From Vietnam To Panama With A Cross And A Sword
Perry McMullin, a former US Marine now living in Gorgona has written a novel. Set during the Veitnam War, the book called ‘The Cross And The Sword: Hoi Chu Thap Va Thanh Kiem’ is a story of the friendship between a sniper and a chaplin. Perry says is the story is fiction – but you get the feeling there is more truth to the tale than he admits. Everyone has a story to tell, but the pictures in some lives are more colorful than others. When asked about his military life, Perry says with a wide eyed smile, “if I tell you, I’ll have to kill you”. When you hear words like that from an intelligence officer, one tends to wonder if he is actually joking.
McMullin’s story begins with a desire to serve his country at a young age. Upon joining the Marine Corp, he worked as a radio field operator during the Veitnam war. “I was a pure target,” he says, “since the enemy always wants to take down the antenna.” His plan was to be a marine for life and eventually became the “spy in the sky” working intelligence in the US and Vietnam. As his goals meet reality, Perry’s story goes under a cloud of smoke as he’s taught to lie about who he is and what he does as to not blow his cover.
According to McMullin his usual answer when someone asked was to say, “can’t talk about it, won’t talk about it or it’s not interesting enough to talk about”. Talking to Perry, I am struck by the thought that, while most lives are an open book, Perry’s is a collection of secretive pages hidden in the crevices of his soul, to be taken to the grave.
Perry managed to survive the horror and destruction of the Vietnam War through several tours of duty, however, he came home a different person. After ten years of military life, Perry decided he had enough and made the transition back into civilian life. The next years would take him through a career in law enforcement from a street cop, to Under Sheriff, to crime scene investigator using some of what he learned in the military. For the next 15 years he worked as a real-life CSI, doing painstakingly, detailed work. “Sometimes I’d spend 14 to 16 hours with a corpse,” he said, “ going over every inch of the body carefully as not to miss a clue.” He worked on cases involving arson, suicide, murder, homicides and more. By using the special photo skills that he learned in the Marines he worked on interpreting photo images of crime scenes.
Perry started writing as a way to release some of the visions of war, death and destruction trapped in his head. His first undertaking into the world of literature was oddly enough, or perhaps appropiately so - a children’s book.
Possessing a vivid imagination, and an undamaged innocence, Perry’s first book idea came one day while stuck in gridlock traffic. “Everyone has dreams about being able to fly, and I thought if I could fly I could get out of traffic easier,” said McMullin. And so his first book called “The Boy Who Could Fly” became a reality.
His next project was more of a picture book for toddlers called “Fireflies.” While living in Colorado he realized there were no fireflies there and wanted to immortalize them for children everywhere. “What child doesn’t love seeing and catching fireflies in a jar,” he said. “They’re such amazing creatures of nature that brings out the child in all of us.”
But the real glimpse of the war locked in Perry’s mind came about when a friend suggested he write “The Cross And The Sword”. The book would portray a detailed account of the soldiers struggle to stay alive through the explosions of the Veitman war. Although the book depicts real-life situations and McMullin uses his own name as one of the characters, Perry insists it is fiction. He goes on to say how him and his friend sat and imagined for hours to bring forth a book that would pay honor to those that gave their lives for their country. During wartime and in peace McMullin wishes to pay tribute to all those that serve in the military, yesterday, today and tomorrow.
“The Cross And The Sword,” is a good read, that captivates the reader and takes them along through the perils of war, love, friendship and so much more. It is an easy read and comes with an index of 145 military terms, which serves to bring the reader even closer to the action. The reader is like a fly on the wall privy to classified information. But beware of whom you share the book with because if you tell too much, they might just have to kill you.
The Cross And The Sword by Perry McMullin is available for download through Amazon, Kindle, iTunes and other book sellers.
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