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MILITARY BOOKS

Ronald K. Culp

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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.”

 

 

 

 

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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