Book Giveaway: World War II Coast Guardsman Recalls Little Known Risks to U.S. Shores

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As WW II raged across the world, few Americans were aware just how close to our shores the mighty German Navy operated. Much has been written about the epic battles of that conflict, but the individual stories of combatants illuminate the war in ways that detached historical renderings cannot.

In his book, Recollections of a World War II Coast Guardsman, Detective Jim Jesson takes you back to that time, sharing his insights and experiences in a way that only a WW II veteran can.

As German U-boats approached the Atlantic shore of the U.S., they set their sights on civilian and navy vessels alike. Dropping onto our shores spies and saboteurs, the Nazi war machine may have been laying the groundwork for possible conflict on our homeland.

As a young man like so many others, Jim set out to do his part for America. From his first confrontation with a German U-boat as a teenage civilian working on a Boston-based tugboat to a later military service encounter with Germans on Nantucket Island, Jim carries the reader back to a frightful time in history. Thanks to his service and many others, visitors today to Nantucket can enjoy a fine lobster with champagne butter.

Readers will be amazed at the little known heroics of a team of specially trained Police Officers who came face to face with a squad of German SS troops protecting a German communications outpost. Jim further brings to words the experience of a mere teenager aboard a Mystery Q-ship out in the fierce North Atlantic. The Q-ship is heavily armed with concealed weaponry but is acting as a decoy to a merciless enemy. These and other short stories in the book build a gateway for the reader to enter the war, walking step by step with those who were there.

As a big city street kid growing up in the depression, Jim quickly adapted to life, working winter nights at the age of 14 salting switches for the Union Freight Railroad. In the summers, he worked as a longshoreman and deckhand on dredges and tugboats. During WW II, he joined the US Coast Guard at age 17.

In Recollections of a World War II Coast Guardsman are some of the stories he recalls. These are actual events in Coast Guard history with the dates, places and statistics recalled to the best of Jim’s memory. Identities, names and places may be changed.

Jim is retired and lives in Cape Neddick, ME. Profits from the sale of this book will go to veterans’ organizations.

Recollections of a WW II Coast Guardsman by Jim Jesson (Dec 11, 2012) is available on Amazon or by visiting www.jimjesson.org. Enjoy Jim’s first book, The Casebook of Detective Jim Jesson. He is now working on a follow-up.

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