Missing Sticks

D-Day - Normandy - behind Utah Beach. Just after midnight the drop began. Come dawn, 18 C-47s and their paratroopers were missing. What could have the missing troopers accomplished if they had landed safely and engaged the enemy?MISSING STICKS tells one story.I have listened to and read accounts written by and about the paratroopers and glidermen, and their aircrews, and wondered who the missing men were. What could, what would the missing men have done if they had made it safely to the ground? This is a novel about those missing men, their buddies and the friends and enemies they met on the ground on June 6th, 1944.Missing Sticks is a fictional account of a handful of those missing men, representative of those declared casualties in real life. Each character, every story is a figment of my imagination, but I hope a reflection of the diverse men who flew into the darkness and danger over Normandy that fateful night. I have attempted to make the people and the actions as realistic as possible, stealing bits and pieces of events and personalities from the accounts of the many who participated, and merged them in my mind.If you have been around combat you know that not every man is brave. Not every man is a hero. Everyone makes mistakes. However, in the fire of battle, a handful of heroes is forged as bravery overwhelms the fear that naturally keeps us from harm. I hope the Screaming Eagles in this novel are true to the real Screaming Eagles I have known, talked to and read about over the years, with all their faults-and all their bravery.This novel is the result-a tribute to the Screaming Eagles who disappeared into the darkness. J. M. Taylor is the author of the award-winning south Florida thrillers, GULF WINDS and LOST KEY, the international thriller DESERT WINDS and the WWII historical novel trilogy which follow the 101st Airborne Screaming Eagles from Normandy to Bastogne: MISSING STICKS, ONE STICK AND A WACO and SNOW STICKS. Combining his experiences as a paratrooper, nuclear weapons specialist and operations research analyst with travels in the Far and Middle East, Europe and the States, he packs a ton of adventure into action-filled page-turners. The STICK Trilogy features Max, the German Shepherd, a brave and true friend of the Screaming Eagles, along with a Redtail pilot and a medevac nurse. Taylor originally was published with a small press and was a pioneer in independent publishing. D-Day, 6 June, 1944 - Normandy - behind Utah Beach. Just after midnight the drop began. Come dawn, 18 C-47s and their paratroopers were missing. What could have the missing troopers accomplished if they had landed safely and engaged the enemy? MISSING STICKS tells one story. ONE STICK AND A WACO is also fiction, a historical novel set in time and place during Operation MARKET GARDEN with the Screaming Eagles of the 101st Airborne Division, the second novel in the Trilogy. Like MISSING STICKS, ONE STICK and a WACO isn't about strategy or glory, just men and women in combat. SNOW STICKS picks up our 101st Airborne Screaming Eagles troopers as they are fighting across Holland to "The Island" during Operation Market Garden, then take a little break in France; take time to to enjoy the fruits of France, maybe sneak back to England for a short visit to a war bride. We all know what is coming - the German attacks that result in the Battle of the Bulge and especially the fight around Bastogne to stop the German advance back to the Channel. No Generals strategizing or Cabinet discussions, no arguments between Patton and Montgomery, this is about the grunts, the point of the spear.