🛩️🗼 “They Called Him Marvin” (2022) 🗼🛩️ – Book Tour & Review
Book Title: They Called Him Marvin, A History of Love, War and Family by Roger Stark
Category: Adult Fiction (18+), 333 pages
Genre: Historical Romance, WW2 history, True Love Story
Publisher: Silver Star Publishing
Release Date: September 2021
Content Rating: PG-13: No sex scenes, six mild profanities, depictions of war scenes.
They were just kids, barely not teenagers, madly in love, desperate to be a family, but a war and a B29 got in there 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 Corporalies, 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 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.
I am, by my own admission, 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 be lost. Six years ago, in a quiet conversation with my friend Marvin, I 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, it compelled me to ask if I could write the story. The result being They Called Him Marvin.
My life has been profoundly touched in so many ways by being part of documenting this sacred story. I pray 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.
connect with the author: website ~ facebook ~ instagram ~ goodreads
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THEY CALLED HIM MARVIN Book Tour Giveaway
One of my introductions to World War II (WWII) stories was a fictional story by Sarah Sundin (The Land Beneath Us). That set off my preference for historical fiction, but it also expanded to “real life” stories to get the entire picture of WWII – military, England, Germany, civilians.
My interest was also bolsters by the fact my grandfather served in WWII. He died in early April 1980 just before I turned four (4). As a result, I didn’t get to hear his stories or tales from the Navy and his service. As of note, his ship – U.S.S Kadashan Bay CVE-76, saw action in the South Pacific; Philippines, Samar, among others.
That was one reason I chose this book. I felt by reading the stories, it is a way to honor them and remember their service.
As the author says – “there are stories that demand to be told”. And, while we can’t tell every WWII story out there, we can try to tell as many as we can. This is even more important due to the fact that there are only 240,000 of the 16 million WWII vets still alive. This is as of December 2021 according to the National World War II Museum in New Orleans with approximately 234 dying each day (https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/wwii-veteran-statistics).
About 570 aviators were captured, half (½) were executed and NEVER returned to their homelands. Sherman and his crew were among the numbers – as of note, only two from that mission; Orr and Miller – made it home alive.
It is for them as well, that I chose this book.
That said …
Don’t expect a happy ending to this book. But, expect a plural point of view (POV) of what happened on the home front as well as the front lines.
There will be some questionable, but realistic language. No “F” bombs as stated above, but definite coarse talk – variations of “s#it”, a$$holes, he!!, d@mn, and b@st@rds. Graphic war depictions include bomb injuries, prisoner torture, executions, murder, and descriptions of bomb aftermath. There is also a reference to the Japanese as “Japs”. This was a term commonly used during the war and a bit after. The end of the book is especially harsh given what happened to Dean.
This is the author’s debut, and it is a pretty solid read. Stark shows a great passion for this subject (WWII) and has a great delivery.
This does tend to bounce between wanting to be a fictional story, yet has documentary vibes. The letters between Connie and Dean (along with the coordinating actions at the time) take up about 55% of the book.
While some readers might not enjoy the inclusion of the letters – this is how the readers get to know both Connie and Dean. And, this is what the book is about – more about Dean the husband and father he didn’t get to be – as opposed to Dean the pilot and bomber. This is about a wife and husband separated by war.
The title, They Called Him Marvin, comes from the
name of Connie and Dean’s son – Marvin Carl Sherman who recounted this story to
the author.
Stark tells the early days of Connie and Dean – their “short” lived life together, and Roger’s mission overseas. This is definitely heart-wrenching, emotional, captivating, and intense.
There are times when Stark is technical, and the inclusion of “military” bulletins adds to the rich history of not just the man lost overseas in WWII, but also a husband and father who didn’t get to fulfill his life’s goals and wishes.
Stark started off about not knowing about the fact that the B-29ers were denied POW status, labeled War Criminals, and beheaded without due process or even a trial.
The book starts off with an “OpSec” pamphlet – OpSec being Operational Security and it is WWII where the phrase “loose lips sink ships” comes from. Having watched J*A*G all 10 seasons, I have become familiar with military terms.
The beginning of the book is almost like a calm before the storm when Dean meets Connie. It is roughly 11 months before Pearl Harbor and the United States’ entry into the war.
Stark includes some “key dates” that also happen during Dean and Connie’s “dating”/marriage:
📅 6/28/1939 – The B-29 is born
📅 12/7/1941 – Pearl Harbor attacked
📅 4/30/1943 – Dean and Connie married
📅 9/12/1944 – Orders and deployment (last time the Shermans would be together)
📅 12/7/1944 – Third (3rd) anniversary of Pearl Harbor, first of Dean’s letters
📅 2/18/45 – Due to “war time”, and “saving daylight”, Marvin Carl Sherman is born (as of note, this would be my grandma’s 28th birthday; she was already a mom to my uncle who was born 12/12/1943; my mother would be born during Korea [1951])
📅 3/3/1945 – Talk of different strategy which eventually leads to the downing of 9966
📅 5/7/1945 – VE Day; End of War in Germany
📅 5/13/1945 (Mother’s Day) – Last letter from Dean Sherman
📅 5/14/1945 – Dean’s plane shot down that evening
📅 6/20/1945 – Connie has an awful feeling, says so in a letter
📅 6/26/1945 – Telegram from U.S Army; Dean shot down, M.I.A
📅 8/6/1945 – Hiroshima, “Little Boy” dropped
In addition to the Shermans, Stark also adds in some of the details of the men Sherman served with.
Stark also adds in a family by the name of Kiyoshi – parents: Takana and Kigi, older son (military age) Reo, Riku (12), twin girls Mei and Mio (6). As there are no references in this book (at least the ARC I have), I don’t know if the family is real or fictional. However, it appears they are fictional to add contrast and a different POV to this. While it is interesting, it can be confusing to the reader as to whether this is fiction or a real story.
Stark also adds in the “politics of war” with unconditional surrender being the only option lest the axis powers bring a third world war.
The end of chapter 22 when referring to the bombing of Hiroshima is stunning, shocking, at times heart-stopping. It is an interesting view amid the entire atrocity that was WWII.
This isn’t a “can’t put it down” kind of read. It is one that is best enjoyed as slow, methodical, and appreciated for the history it adds to. There were some typos in it – at a few points 1945 is used during 1944. There is also a homonym “their” instead of “there”. One interesting note was “would’t” used during the period where 9966 is ditching in the ocean. I’m hoping that since I read an ARC that the typos were corrected in publication.
In my research, I came across some additional notes. On November 29, 1945, some of the remains of airmen who were executed were identified and items recovered from Major Ito (Tokai Army HQ; Nagoya).
Those airmen:
🔵 Sherman (also had an
I.D bracelet)
🔵 Solomon
🔵 Johnson
🔵 Prichard
🔵 Gentry
In November 1949, along with Edward R. Gentry, Dean Sherman’s remains (and others) were also repatriated and buried in the Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery (Missouri). I don’t know why this was omitted, perhaps the author wasn’t able to verify the information.
As of note, Dean H. Sherman was exactly 9 years and 9 months younger than my grandfather, and was executed on my grandfather’s 33rd birthday; 3/12/1922-7/12/1945. Sherman was only 23 when he was killed in action.
Overall, They Called Him Marvin definitely held my
attention. But, knowing what the end really is, it definitely makes this hard
to read. It is a book to add to a WWII buff’s collection and to supplement for
educational purposes.
RATING:
4 ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ – Goodreads
4 ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ – Bookbub
4 ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
– Personal Rating (see rating explanation in this blog: https://readingexcursions.blogspot.com/2020/01/rating-system-2020-changes.html)
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