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A Gathering of Men

by Rona Simmons
A Gathering of Men

Candor, North Carolina. The town barber brandishes a copy of the May 1927 Charlotte Observer-on the front page, Charles Lindbergh’s Spirit of St. Louis on its cross-country flight. At the outskirts of town, best friends Lake, Roger, and Jim take turns hurling their wingless crate down a hill. Eyes closed, they imagine their future alongside Lindy.

Pearl Harbor changes everything. The boys will have their chance to fly-not over North Carolina farm fields, but across Germany on bombing runs, facing a determined Luftwaffe. The odds of completing their tours of duty are slim.

A Gathering of Men is the account of the boys who board their aircraft for the first time and the men they become in the blink of an eye. The terrors they witness and the pressure to go up again and again and again brings them to the breaking point. It is a moving tale, based on a true story, about shattered dreams and enduring friendship, duty, and honor.

Pages: 262
Pub Date: 02-08-2022
Softcover: 18.95 9781646635832
Hardcover: 31.95 9781646635856

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The reviews are in…

  • ". . . a vehicle of time travel, taking us back to the senses and places of 1940s North Carolina and the battles of WWII. Vivid, beautiful and heartbreaking . . ."


    -Patti Callahan Henry, author of Surviving Savannah, co-creator of Friends & Fiction

  • ". . . a powerhouse of a novel, combining the hearts and bonds of men at war with exquisite technical accuracy that reads like lightning from a rifle barrel. A Gathering of Men is a sweeping epic that will keep you breathless while leaving no heartstring un-pulled."


    -Brian Panowich, bestselling author of Bull Mountain and Hard Cash Valley

  • "This compelling story by Rona Simmons is a glorious tribute to the men of the 100th Bomb Group, whose sacrifice and heroism at great personal cost resonates vividly across the decades."


    -Robert J. Mrazek, award-winning author of The Indomitable Florence Finch: The Untold Story of a War Widow Turned Resistance Fighter

Rona Simmons has authored historical fiction and nonfiction. Both A Gathering of Men and The Other Veterans of World War II: Stories from Behind the Front Lines shed light on little-known aspects of the Second World War. She is the daughter of a WWII fighter pilot and wife of a US Navy pilot and is proud to honor veterans and their stories through her work. Her articles and interviews have appeared in regional and national literary journals and in online and print magazines and newspapers.

All books by this author