Warning of War: A Novel of the North China Marines

There's a lot of Ken McCoy, if you're familiar with W.E.B. Griffin's "Semper Fi" series, in Captain Billy Port, U.S.M.C. They're are both 'China Marines,' underscoring the presence of an American Infantry force in China that in the summer and fall of 1941, had been in Asia since the turn of the 20th century. They both are encouraged by a strong sense of honor or fidelity, have expensive tastes, high intelligence, and have earned the respect of hard men. I am reminded of Orwell's comments that we who are bathed in the warmth of freedom, sleep well because there are 'hard men' who guard our gates. Billy Port, trapped behind enemy lines by the whims of the Japanese government having selected December 7 to bomb Pearl Harbor, doomed by his own sense of honor, recognizing that the only chance he has for himself and his men is to advance smartly in the opposite direction toward Russia, is one of those men. I thoroughly enjoyed the novel. It is a novel, we have to remember, although things like that surely happened. Perhaps there was a Billy Port. There certainly were White Russians, Jewish intellectuals, French dilettantes, beautiful courtesans, Mongolian bandits and the above mentioned Marines trying to get the heck out of Dodge when Pearl Harbor happened.Brady, who himself is not unfamiliar with winter in that part of the world, having spent a cold year in the Marine Corps in Korea 9 years after the events described in Warning of War, does an above average job in making the reader 'feel the cold.'You might want to pick up "The Coldest War," Brady's auto-biographical account of his year in the infantry in Korea in 1950-51.Additionally, I believe the style of the infantry officer, his concern for men, his focus in times of battle, his remorse for losses, brief but heartfelt, is well reported. At one point Captain Port arises at 2 in the morning to walk the perimeter in 18 below zero weather. He stops and talks to the men on watch, saying a few words to each of them, spending a moment with them. He does that, he tells us, because 'that's what combat officers do. Let the men know that you're willing to spend time with them when it's damn cold.'Despite the tale revolving around the character of this infantry officer, this is really a tale of an event. Billy Port is the central piece of the puzzle, but it's a well crafted story of an escape from the great shadow of war by an odd crew of individuals cast, inadvertantly, behind enemy lines. Definitely worth the read.

If as the author has said, that this is a true story, then we should Honor the men of this story. They are true heros.If Hollywood doesn't make a movie out of this one, they are even worse then nuts! History is full of stories of unknown heros, and thier fights, I love these stories, Keep em comming!

While I am sure that the United States had military personnel many places in the world on the eve of World War II certainly those in Shanghai would appear to be trapped when the United States was attacked and declared war on the Japanese Empire. The story of Captain Port and his trek to Siberia with the adventures on the way would make a really excellent motion picture both because of the story content but because it is timely. Vietnam, the Gulf War, Kosovo, 9/11 and Afghainistan are too much with us and are difficult to digest but this story can be digested with perspective and like Casablanca would be like any great book one has read impatiently waited for to see on the screen

James Brady has once again crafted a fine story and created some memorable characters based around little known historical events.Like his reluctant hero, Tom Verity, in the Marines of Autumn, Brady has conjured up another believable character in Billy Port. Captain Port's mission is to take a small detachment of Marines and some civilian hangers-on and make his way across the Gobi desert gathering up outlying Marine detachments. The War Warning is in the air and before they make their way to the Great Wall of China, their comrades of the 4th Marines have fallen captive to the Japanese war machine. Port and his men realize they are alone and cut off. This is a wonderfully paced story, with a lot of detail and insider descriptions. Brady really knows his stuff. You get the sense of the Chinese countryside, the interplay between all of the forces warring on each other "out there' on the other side of the Great Wall. But above all, you feel as if you are one of the "China Hands"; the feeling of total abandonment these guys must have felt, but above all the feeling to press on and continue in the Marine Corp way.There are quick flashes of Griffin's Killer McCoy and his exploits in China and a lot of parallels to McKenna's the Sand Pebbles. But ultimately this book stands on it's own as a great record of a little known time and place in the big picture of WWII.That is where I think Brady has excelled, he is able to personalize a small moment in history and surround it with momentous world events. He also highlights the professionalism and pride of the Marines that fall into this situations and as in The Marines of Autumn, shows the almost mystical relation between company grade officers and their NCO's.Semper Fi!

This novel surprised me from start to finish. Its rare that one finds so many elements of a great novel within the pages of a single book. Warning of War is well written and so detailed, it could easily pass for non-fiction if the reader wasn't aware that it was a novel. The characters are well developed, believable, and true-to-life. Federales is a great example of a 1940's era marine squad leader and 'Top,' the link between Port and the enlisted men, adds perspective, especially to the battle scenes. Another great character is the priest, dubbed 'padre' by the marines. There are many fine characters in this novel but they are all distinguishable and unique, a testament to the author's skill in writing.This novel is entertaining. It is poignant at times and violent at others. Readers will not be disappointed...