurate picture of the special recon landings that preceded every major amphibious operation in the Pacific War. Credited with saving countless lives, these Marine scouts went in stealthily at night from submarines, PT boats, Catalinas, and high-speed transports. Swift, silent, and deadly, they landed on more than two hundred enemy beaches, from Tarawa to Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa to collect intelligence on potential landing sites. They measured water depths, charted coral heads, gathered soil samples, sought out enemy locations, and took photographs. In short, they obtained information vital to the success of American operations in the Pacific. 

This book represents the first time World War II Marine recon landings have been chronicled. Meyers explains that only the story of their contributions in later wars has been previously documented. His book describes the start of it all, letting readers join the men as they slip over the sides of their rubber boats and make their way inland. Only now can the public appreciate the accomplishments of these daring and intrepid Marines.”

This is the untold, inside story of a super elite reconnaissance force-U.S. Special Operations Forces who practiced clandestine insertion and extraction by submarine, jet aircraft and helicopter, using tools and techniques that had never been tried before. Strapping you in the harness of a HALO parachute, launching from the torpedo room of a submerged submarine or climbing the extraction rig of a hovering marine chopper, Fortune Favors the Brave is a firsthand account of what it was like to build a new strike force from the ground up... to make sure that the next time America fought a war, Force Recon would be there.”