The Deuce: The Bravery, Valor and Sacrifice of the 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment in WWII, has been awarded "Finalist" in the 7th Annual Beverly Hills Book Awards in November of 2018
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There will be an author signing event of the new historical fiction novel, The Deuce: The Bravery, Valor and Sacrifice of the 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment in WWII, at the Barnes & Noble, Midtown at Forest Acres, in Columbia, SC on 14 April from 2 until 4 PM.
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There will be an author signing event of the new historical fiction novel, The Deuce: The Bravery, Valor and Sacrifice of the 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment in WWII, at the Barnes & Noble, Oglethorpe Mall in Savannah, GA on 16 June at 2 PM.
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Symm McCord, author, will be holding a book signing of his newest book, The Deuce, at the Market Commons Barnes & Noble bookstore in Myrtle Beach, SC on March 10, 2018 between noon and 5 PM.
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For our latest book, The Deuce, The Bravery, Valor, and Sacrifice of the 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment, I have been joined by the services of Loiacono Literary Agency in representing The Deuce and guiding us in our efforts to remind the world of what the people of “The Greatest Generation” sacrificed to give us the future we are now living.
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As I started my research on The Deuce, I began to reflect on those days back in the early 1940s when my uncles and dad left for military service. I didn’t really know what was happening but realized there was a war and that was why they were leaving. I can still recall hearing Roosevelt on the radio in one of his “Fireside Chats”. (He actually started those six years before I was born.) Then there was “Lights out” at night, so the enemy couldn’t sneak in and bomb our towns, and also ration stamps for tires and certain things that were needed “overseas” worse than back home. Nothing but faint memories, they were, until a little later when the profound importance of what those magnificent folks had done finally hit me.
When they took Iwo Jima, and my Uncle Wayne McCord and my wife's Uncle Alfred M. Knight were there, they planted our flag at the top of Mount Suribachi with so much pride that those who viewed the photo were deeply moved; some even had tears in their eyes. That flag represents the blood and sacrifices of those people, as well as those of other wars. I hope our nation will come to its senses and see the real symbolism in that piece of cloth and give it the extraordinary respect it deserves...the author.
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A Review from Amazon: “Great read about real heroes.” - Col. Donald J. Marnon
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Prepublication review written by Diane Donovan, senior reviewer from the Midwestern Review group. This review appears in the June 2017 edition of Midwestern Review:
The Deuce
Written by
Symm Hawes McCord, M.D.
World War II novels abound; but few are as specific or as revealing as The Deuce, which focuses on the efforts and experiences of the 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment. While its main characters are fictional, the overall setting of the story and events are straight from history, and the author is quite clear about the points which move from fiction to nonfiction: "I have attempted to make much of the data and history of the “Five-O-Deuce” as accurate as possible. The characters are non-fictional down to the Regimental and Battalion Commanders. The Company, platoon and squad level members and leaders are mostly fictional names. The dates and sequences of battles and movements are as accurate as possible."
With such an introduction, one doesn't expect the degree of insights that flow immediately from interactions between characters and their experiences, but this is just the first strength to a story that takes historical facts and turns them personal: "In recent years, Harvey Donovan had these night terrors maybe every six months. When he first returned from the war, back in 1945, they happened every night, and he would be totally exhausted when he finally stopped shaking. He always referred to his fear as “they”. He had never told Lucy who “they” were, what had happened during the war, or what was happening in his dreams. She had never pressed him for answers; although she pretty well knew who “they” were and what was happening in his dreams by his actions and vocalizations, and, of course, knowing that he had spent those years in the Army during that great war."
As Harve confronts his wartime demons and the experience of battling in a war that consumes his life, readers on board for the ride learn a great deal about battles, bravery, and immediate battlefield sensations: "At 5:45 AM there was a sudden flash in the direction of the beach, and a few seconds later, the sound caught up. The naval bombardment of the beaches of Normandy had begun. That first round was followed by an ever increasing crescendo of exploding shells and flashes in the sky. All of the men were probably mistakenly thinking the same thing…if they hit the beach hard enough with the bombardment, maybe the landing troops wouldn’t have so much resistance when they got there. They couldn’t have been more wrong."
Special missions, tough battles, and the circumstances which make "The Deuce" a respected team which stands out among many fighting units build the foundation of a military story that is about survival, finding love and peace in a turbulent world and its aftermath, and coming to grips with a series of confrontations that not only test lives and loyalty, but involve lengthy battles and continuous struggles.
The impact of such conditions and their lasting effects is another plus of The Deuce, which moves between battle immediacy to how the effects of the war experience linger to affect Harve's peacetime life.
Details about the camaraderie between soldiers and the changing nature of their ultimate job as war conditions change make for many descriptions that deftly capture both the special nature of The Deuce and the circumstances that lead to their successes and failures.
Ultimately, it's a hard-hitting World War II story that asks hard questions in the course of examining a particularly courageous unit's actions and choices, revealing much about the nature and changing challenges of military life in the field: "After many days of search and destroy, the first squad, third platoon, of B Company, 3rd Battalion, of the 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment found themselves in a continuing effort to find Germans and kill or capture them. When would it end? When would this damned war be over? It was difficult to accept life that now seemed to exist within the Deuce, solely to hunt down and kill Germans, who were becoming more and more like animals in a cage, but also more than willing to give themselves up if given the chance. And that is what began to happen."
Readers seeking a gripping, moving saga that paints a powerful portrait of a particular unit's actions and achievements during World War II will find much to like in The Deuce, which should be part of any collection strong in historical fiction about World War II battlefield encounters. It's highly recommended for its engrossing portraits of soldiers who exhibit both individual courage and the ability to join together in powerful unity.
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Symm McCord was host Paul Reeves’s guest on Friday’s (December 1, 2017) "Dr. Paul's Family Talk" on Impact Radio USA from Detroit radio station WNZK. Symm and Paul discussed his works, including "The Deuce: The Bravery, Valor and Sacrifice of the 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment", "The Annunaki Enigma: Creation", and "Armageddon 2020 (The Annunaki Enigma)". It can be linked from The Facebook page of The Deuce.
https://www.facebook.com/The-Deuce-1003596989774802/
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https://www.facebook.com/The-Deuce-1003596989774802/
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