About the Book:

It was a gutless, unprovoked attack on the United States and all it stood for. The hatred shattered the early morning calm and moved a nation from a time of peace to years of war and hardship. It prompted young men to offer their service, and many their lives, to defend their country and everything it stood for. It was a time of great uncertainty and fear. It was the original “day that will live in infamy.”

Maurice “Vic” Duvic remembers it well. He lived it. He was twenty-four years old, standing on a Florida beach with his buddies the first time he heard the words “Pearl Harbor.” He had no idea what those words would come to mean, but the uniform he wore assured him he would get a front row seat.

He went on to become a pilot in the Army Air Corps, traveled across the world and became a part of the Allied forces that would prove too much for Italy and Germany. While the words “Pearl Harbor” had a life-changing meaning for him, there was a number that would prove to be even more important: forty.

That was the number of combat missions he had to complete before he could get back home. While that sounds simple enough, he learned there is much truth to the saying, “It’s not about the destination, but the journey.” And what a journey it was.

About the Author: 

Maurice “Vic” Duvic, a decorated war hero, lives in central Mississippi, where he and his wife, Peggy, raised their eight children. The World War II veteran flew forty combat missions as part of the North African Allied forces and was a flight instructor at Lake Charles, Louisiana, until the end of the war. He was called back to active duty and served twenty-one months in the Korean War; ten months in Korea.

Lisa Uzzle Hadden is an award-winning newspaper reporter and magazine editor of more than twenty years. This is her first book.