The Uvalde Raider Book Blog Tour #LoneStarLit

The time is the eve of the First Gulf War. The place an abandoned World War II emergency landing strip for heavy bombers, nestled amid the near countless miles upon miles of wide openness in West Texas.

Here a climactic battle will be fought, while the rest of the world focuses on what would become known as Operation Desert Storm.

But in some ways, the stakes here are even higher as men from other places and past conflicts gamble all that they are, and all they ever were, to prevent a catastrophic terrorist attack unthinkable before on an American city.

One group seeks wholesale slaughter, the murder of helpless civilians on a massive scale. The other strives to stop this evil in any way possible, and by whatever means necessary.

The key to either side’s success or failure?

One old Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress, an enduring symbol from another war and ensuing catastrophe of a different era. This relic of a not so distant past is named ‘The Uvalde Raider,’ and this is its story…

CHARACTER SPOTLIGHT

Meet the Uvalde Raider

Howdy, my name is The Uvalde Raider.

Lone Star Literary Life suggested an interview involving a character in this book, and the author figured I’d do as well as anyone else. After all, my image and name are on the front cover.

Now, some might think it strange that a near fifty-year-old airplane would serve in such a capacity. Most would consider me nothing much more than an assembly of wings, some engines and propellers, and a fuselage.

But as any airman or aviator can tell you, real airplanes are more than the sum of their mechanical parts. They have their own personality, their own identity and spirit that only grows and deepens as they become older, especially during times of danger or great peril.

And believe you me, I have seen more than my fair share of both.

Me and my kin and family fought through the most catastrophic conflict ever known to man. Not only that, we managed to serve our country in an outsized fashion that contributed mightily to victory, and placed such morally bankrupt ideas as Fascism, Nazism, and Military Imperialism into the trash heap of history, at least for a while.

When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, we were there. A flight of us, unarmed and low on fuel, stumbled into the onslaught but most managed to land safely, though one of us had to do so on a golf course. Then we were replenished and outfitted for war, going on patrol that same day.

And for every day following until the end of the war, we were there. In the early dark, traumatic months when our country was losing on every front, we made up the main offensive punch that our fledging air force possessed. Every single day we flew out to take the fight to the enemy, and hardly a day went by that some of us did not return.

Or maybe we did make it back, but with the life blood of our crewmen pooling in the floors of our aluminum bodies. Those were bad times folks; be glad that you didn’t have to live, or die, during them.

But we helped turn that tide, fired by the courage and sacrifice of so many of the nameless who manned our flight controls, our guns and our bomb sights.

Come to think of it, we were in the fight even before our nation was. President Roosevelt saw to that, and some of my older brothers wearing British markings participated in raids deep into Nazi Germany, some six months before the United States declared war on the Axis Powers.

It was a blessed day indeed when that terrible war finally ended, but that did not mean the end to my service. You might say that I only changed missions, though many of my fellows saw the scrap heap early on. However, a few of us soldiered on as VIP transports, search and rescue planes, photo reconnaissance craft, aerial firefighters, target tugs and drones.

Then there were the special ones like me, who after so many secondary assignments as past-their-prime workhorses, were selected to be restored into our former glory. Colonel Templar, who figures large into the plot of my story, saw to my needs as earnestly and meticulously as any father did with his first born.

Those were shining times. I toured our nation with him at my controls, going to airshows and memorial gatherings, and reminding generations of Americans of those who selflessly gave everything they had for what we have today. You could say I helped symbolize an enduring adage which was reflected in my polished aluminum:

‘The first duty is to remember.’

But the lords of war are never silent and ever restless, and fate can be fickle thing indeed. After enjoying the peace and attention of Americans young and old who came to see me as I once was, I am being called to active duty again.

And this time, it appears that I may be flying for the wrong side.

God help me…

Ben H. English is an eighth-generation Texan who grew up in the Big Bend. At seventeen he joined the Marines, ultimately becoming a chief scout-sniper as well as an infantry platoon sergeant. Later he worked counterintelligence and traveled to over thirty countries on four continents.

 

At Angelo State University he graduated Magna Cum Laude along with other honors. Afterwards Ben had a career in the Texas Highway Patrol, holding several instructor billets involving firearms, driving, patrol procedures and defensive tactics.

 

After retirement he decided to try his hand at writing. His first effort, Yonderings, was accepted by a university press and garnered some awards. His second, Destiny’s Way, led to a long term, multi-book contract.  This was followed by Out There: Essays on the Lower Big Bend and now his second fictional work, The Uvalde Raider.

 

His intimate knowledge of what he writes about lends credence and authenticity to his work. Ben knows how it feels to get hit and hit back, or being thirsty, cold, wet, hungry, alone or exhausted beyond imagination. Finally, he knows of not only being the hunter, but also the hunted.

 

Ben and his wife have two sons who both graduated from Annapolis. He still likes nothing better than grabbing a pack and some canteens and heading out to where few others venture.

 

Just as he has done throughout most of his life…

 

Find out more about Ben English’s Adventures on Facebook, Amazon Author Page, or visit Ben on his Website

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