Echoes of Valor

This story is told by a soldier who was a part of the bloody war in Burma, the executive officer of a rugged group of American jungle fighters. He tells us in great detail what the war did to him and how he feels about taking another man’s life even to protect his own as he searches for meaning in it all… World War II is winding down in the summer of 1945, but not for Major Jenkins and his band of Merrill’s Marauders. They have spent months combing the Burmese jungle for the notorious Japanese commander Colonel Maruyama and his troops. Major Jenkins, Captain Beltrans and what was left of their band were outnumbered two to one; so, they had to devise a plan that would overcome the odds. But after they settled the score with their enemy, they had to march hundreds of miles through the jungle back to their base near the Indian border. It was now August, and the war was over, but how would the local civilians living along the only trail out of Burma view the American soldiers? Their journey back home was fraught with unexpected dangers and facing unplanned enemies through an unforgiving jungle. They had never been taught at West Point how to fight their new enemy. After the war, Captain Beltrans is convinced that he should return Colonel Maruyama’s samurai sword to his descendants in Japan. However, what he thought would be a routine side trip to a modern country turned into a harrowing adventure in Japanese politics and a thousand-year-old culture. He ended up in an ancient Zen Garden in Kyoto wondering if he had done the right thing by killing enemy soldiers and civilians during the war. Does he get help from his deceased native grandmother?

How a group of committed volunteers led by a retired aerospace engineer built a homeless shelter in a gold rush community and how the power and financial elite closed it down. Was it because Hangtown Haven was an unexpected success? How does one build a successful homeless shelter that is legal, practical and economical at no cost to the taxpayer? A group of homeless volunteers led by a retired aerospace engineer along with non-pro t corporations and concerned churches jumped into the fray and did just that. Not, however, without making mistakes and ruffling feathers along the way. No one could have predicted how controversial it would be to provide shelter to our neighbors who had no place to live. “We are going to build a modern dog shelter with $7 million, but don’t bother asking the county or the city for one penny to help our homeless citizens.” So, the real question is, “How do you build a homeless shelter that works and is acceptable to the entire community with donations only?” This book tells the story of one Sierra community’s effort to answer this question and how its success proved that it could be done, however its success also turned the city’s power establishment against it. When it was obvious that the shelter was a success and homeless people were thriving, the city’s power structure got together and closed it down throwing forty homeless men and women out of their shelter in the middle of winter with no place to live. But the genie is out of the bottle now and the occupants of this small gold mining town know how to do it the next time. they are prepared to try again until they are successful even though all of the business, political, and power interests are determined to stop it. This story tells how it was done, how it can be done, and how to avoid serious mistakes along the way