Don’s story came to me as a gift.
I had relocated to Los Angeles to try to sell several projects I had written. But nothing sold, and I was feeling a little disheartened when . . .
I got a phone call from my oldest daughter, Gretchen, who lives in the Colorado Springs, Colorado, area. She was so excited she couldn’t get the words out quick enough. “Dad, I just heard a man interviewed on the radio who was a survivor from the USS Arizona—you know the one that was sunk at Pearl Harbor—and his name’s Don Stratton and Dad his story’s great and the interviewer said he was amazed it hadn’t been made into a movie and Dad he lives here in Colorado Springs and he hasn’t written a book, either, and he lives in Colorado Springs and Dad you’d be the perfect one to do it so what do you think?”
I was so touched by her call that I checked the story out on the Internet. Sure enough, there was a Don Stratton who was a survivor from the USS Arizona, and sure enough, he did live in Colorado Springs. His address and phone number were there, too, so I called him, saying something like, “Is this Don Stratton? . . . I’m Ken Gire. I’m a writer, and you don’t know me, but . . .”
And I told him the story I just told you, about my daughter calling me, and I asked if he had any interest in writing a book about his experience. He said he had wanted to for some time, but he didn’t have a writer to do it. My literary agent, Greg Johnson, lives in a suburb of Denver, and I asked Don if my agent and I could stop by and visit with him about the possibility of working together.
Greg and I met with Don, his wife, and his son, and when we got to hear more of his story, we were both genuinely and deeply moved. Which is what every writer wants to feel about a story he writes. What every agent wants to feel, too.
As it turned out, the seventy-fifth anniversary of Pearl Harbor, December 7, 2016, was approaching, and I talked to my agent about getting the book out before the anniversary. He said publishers don’t like to rush a book because it’s a lot of pressure on everyone, and they have enough pressure as it is. But, he said, you never know. . . .
Long story short, Peter Hubbard at HarperCollins loved it, wanted it, bought it.
I met with Don several times. He and his wife, Velma, were so gracious to me. His son Randy, too. One of the days when I came to Don’s house to interview him, it was Velma’s ninetieth birthday. A vase with eighteen red, long-stem roses sat on the counter.
And he says he’s not romantic.
When I was finished interviewing him, I asked Don how he would like to be remembered. He said, “That I had led a good life, as a Christian. That I had a wonderful family. And that I was one of the people who defended our country in time of crisis.” He paused a beat, then added, “One of the many.”
That pause told me so much about him. He is not a person who likes attention. And he’s not a person to take credit for what he’s done. If there is credit due him, it’s always a shared credit. He never takes it for himself.
Don Stratton is one of the last of the greatest generation. Being around him and his wife was a gift, too. Not just the story. Them. It felt so good to be able to use my skills as a writer to serve such a man and to tell such a story. In the process, I was touched by both, the story and the man. I am so grateful.
When I asked what message he would like to leave behind, he said: “That people would remember Pearl Harbor so that it would never happen again.”
I truly hope Don’s story does that.
It did that for me.
I hope it did that for you, too.
Thank you for taking the time to read the book.
And Gretchen, thank you, sweetheart. I love you ten bags full!
Ken Gire
P. P. S. Besides my daughter and Don, there are two others I would like to acknowledge.
Peter Hubbard, executive editor at William Morrow/HarperCollins.
He loved the story from the moment he read the proposal, making a pre-emptive offer to secure it for his publishing house. He worked tirelessly for the book you now hold in your hands, fighting for everything from the title to the cover design, and for every word in three sets of revisions. I have never worked with a finer editor.
Greg Johnson, founder of WordServe Literary.
He is the best agent I know. And he is a better person than he is an agent. He has been one of the great friends of my life. Because of him, I am a better man; and without him, the book you now hold in your hands would have never been written.