Lieutenant Colonel Ronald K.
Culp, USMC (ret.) was a “twenty-seven years a Marine, enlisted and officer, retired in 1991. He then
taught science and computers, worked as a freelance editor, and now writes fiction as well as nonfiction.”
Lieutenant Colonel Ronald K. Culp is the author of The First Black United States
Marines: The Men of Montford Point, 1942-1946. He has also co-authored with his wife, Judy
Culp, The Search for
Freedom; The Search For Truth, The
Search for Justice; and, The Search
for Honor.
According to the book description of
The First Black United States Marines: The Men of Montford Point, 1942-1946, “On June 1, 1942,
the United States Marine Corps broke a 144-year tradition and enlisted the first black Marines. Three months later, more than
400 black volunteers began their training as members of the 51st Composite Defense Battalion at Montford Point, a Marine camp
of over five square miles located within Camp Lejeune in North Carolina. Compiled from personal interviews, this volume takes
an in-depth look at the men who braved the color barrier and became the first black Marines. Beginning with a look at the
pre-World War II Marine Corps, it examines the creed and contemporary image of the USMC.
The main focus is the Marine Corps
and the fighting experiences of their newest members. Additional topics include internal Marine perspectives on the admittance
of blacks, initially enforced quotas, and the difficulties of segregation. Appendices provide information regarding monthly
inductions into the Marine Corps from 1941 to 1945; rank and pay structure; depot and ammunition companies from 1943 to 1946;
and Pacific Ocean area units of fire for ground weapons.”
According to the book description of
The Search for Freedom, “Tilman Wagner receives a telegram for help from long-time friend
John McCandless Law, an army captain serving at Fort Davis, Texas. John's daughter, Lomida, and the girl's young schoolteacher,
Madeline Brown, have fallen into into the hands of Mexican bandits. The leader of the bandits, Chuy Ayala, wants to ransom
the girls for the Gatling gun at Ft. Davis, a weapon he needs to begin his revolution.
The action intensifies when renegade
Indians arrive on the scene. Lomida and Madeline find themselves trapped on the Mexican side of the Rio Grande in an escalating
war surrounded by renegades and bandits. Tilman and his friend, Butter, plan to ride into the melee to
rescue the girls and return the Gatling gun to its rightful place at Fort Davis, ending Ayala's revolution.”
According to the book description of
The Search for Justice, “Tilman Wagner is back, this time with his new wife Catherine and
her son. In response to a telegraphed plea for help from Catherine's sister-in-law, Esperanza, the new family is on their
way to the New Mexico Territory to help Catherine's brother try to save his land and his family from greedy cattle rustlers
and no-account lowlifes. They get more than they bargained for in the form of a wayward son's rage against his father,
a stolen herd of cattle, and some unsavory citizens of the Texas cattle town of Tascosa. The roots of greed extend to Santa
Fe where dishonest men are hard at work to skin the family out of its land. Along the way, Tilman calls in a favor from cattleman
John Chisum at the Bosque Redondo. Once again, Butter Pegram is on hand to help Tilman in his attempts to aid a frontier family
struggling with their search for justice.”
According to the book description of
The Search for Honor,
“Tilman Wagner's peaceful family life
in Buena Vista, Colorado, takes a
sudden change when he accepts the
offer of a sheriff's badge to stop a
fast-moving gang of robbers who strike
and then disappear.Prosper
Charbonneau, a powerful man with a
cleaned-up past, now seeks political
power and appears willing to kill for
it. He grooms his nephew Marcel to
take his place if and when he moves to
the Denver statehouse, but Marcel has
one fatal weakness.
Prosper's daughter Marie, a woman who
outwardly has everything, is desperate
for fulfillment as her life spirals
into disappointments and unfulfilled
dreams. She finds herself drawn to her
cousin Marcel's exciting plans. Tilman
must ask for help from Marie's
husband, Jim Peel, who wanted the
badge Tilman now wears. But Peel has
turned to whiskey to drown his failure
both as a husband and as a man. Deputy
sheriff Butter Pegram stands firm when
his old friend Tilman must choose
between the law and a return to his
old ways with a gun.Honor comes in
many guises as the town of Buena
Vista, Colorado, continues to grow,
and Tilman Wagner and his friends help
settle the west.”
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According to the book description of
The Search For Truth,
“When a telegram informs Tilman Wagner
that his only son Dan has been
brutally murdered, Tilman sets out
from Texas to find the truth. Who
killed Dan and why did he have to die?
The questions surrounding his son's
death haunt him as he makes his way
toward Mahonville, Colorado.
Mahonville is a raw mining town
controlled by the conniving Big Bill
Ward. Ward has his hand in every pot
and terrorizes anyone who questions
his authority over the town and the
mine.
Seeking refuge from the town, Tilman
heads to the boarding house of the
widow Catherine Stone. She is an
attractive mother of one with a
strength and sense of humor that makes
even Tilman smile and threatens to
soften his cold, hard heart. He moves
into the same room his son Dan had
occupied and begins his inquiry and
plan for revenge. Things seem to be
going well until Tilman discovers that
Bill Ward wants Catherine for himself,
in order to add to his veneer of
respectability. Tilman rides the
length of the high mountain valley
searching for the sharpshooter who
killed his son. Aided by Butter Pegram,
Tilman discovers that the truth is not
always what it seems, nor is it always
what is expected.”
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