My Honor Flight – A Novel
A young soldier accompanies his great grandfather, Doug Mackinack, on an Honor Flight–a sponsored trip to the World War II Memorial in Washington D.C. During the flight, the old man shares stories from his platoon’s tour in Europe, many ending in dramatic (or occasionally, humorous) twists.
The stories share not only suspenseful situations, but also the emotional impact of the platoon’s journey through a broad range of humanity: Fear. Courage. Compassion. Anger. Love. Death. Eccentricity. Loyalty. Mercy. Retribution. In a final defining moment near the end of his tour, Mackinack is forced to decide his path in a split second. Will he return to the man he was before the war, or will he become the killer the war created?
When Mackinack and his great grandson reach the monument, there is one final surprise tied to events sixty six years earlier.
Click the cover image above or this link to purchase the book on Amazon.com.
Also available from Createspace publishing site. Use discount code 2PNKUG4F to save $3.00 off Createspace list price.
Dan McCurrigan 
read the book and it was great. I couldn’t tell if it was real or fiction it just came alive. good job.
Thanks a lot for the feedback! Glad you enjoyed it!
great read,thanks
An excellent read….Loved it from start to end and I truly hope it is based on fact…
Touched a cord or two as just recently finished 23years in the forces….
Recommended to my friend and colleagues too..
thank you for and excellent book..
regards
Andrew
I picked up My Honor Flight for free and it was a really good read. I don’t usually read WWII books, but this one made me feel like I was right there with the troops.
It begins in France, then Utah beach on D-day, continues to the liberation of Paris, Battle of the Bulge, and then to liberating a concentration camp in Germany.
I felt that the events portrayed were so real that they had to be a first hand account. There were many details.
Your great grandfather got the Medal of Honor for his bravery. However, when I finished the book, I googled to read the blurb about his citation for the Medal of Honor, and he’s not listed.
Then I looked up one soldier who got the Silver Star. Oops, he’s not listed, either. But there was one soldier in the book who was listed as a Silver Star recipient, and the unit he was in experienced fought in all the places detailed in the book.
Is the book an embellished memoir of your great grandfather’s experience in WWII?
digsblues@gmail.com
Hi Kristen,
Thanks for your note! I appreciate hearing from you. Keep in mind, this is a novel – it’s a fictional biography, listed in the Amazon Fiction section. So, it’s not an actual memoir. Actually, it’s fascinating to me that there is a REAL Silver Star recipient with a name from the book. Which character had a match? The names were completely made up from imagination, not from any research at all. I’d like to look that up myself.
Thanks again for your comments. I’m glad you enjoyed the book!
Ha! You got me. I would have sworn it was all real, especially the part that described the arrival at Utah Beach and the “beading up” on the enemy. That one made my jaw drop and I gasped out loud.
The Silver Star recipient was Frank Morelli, with the Army 8th Division. He went to all of the places Buzz company did, France, Utah Beach, the liberation of Paris, Battle of the Bulge, and to the concentration camps.
Anyway, great job on making the soldiers’ battles in WWII really come alive. I thoroughly enjoyed the book, and couldn’t put it down. It was nice to read right before Veteran’s Day. Thanks.
Kristen
Hi Kristen,
Well, thank you very much for your reply, and I’m glad you enjoyed the book! Even though it’s in the fiction category on Amazon, I also added “This novel…” to the description of the book on Amazon, based on your feedback. I suspect the new description will show up in a few hours. I also changed the title on the main page of my website to help people very clearly see that it is a novel.
Best regards!
Mr. McCurrigan,
I just finished your book and just had to tell you how much I enjoyed it. I’ve never really read a was novel before and I didn’t think I would enjoy it so much, but I did. Well maybe ‘enjoy’ is not the right word to use. But it’s the best thing I’ve read in a long time and I do a lot of reading. I wrote a good review of it and I hope that gets more readers for you because I believe as many people as possible should read your novel. It was a real eye opener for me into what war is really like. I’ve always thought that it must be incredibly hard for young men to go to war and was always extremely grateful that my brother never had to go war in Vietnam. The timing was so close and he just was at the tail end of the draft. I can’t imagine my brother ever having to kill anyone.
I found the way the book was written was top drawer. I seen well known novelists drop the ball more often as far as content, flow of a book and descriptions of characters and events to be lacking. Yours, I feel, couldn’t have been done better. I guess the only thing I’m a little confused about is if it was a fiction novel or book of true events. Either way it doesn’t matter as to the writing because it was excellent in my opinion. I was just curious I guess because I’m also from Michigan. I hope that you continue to write and will be keeping an eye out for any other books that you might have. I would love to hear of your experiences but it doesn’t have to be about that. I have a feeling that you are a gifted author and whatever you decide to write about will be wonderful.
I will be telling everyone about your book so that they may share the experience I had in reading it. I laughed, I cried, I was in awe of the feats of courage, I was left….well…changed, at the end of your book. And isn’t that what any good book should do….change you in some way? Thank you, thank you very much for the good read. Regard, Kathy
Hi Kathy,
Thank you so much for your comments! I think that the best reward from writing a story is leaving a strong impression with the reader – to hear that the story did indeed make an impact. I’m glad you enjoyed it. In answer to your question, it is indeed fiction. It’s listed in the fiction section on Amazon, but I don’t think that Amazon makes that very clear on the book description page. So hopefully that doesn’t change your opinion on the book. Thank you again for your kind words – I really appreciate the feedback.
Best regards!
Dear Mr. McCurrigan, I just finished reading your book and I was very moved by it, to say the least. The characters were well written and easily identified with. I laughed and I cried (and then I cried some more.) It was a wonderful read and I will definitely recommend your book to my family and friends.
Hi Diane,
Thanks so much for your kind words! I’m glad you enjoyed the book. I appreciate your feedback!
Best regards, Dan.
Just finished the book and loved it. Even though it is fiction, it read like a true first person story. I have recommended it to all my friends on Facebook.
Hi Betty,
Thank you for the feedback! I’m glad you enjoyed it, and I appreciate hearing from you.
Hi Dan
This is an awesome book. Love the style in which it is written in. I felt that I was watching a movie instead of reading a book. You definitely were able to make the characters “pop out” (as it were). I know this is fiction, however within every fiction there is an element of non fiction. I sure would like to know those non fictional parts. I am sure you did a lot of research.
I enjoyed reading this book while being posted in London for a few weeks. Can’t wait to read your next book.
Thank you for writing this book. My granddad wrote a brief paragraph about his time in service. Although he was in a different part of war he faced different challenges. He too was from Michigan. China Burma India. – Dave (Northern Michigan)
I could not put it down! Excellent book. We need more men today like Buzz Company was in World War II.
I ordered your book for my kindle off a website that had it for free for a day. You had me in tears quite a few times in the book. You did a great job. I’m not really one to read war stories but I really enjoyed this.
Hi,
Thanks so much for your feedback. I’m glad you enjoyed it!
Thank you Ashley, I appreciate your feedback! Glad you liked it.
Just finished the book. I am putting a review on Amazon and Goodreads. I hope you are working on another book as I write this. You are a Very Talented author. I thank you for this book and look forward to the next one.
Thanks Annette! I’m glad you enjoyed it!
Morning Dan
Really loved your book . Besides the storyline feeling real , I enjoyed your economic use of words .
Looking forward to your next book .
I started reading this book last week right before my 4th time as a guardian on an Honor Flight. This flight we only had 1 WW2 veteran, but my 1st flight back in 2018 there were several. Your book was so well written and brought everything to life of what their service was like. I have read other accounts, but nothing like this. I think anyone going on an Honor Flight (veteran or guardian) should know about this book and have the opportunity to read it before the flight. So when you are at the WW2 Memorial you can understand the full scope of that war. I’ve only accompanied Vietnam veterans, but I’ve had one family remark about how much the trip changed him and his attitude. After the trip he told his family about his service and started volunteering with a Vietnam Veteran organization. I love watching the comradiry of the veterans during the trip and listening to their stories and experiences. Thanks again for such a wonderfully written story. I’m sharing it with one of the gentlemen in charge of our local hub so hopefully he’ll share it and talk about it at orientation or the flight day.
Hi Lois,
Thank you so much for your kind words. The Honor Flight program is truly remarkable, and I’m proud of you and others who support our veterans!