Synopsis
They were just kids, barely not teenagers, madly in love and wanting to be a family, but WW2 and a B29 got in their way.
Three hundred ten days before Pearl Harbor, buck private Dean Sherman innocently went to church with a new friend in Salt Lake City. From that moment, the unsuspecting soldier travelled a remarkable, heroic path, falling in love, graduating from demanding training to become a B29 pilot, conceiving a son and entering the China, Burma and India theater of the WW2.
He chronicled his story with letters home to his bride Connie that he met on that fateful Sunday, blind to the fact that fifteen hundred seventy five days after their meeting, a Japanese swordsman would end his life.
His crew, a gaggle of Corporals that dubbed themselves the Corporealizes, four officers and a tech Sargent, adventured their way across the globe. Flying the “Aluminum Trail” also called the Hump through the Himalayas, site of the most dangerous flying in the world. Landing in China to refuel and then fly on to places like Manchuria, Rangoon or even the most southern parts of Japan to drop 500 pounders.
Each mission had its challenges, minus fifty degree weather in Mukden, or Japanese fighters firing away at them, a close encounter of the wrong kind, nearly missing a collision with another B29 while flying in clouds, seeing friends downed and lost because of “mechanicals,” the constant threat of running out of fuel and their greatest fear, engine fire.
Transferred to the Mariana Islands, he and his crew were shot down over Nagoya, Japan as part of Mission 174, captured and declared war criminals.
Connie’s letters reveal life for a brand new mother whose husband is declared MIA. The agony for both of them, he in a Japanese prison, declared a war criminal, and she just not knowing why his letters stopped coming.
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Praise
“This was an amazing book. This isn’t a look at war through rose-colored glasses, but one that shows the reader what life was like for people from many backgrounds. A soldier, his love left behind on the home front, and those that were considered the enemy at the time. This was an intimate story that doesn’t focus only on the war and pulls the reader in quickly and easily. Historical fiction lovers, those with an interest in war history, and anyone just looking to take a few steps back in time will greatly enjoy reading this.”- Liliyana Shadowlyn, The Faerie Review
“The fact that the premise for this book started with the story that Marvin told and then the letters from Dean and Connie shows how much research Roger Stark put into writing this book. I love how he revolves all of the events around the dates of the letters. The letters give the reader a reprieve from the atrocities of war and show the humanity of the soldiers fighting. There are some parts of the war that are shared that are so vivid and so horrifying – both on the part of the Japanese and on the part of the Americans. It is so heart-wrenching to think that these young (barely) men were out in those situations.
My almost-93-year-old grandpa, whose name is Marvin and who served in the Korean War, also read this book, and he really liked the story. For anyone who likes to read books based on wars or just history in general, I definitely recommend this one. It is also a love story that unfolds and is eye-opening to horrors that were experienced.”-Heather, 2 Many Books, 2 Little Time
“Told in prose with diary-style sections of narration as well as central figure 1st Lt Dean Harold Sherman’s own personal correspondence, this is a beautiful tale of enduring romance and the heroism of those who fought and flew during the latter part of World War Two during the United States’ conflict with Japan. What results is a touching family saga that also foreshadows the great horrors and sacrifices of life in war. Author Roger Stark has crafted an emotive work with plenty of historical richness, pathos, and heart to offer readers. One of the features which I found particularly impressive about this piece was the heartfelt presentation of the unshakeable bond between Dean and Connie, both through the curation of their own words to one another and the contextual gap-filling which Stark achieves with facts, but also emotionally sensitive additions and details. Overall, I would highly recommend They Called Him Marvin to fans of accurate wartime accounts and for enthusiasts of World War Two reports.”- K.C. Finn, Readers’ Favorite
Guest Review by Nora
There are many things to love about Roger Stark’s, ‘They Called Him Marvin.’ Number one would be the love story, of course.
The book revolves around the real-life love story between a Private (later Lieutenant) in the U.S. Army named Dean Sherman and a young woman named Constance Baldwin. Dean met his wife, Connie, in 1941, just months before the bombing of Pearl Harbor.
This was a time when countless families were being pulled apart, and Dean and Connie were no exception. Dean was a pilot, and he was needed to fly planes into Japan. Connie was pregnant and obviously distraught by this news, but she returned home to her parent’s house in Utah to wait for her baby to arrive– and wait for her husband to one day return from the war.
Unfortunately, Dean was taken as a POW in Japan after his plane went down over Nagoya. He was never able to return home and never able to meet his son, Marvin but it is through Connie and Marvin’s work in finding correspondence from Dean that this book was able to be written.
‘They Called Him Marvin,’ is a look at the toll of the most devastating war of the 20th century, through the eyes of average Americans and the people that they left behind. Roger Stark shows a different side of the war, that many history books leave out, and does so with the kind of beautiful, moving prose that makes you feel intimately connected to the lives of the people in the book.
As a reader, I felt for Dean and Connie, and wanted them to be reunited, despite knowing from the beginning that they would never have that opportunity. Stark perfectly portrayed the emotions that Connie must have felt after learning of her husband’s disappearance, a life-shattering devastating that she continued to feel for the rest of her life, as she raised their son.
Five stars for this heart-wrenching work of historical fiction, and for Roger Stark’s writing!
Excerpt
Dean and Connie exchanged 67 letters (50 written by Dean.) The reason for the disparity, the only “Connie” letters we have were those written after Dean went MIA and were returned to her as undeliverable.
One reviewer reacted to the letters this way: The letters between Connie and Dean provided a fascinating glimpse into wartime life. Reading the experiences of people both at home and abroad was very engaging. I found myself eagerly awaiting the next letter, right along with the young couple!
The night (unbeknownst to him) that his son Marvin was born Dean wrote:
India –18 February 1945
Good Evening Peaches:
Hello sweet girl, I sure have been thinking of you lots these days and wishing so much that I could be around to take care of you, and be holding your nice soft hands and giving you lots of moral support, and see your pretty face and look in your eyes and without saying a word, tell you millions of wonderful things that you mean to me. You do too, Honey, mean so many wonderful things to me. All the wonderful things a beautiful girl can be and my best companion ever along with being the sweetest wife any guy ever could love. Those are just a few of the things, Darling, which make me love you more every day…
Goodnight Peach Blossom,
Dean
On the day Dean was shot down Connie Wrote:
#57 — 14 May 1945
My most wonderful man,
I’m in a rather odd mood tonight Honey, and it is most all about you and Marvin and me. I have been trying to decide whether or not I would write to you tonight most all evening. I wanted to, but I didn’t know if I could express my feelings as I would want to, and, as I feel them. As you can see Honey, I have made up my mind to try. How well I succeed remains to be seen…
Then I was thinking of Marvin and wondering just what his talents are going to be. To have a Daddy such as you, Honey, he will be kind and good, even as you are, a wonderful man. Honey, I’m really just beginning to realize what a great responsibility we have in teaching and caring for Marvin. We just have to do it to the very best of our ability. I know you have lots of ability, Honey, and I hope I have…
I have a hard time, the past seems like such a thrilling dream of love and happiness. I wonder if it all really happened, but then I know it did. And Oh! Honey how I do love you now and forever and ever ever after with all my heart and soul. Honey I just can’t express how deep my love for you is. Its an impossibility. I love you always.
Good night my husband,
Peaches
About the Author
Roger Stark, by his own admission, is a reluctant writer. But there are stories that 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 his friend, Marvin, he learned the tragic story of 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, that it compelled Roger to ask if he could write the story. The result is “They Called Him Marvin.”
Roger Stark’s life has been profoundly touched in so many ways by being part of documenting this sacred story. He prays 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.
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Giveaway
This giveaway is for 3 print copies, one for each of the 3 winners.
This giveaway is open to the U.S. only and ends on June 24, 2022 midnight, pacific time.
Entries are accepted via Rafflecopter only.
I am so glad Nora enjoyed ‘Yes, Again’! Thanks so much for hosting Leslie!