What is your name?
Dean Harold Sherman
What do you look like?
Well I am, by my own admission, very handsome! LOL I am 22 years old, Caucasian descent a regular looking guy, although in my uniform I do look quite bit better.
Where are you today and what are you doing?
I am at rest in a military cemetery in St Louis. I am in a common grave with the cremated remains of my crew.
Describe the outside of your home.
A GI tent.
You come face to face with your worse enemy. How do you react?
I do not have such a thing….
You keep a photo album of memories from your lifetime. If you could only keep one photo, which one would that be?
My dear sweet wife, waiting for me at home.
Are you a morning person or a night owl?
Easy question, a morning person.
A police officer stops you for a minor violation. What violation is that and how do you react?
The tags, it is always the tags. I never get them renewed when I should. I can only hang my head….
What is your favorite piece of clothing?
I have a shirt that has turned into rags on my body. Nothing fancy, I just like the blue color.
Do you have any phobias? What are they and how intense are they? How have they impacted your life?
SNAKES! Off the intensity chart. I do not seek them out...
Open your wallet, purse, or briefcase. What do you find?
Well, no money for one thing...The bare necessities for identification. Drivers license, my military ID, and a nearly worn out picture of my wife..
You move into a new home. What's the first thing you buy for it?
Ask me again in a year or so we are planning a move when I get out of the Army..
How do you feel about mortality?
I like being alive, but death does not scare me. Every mission we live with the possibility of not making it home, but I would really love to get home to my wife and our new son, whom I have not yet gotten to hold.
What scares you?
Didn’t we cover this? SNAKES.
How would your parents describe you?
The boy that couldn’t leave the girls alone. (My father’s words)
Who is your best friend?
My dear wife.
Who is your worse enemy?
Got no such thing...
Are you faith-oriented?
I met my wife at a Mormon church and her faith is now my faith.
Married or in a relationship?
Very very married
Do you have children?
One son Marvin whom I have not got to meet yet.
Where is your favorite hangout?
Flying.
You are at the zoo. What is your favorite animal?
Elephants, I can’t get enough of the elephants. We were around them in India and they are amazing.
You just woke up to find that war has been declared. What’s the first thing you would do?
Make sure my family was as safe as humanly possible and go enlist.
When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
School teacher and coach.
If there was one thing you could change about yourself, what would that be?
I would like to lose the attribute of procrastination.
18-year-old Pvt Dean Sherman goes to church with a friend in Salt Lake City. He meets 16-year-old Connie that will become his wife. After Pearl Harbor Dean applies for pilot training and is accepted. Dean joins Connie’s Mormon Church and they secretly become engaged.
By the time Dean has commissioned a pilot, Connie is 18 and they marry and are together for a year and a half before he ships out as an Airplane Commander of a B-29. Connie is pregnant with their son, Marvin.
A Japanese family is introduced, the Kyoshis. She is an important member of the Community Council he is a builder of water guns used in fighting fires and is the neighborhood fire captain. A son Reo will go off to war and train as a fighter pilot. 12-year-old Son Riku has a reappearing role in the story concerning the B-29’s bombing of Japan. They also have 6-year-old twin sisters that are sent to Hiroshima early in the story for their safety.
The crew of 44-69966 arrives in India after a month of flying. Letters start arriving for Connie. Discussion of the B-29s development of strategic purposes is explained.
In Japan Reo Kyoshi goes off to war and the Firebombing of Tokyo occurs. 15 Square miles burned down to the sidewalks. 100,000 casualties and a million people homeless. The Kyoshi survive the conflagration but lose their home.
Marvin is born. Dean returns to duty and his plane is transferred to the Marianna Islands in the Pacific. Some 67 love letters are exchanged between Dean and Connie.
Dean’s plane is shot down over Nagoya Japan, the crew is captured and sent to Tokai Army Headquarters. Connie keeps writing letters that cannot be delivered. She has no idea he is in a Japanese prison.
Prison conditions are horrible, beatings and interrogations constant. Connie receives the war department telegram listing Dean as MIA.
A sham trial is conducted the crew is found guilty and their sentence is carried out the next day.
Almost 50 years later, Dean comes to Connie in a dream/vision and confirms his love for her and that they will yet have a life together.
Book Information
Release Date: September 1, 2021
Publisher: Silver Star Publishing
Soft Cover: ISBN: 978-0578855288; 333 pages; $17.43; E-Book, $2.99
Goodreads: https://bit.ly/3BnQYnD
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3JsqVi1
IndieBound: https://bit.ly/3BnQYnD
Barnes & Noble: https://bit.ly/3Lv4sD3
18-year-old Pvt Dean Sherman goes to church with a friend in Salt Lake City. He meets 16-year-old Connie that will become his wife. After Pearl Harbor Dean applies for pilot training and is accepted. Dean joins Connie’s Mormon Church and they secretly become engaged.
By the time Dean has commissioned a pilot, Connie is 18 and they marry and are together for a year and a half before he ships out as an Airplane Commander of a B-29. Connie is pregnant with their son, Marvin.
A Japanese family is introduced, the Kyoshis. She is an important member of the Community Council he is a builder of water guns used in fighting fires and is the neighborhood fire captain. A son Reo will go off to war and train as a fighter pilot. 12-year-old Son Riku has a reappearing role in the story concerning the B-29’s bombing of Japan. They also have 6-year-old twin sisters that are sent to Hiroshima early in the story for their safety.
The crew of 44-69966 arrives in India after a month of flying. Letters start arriving for Connie. Discussion of the B-29s development of strategic purposes is explained.
In Japan Reo Kyoshi goes off to war and the Firebombing of Tokyo occurs. 15 Square miles burned down to the sidewalks. 100,000 casualties and a million people homeless. The Kyoshi survive the conflagration but lose their home.
Marvin is born. Dean returns to duty and his plane is transferred to the Marianna Islands in the Pacific. Some 67 love letters are exchanged between Dean and Connie.
Dean’s plane is shot down over Nagoya Japan, the crew is captured and sent to Tokai Army Headquarters. Connie keeps writing letters that cannot be delivered. She has no idea he is in a Japanese prison.
Prison conditions are horrible, beatings and interrogations constant. Connie receives the war department telegram listing Dean as MIA.
A sham trial is conducted the crew is found guilty and their sentence is carried out the next day.
Almost 50 years later, Dean comes to Connie in a dream/vision and confirms his love for her and that they will yet have a life together.
Book Information
Release Date: September 1, 2021
Publisher: Silver Star Publishing
Soft Cover: ISBN: 978-0578855288; 333 pages; $17.43; E-Book, $2.99
Goodreads: https://bit.ly/3BnQYnD
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3JsqVi1
IndieBound: https://bit.ly/3BnQYnD
Barnes & Noble: https://bit.ly/3Lv4sD3
I am, by my admission, a reluctant writer. But some stories demand to be told. When we hear them, we must pick up our pen, lest we forget and the stories are lost.
Six years ago, in a quiet conversation with my friend Marvin, I learned the tragic story his father, a WW2 B-29 Airplane Commander, shot down over Nagoya, Japan just months before the end of the war.
The telling of the story that evening by this half orphan was so moving and full of emotion, it compelled me to ask if I could write the story. The result was They Called Him Marvin.
My life has been profoundly touched in so many ways by being part of documenting this sacred story. I pray that we never forget, as a people, the depth of sacrifice that was made by ordinary people like Marvin and his father and mother on our behalf.
My career as an addiction counselor (CDP) lead me to write “The Waterfall Concept; A Blueprint for Addiction Recovery,” and co-author “Reclaiming Your Addicted Brain.”
My next project is already underway, a memoir of growing in SW Washington called “Life on a Sorta Farm.” My wife of 49 years, Susan, and I still live in that area.
We raised seven children and have eleven grandchildren. We love to travel and see the sites and cultures of the world. I still get on my bicycle whenever I can.
You can visit Roger’s website at https://theycalledhimmarvin.com/ or connect with him on Facebook or Instagram.
Roger Stark is giving away three autographed copies of his book, THEY CALLED HIM MARVIN!
Terms & Conditions:
- By entering the giveaway, you are confirming you are at least 18 years old.
- Three winners will be chosen via Rafflecopter to receive one autographed paperback copy of They Called Him Marvin
- This giveaway ends midnight June 30.
- Winner will be contacted via email on July 1.
- Winner has 48 hours to reply.
Good luck everyone!
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