Guerrilla!

by Warren Littleton

In the early days of WWII, Lieutenant Loren Middleton and his crew prepare to join an infantry battalion on Bataan, in the Philippines, after their Motor Torpedo Boat's engines break down. At the last moment, they are able to repair the MTB and escape to Mindanao, where they run intelligence missions for the O.S.S. Loren lives with Tomi, a young Filipino girl. When she becomes with child, Loren and her father send her away to safety. Discovered by the Japanese, the navy men fight a spectacular battle and escape to Leyte, where they continue to work for the O.S.S.After liberation, Loren continues in the O.S.S. He and the nurse Beverly, who was with them in the Philippines, marry. After the formation of the CIA, Loren becomes the liaison to the Philippine Government. Beverly miscarries and suffers bouts of depression, eventually going to a sanitarium. In the Philippines, open warfare has broken out between the government and the communist dominated Huk guerrillas. Loren develops a strategy to defeat them. He and his CIA team drop behind enemy lines in the mountains of Luzon to target the Huk formations. In an enormous ground and air battle, the government forces destroy the Huks. Bev has recovered from her bouts of depression, but Loren and Maria, the daughter of one of his wartime comrades in the Philippines, have fallen in love. On Mindanao, he finds Tomi and their daughter, Nita. Nita comes to live with Bev and Loren in the U.S. He and Maria say their painful goodbyes. Ten years later, when Nita is graduating as the valedictorian of her high school class, the participants look back on their lives.

236 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2003