Would you like to thank a soldier? Help an injured veteran? Read on! The Last Jump is a war story, a mystery, a love tale, a touch of history and a narrative of valor and honor about the people who won World War II. Fact and fiction intermix seamlessly to unravel a secret passionately guarded by four old soldiers who swore an oath to die before revealing it. The reader is transported back in time to an imperfect America struggling with racial and gender issues while fighting for its very survival. The Last Jump takes us back to a time when Americans stood shoulder to shoulder to free the world from tyranny in defense of liberty and freedom. It celebrates the spirit and the courage of ordinary citizens pitted against the militaristic societies of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. It was a time when the sons of presidents and senators served, fought, suffered and died alongside average Americans and famous celebrities.
The Last Jump spans the war in Europe from Sicily to the Battle of the Bulge. It evokes both the agony and the glory of the greatest conflict in human history and the special generation that earned the final victory while striving to live up to the promise of equal justice and fairness for all.
Our story begins in present times. J.P. Kilroy, a middle-aged divorced journalist, regrets ignoring his mother's only deathbed request. Even her last letter, which exposed the existence of a dark family secret, could not motivate him to reconcile with the father who abandoned them thirty years ago. When he receives an invitation from the White House to attend a long overdue Medal of Honor awards ceremony for African-Americans, he also discovers his estranged father, also an honoree, recently passed away.
Was the secret now lost forever? The only remaining links to the past are four aging veterans who served with his father. His only chance to uncover the secret rests with the free-spirited Sky Johnson, a rough and tumble paratrooper, Frank West, the studious company commander, Harley Tidrick, Omaha Beach veteran and cousin of his father's best wartime friend, and Lincoln Abraham, the only living black honoree at the Medal of Honor ceremony.
Kilroy sees them as a second chance to fulfill his mother's last wish and engages them in an effort to uncover the truth. He soon discovers the four men not only know the secret, they are bound together by a sworn pact never to reveal it. Undaunted and with the aid of Cynthia Powers, an alluring Army press liaison, he accepts the challenge to cajole the veterans into revealing the mystery by any means necessary. Their conversations become a verbal odyssey and flashback to the racially charged attitudes in America during the War, the plight of women volunteer pilots and factory workers and the extraordinary dedication, bravery and sacrifice of the average citizen-soldier. Kilroy is taken back in time to a country in grave danger but a country as united as never before or since. But the old warriors stubbornly resist. As Kilroy works to solve the puzzle, he discovers truths he could never have imagined. Finally, the last veteran passes on and Kilroy's hopes are dashed. But one reaches from beyond the grave to identify the only other living person who has the answer and Kilroy races death to reach her. And a shocking conclusion awaits him, if only he can get there in time!
In honor of those brave men and women who have served our country so selflessly and honorably, half the royalties from the sales of The Last Jump are being donated to charity to assist severely injured servicemen and women and the families of the fallen. You can both thank and help a soldier by buying the book and spreading the word. For more information visit www.thelastjump.org.
