VICE CHIEF OF STAFF
UNITED STATES ARMY
"A wonderful tribute," Pickering said, "and well-deserved."
"Thank you, Fleming," said MacArthur. There was a slight waver in his voice.
Jesus, I was right. MacArthur actually was crying.'
Pickering read the note through again: "indomitable courage," "unshakable perseverance," "true leadership." He thought of McCoy and Zimmerman and Taylor and the South Koreans who had gone with them to the islands, and smiled. All these words applied there, too.
"Regardless of odds." He hadn't heard from McCoy since they'd said goodbye on the Mount McKinley. He'd tried to put Killer's words out of his mind, but he'd failed miserably. "They might know where he is."
Goddamn him. I'm not sure hope is what I want right now.
Pickering felt a slight sting at the corners of his eyes.
Jesus Christ! Two generals, blubbering like babies.
He noticed the glass in his hand and raised it. "I never finished my toast, General," he said.
MacArthur looked at him.
"I'd like to do that now," Pickering went on. `To our men in Korea-wherever they are. God watch over them all."
"I'll drink to that," MacArthur said, and raised his glass to Pickering's.
For a moment, both men were silent. Then they drank, and their talk turned once more to war.
Afterword
There really was a major general, a friend of President Harry S. Truman since their service as captains, whom the President sent to the Far East immediately after the Korean War began, in a role very much like the one the fictional Major General Howe plays in this book. He landed at In-chon on D day, and immediately hooked up with the leg-endary Colonel "Chesty" Puller, USMC.
And there really was a naval reserve lieutenant, Eugene F. Clark, a Mustang like my fictional character Lieutenant David Taylor, USNR, in this book, who did in fact seize the islands in the Flying Fish Channel with the assistance of a handful of Marines, and Korean national policemen.
I learned of Lieutenant Clark's exploits from my friend Ed Ivanhoe, who is the historian cum laude of the Special Operations community, and who was himself involved in Korean War Special Operations. And some others, in other places.
The exploits of the real naval hero also came to the at-tention-from other sources-of the distinguished histo-rian Thomas Fleming. He published an article based on what he had learned. Shortly after it was published, Lieu-tenant Clark's family got in touch with Mr. Fleming and told him that on his return from Korea, Lieutenant Clark, now deceased, had written a book about the Flying Fish Channel operation but never submitted it for publication.
Would Mr. Fleming have a look at it to see if a publisher might be interested? They thought it was a good story. When he read it, so did Mr. Fleming.
Several weeks later-ay he was actually editing the seg-ment of this book that put my fictional character David Taylor on Tokchok-kundo Island-Lieutenant Clark's man-uscript landed on the desk of Putnam's publisher and editor in chief, Neil Nyren.
Putnam published Lieutenant Clark's memoirs of the Flying Fish Channel Operation, titled The Secrets of In-chon.
W. E. B. Griffin
Pilar, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina
August 23,2001
The End
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