Once an Eagle » (First Perennial Edition)

Right after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Anton Myrer enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps and served for three years in the Pacific. Wounded on Guam, he returned to Harvard, graduated, and began an illustrious literary career in which he wrote such memorable novels as The Big War, The Last Convertible, and A Green Desire. He died in 1996.

Once An Eagle is the story of one special man, a soldier named Sam Damon, and his adversary over a lifetime, fellow officer Courtney Massengale. Damon is a professional who puts duty, honor, and the men he commands above self interest. Massengale, however, brilliantly advances by making the right connections behind the lines and in Washington's corridors of power.

Beginning in the French countryside during the Great War, the conflict between these adversaries solidifies in the isolated garrison life marking peacetime, intensifies in the deadly Pacific jungles of World War 11, and reaches its treacherous conclusion in the last major battleground of the Cold War — Vietnam.

A study in character and values, courage, nobility, honesty, and selflessness, here is an unforgettable story about a man who embdies the best in our nation — and in us all.

Henry H. Shelton

Once An Eagle is truly a classic. It caused us to reflect on core values...one of the key ingredients to the success we now enjoy. Sam Damon has been and will be a beacon of moral and physical courage for young American warriors.