Author of A Date with Infamy | WWII alternate history | My great-uncle was a real WWII fighter ace; his story inspired the novel | SMU History | DFW Sports
My great-uncle flew P-38 Lightnings, P-51 Mustangs, and P-39 Airacobras in the Pacific.
Bronze Star. Air Medal with three Oak Leaf Clusters. Ground combat credit at Iwo Jima. Rose to Lieutenant Colonel. The family called him Uncle Gibby.
I spent five years researching one question: What if America broke Japan’s naval codes before December 7, 1941? What if Pearl Harbor was a trap instead of a surprise?
That became A Date with Infamy. No publisher. No agent. Just fifty years of family stories and five years of research.
Book 1 is out now. Book 2, The Gathering Storm, is coming.
https://t.co/bDB0ZY6K9I
This Day in WW2 — May 29, 1940
Peak day at Dunkirk. 47,310 men rescued under constant Luftwaffe bombardment.
Destroyers, trawlers, yachts, fishing boats. Some make four trips in a day.
Ordinary people doing extraordinary things.
#ThisDayInWW2#Dunkirk
This Day in WW2 — May 28, 1940
King Leopold III surrenders Belgium. Dunkirk's left flank is wide open.
The evacuation enters its most desperate phase.
#ThisDayInWW2#Dunkirk
This Day in WW2 — May 27, 1941
The Royal Navy corners Bismarck. A Swordfish torpedo jams her rudder.
Rodney and King George V pound her into scrap. 2,000+ dead. 114 survive.
Hood is avenged.
#ThisDayInWW2#Bismarck
This Day in WW2 — May 26, 1940
Operation Dynamo begins. The evacuation of Dunkirk.
338,226 soldiers rescued over nine days. Warships, ferries, fishing boats, civilian yachts.
The miracle starts today.
#ThisDayInWW2#Dunkirk#OperationDynamo
This Day in WW2 — May 25, 1940
Lord Gort orders retreat to Dunkirk. Operation Dynamo activated.
If it floats, the Royal Navy wants it.
The miracle is about to begin.
#ThisDayInWW2#Dunkirk
This Day in WW2 — May 24, 1941
Bismarck's salvo penetrates HMS Hood's magazine. The pride of the Royal Navy sinks in three minutes.
1,415 crew. 3 survivors.
The hunt for Bismarck begins.
#ThisDayInWW2#Bismarck#HMSHood
This Day in WW2 — May 23, 1940
Hitler orders his Panzers to halt outside Dunkirk. The BEF is trapped.
Goring promises the Luftwaffe can finish them. The halt lasts two critical days.
It saves the BEF.
#ThisDayInWW2#Dunkirk
This Day in WW2 — May 22, 1939
Germany and Italy sign the Pact of Steel. Full military alliance.
Three months before Poland. The Axis is taking shape.
#ThisDayInWW2#PactOfSteel
This Day in WW2 — May 21, 1941
A U-boat sinks the SS Robin Moor, an American merchant ship. The U.S. is still neutral.
Roosevelt calls it "piracy." The road to war gets shorter.
#ThisDayInWW2
This Day in WW2 — May 20, 1941
Germany drops 15,000 paratroopers on Crete. The first major airborne invasion in history.
Losses are so catastrophic Hitler never uses paratroopers en masse again.
#ThisDayInWW2#Crete
This Day in WW2 — May 19, 1940
Guderian's Panzers close on the Channel. The BEF is being cut off.
Nine days in. The fall of France is a catastrophe. Dunkirk is a week away.
#ThisDayInWW2#FallOfFrance
This Day in WW2 — May 18, 1944
After four brutal battles, Allied forces capture Monte Cassino. Polish troops raise their flag over the ruins.
One of the hardest-fought victories of the war.
#ThisDayInWW2#MonteCassino
This Day in WW2 — May 17, 1940
German forces capture Brussels. One week of fighting.
The Panzers are headed for the Channel.
#ThisDayInWW2#FallOfFrance
This Day in WW2 — May 16, 1943
RAF 617 Squadron attacks the Ruhr dams with bouncing bombs. Two dams breached.
8 of 19 aircraft lost. 53 aircrew killed. One of the most daring raids of the war.
#ThisDayInWW2#Dambusters
This Day in WW2 — May 15, 1940
German Panzers break through at Sedan. The French line is shattered.
France's PM calls Churchill: "We are beaten. We have lost the battle."
It has been five days.
#ThisDayInWW2#FallOfFrance
This Day in WW2 — May 14, 1940
The Luftwaffe bombs Rotterdam. Nearly 900 civilians killed. The Netherlands surrenders the same day.
Total war has arrived.
#ThisDayInWW2#Rotterdam
This Day in WW2 — May 13, 1940
Churchill's first speech as PM:
"I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat."
Three days in. The Germans are pouring through France.
#ThisDayInWW2#Churchill
This Day in WW2 — May 12, 1943
The last Axis forces in North Africa surrender. 230,000 prisoners.
The Allies call it "Tunisgrad." Next stop: Sicily.
#ThisDayInWW2#Tunisia
This Day in WW2 — May 11, 1943
U.S. forces land on Attu in the Aleutians to recapture American soil occupied by Japan.
The forgotten battle. Fog, mud, freezing cold. American territory.
#ThisDayInWW2#Attu