After combat duty in Vietnam and assignments across the globe, Captain Thomas J. McKeown of the US Navy thought conflict was behind him. His current post-a Pentagon desk job-offered a chance to spend time with his family. An urgent new assignment changed everything.
McKeown is sent to the oldest US naval base in Europe, in Londonderry, Northern Ireland. His public assignment is to close the base and turn it over to the Queen, who would determine its future. In truth, Londonderry's fate is already decided.
McKeown's orders are to transfer the base to the British Army-an act expected to enrage IRA members active in Londonderry. Public knowledge of the decision would put both military personnel and base property at risk of terrorist attack.
As McKeown moves his laborious assignment forward, he learns to love the people of Londonderry even as he rediscovers his own Irish Catholic heritage. At home, he must contend with a family tired of military life.
When word of the transfer leaks out, the IRA move to attack the base. How McKeown responds to this threat will determine the success of his mission-and the safety of those under his command.
About the Author: Thomas McKeown, USN (Ret), CAPT - Captain McKeown has a BS in mathematics from Seton Hall University and an MS in telecommunications engineering from the US Naval Postgraduate School. He has also done graduate work at the Harvard Business School in corporate strategic planning and advanced marketing management. He has had a distinguished career in the military as well as civilian life. He is a highly decorated navy officer, whose career has included two Meritorious Service medals, one during combat duty as CO of the naval telecommunications base in Vietnam. His naval service included four telecommunications commands as well as command of two surface warfare ships. His civilian career has included work for a number of well-known corporations as well as for the government and educational institutions, including doing strategic planning for the US Treasury Department and for W. Paul Stillman School of Business at Seton Hall University and acting as executive program director for Gartner Research Corporation. His most recent strategic planning project was for the city of Washington, DC. He lives in Palm Desert, California.
John Fraim - John has a BA from UCLA and a JD from Loyola Law School. He is president of GreatHouse Marketing Strategy, a marketing consulting firm, and GreatHouse Stories in Palm Desert, California, which assists clients in writing biographies, histories, and memoirs. John has been a writer all his life with numerous published works and three published books. One of his books is the award-winning Spirit Catcher, the life and art of legendary jazz musician John Coltrane, which earned the best biography award from the Small Press Association. He is involved in a number of community activities and is a member of the Palm Springs Writers Guild board of directors. A recognized expert on symbolism, he is the author of Battle of Symbols and served as a consultant on the film The Da Vinci Code. He writes a regular column for Script magazine, the largest publication for screenwriters. He is currently at work on a history of Palm Desert as well as a biography of a world-renowned nutritionist and a famous paleontologist.
