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     The acclaimed WWII History website Bless 'Em All traces the 503d Parachute Infantry Regiment through its inception, it's time in Australia, and through all its missions. It also shows how the 503d went, within a few months, from accomplishing the most successful parachute assault of the war to exemplifying the most stupid use of elite paratroopers during WWII.

     Websites though, are ephemeral, transitory beings, likely to disappear at the slightest wisp of late payment of their hosting fees. OK, it's a commercial world, we understand.


     For that reason, I decided that I should make a permanent version of the website, something that could survive a few decades on your bookshelf.  Something you'd be proud to leave on your coffee table. Something you could read without the necessity of batteries.
  
     Over a year in the making, “BLESS ‘EM ALL” is now being published as a hardcover reference series. It’s part of a major publishing event to establish in print the history of the 503d PIR to fresh generations of "ROCK REGIMENT" veterans, their families and their friends.

     To be published in three volumes, Volume I deals with the formation of the regiment, its time in Australia, New Guinea, and Noemfoor. It reflects the view from the 2nd Battalion, based on a wealth of materials, including official papers, daily reports and journals. Through painstaking research these sources are being supplemented with the results of years of correspondence with the men intimately concerned with the events concerned. It’s not the official history, it eclipses it, and shows that they were not always as accurate as history should require.

     The primary author is William T. “Bill” Calhoun, who joined the 36th Div., Texas National Guard whilst in high school, and enlisted in the Reserve Army Air Corps on 4 Jan 1941. To escape a permanent stateside posting he volunteered for parachute training, and graduated 19 June 1942, being assigned to the 502d PIR. He attended OCS and was posted to Brisbane Australia, arriving January 1944. He had been a platoon leader 11 months when he jumped on Corregidor . Thereafter he became "F" Company Commander in Negros. He separated from the Army in March 1946, but stayed a career reservist, retiring as a Colonel. He practiced as a dentist (one flaw in an otherwise creditable personality) in Comanche Texas for 42 years. Bill died 22 November 2014.

     Vol I is published in Blurb’s large landscape format, 13 x 11 in (33 x 28 cm) and comes in at a whopping 392 pages. At this point, it is available in the following versions:

                                                                                               * Hardcover/Dustcover
                                                                                               * Hardcover/ ImageWrap Hardcover
                                                                                               *Adobe pdf file.

 I have no current  plans to make it available in ePub file format.

     
Q: Can I see a preview?   A: Sure, I don't expect you to judge the book by its cover. Click here for the preview.
     
Q: What is the price of the book?  
HIDEOUS!!! .  But it can be less if you find a coupon code.  (Price is on the Preview Page)

     
Q: That's fucking outrageous!! Why is it so expensive?   A: "BLESS 'EM ALL" is released as print-on-demand product by the Blurb printing company based in San Francisco. The cost of print-on-demand books depends on their physical size and  the number of pages which they contain, the type of cover, end-pages, etcetera.. It's not so much like a book but 192 double-sided color prints bound traveling together. Each book is individually printed and bound. This book is hardcover,  full color on quality paper, and presented in a large coffee-table size of 13 x 11 inch (33 x 28 cm) format,  and delivers in at 392 pages.   Blurb's actual printing costs are 95% of the price that you pay.  You heard that right! To that, they add shipping.  Complain to them, not to me, I have to pay their prices too. 
     
Shipping Weight?   It arrives at a kerb weight of 2.8 Kg, which is a poofteenth of an ounce over 6 pounds weight.
     
Q: Are there discount vouchers or  coupons available to lower the price?   A: Yes, but you have to look for them. They're worth finding. I suggest you Google the words "Blurb.com,  Discount, Coupon" and the current month.  Sometimes you can score between 10% and 30% depending on how much they need their cash-flow in San Francisco.
     
Q: Why not list it on Amazon?   A: Amazon require a sale price of the full Blurb printing costs + 40%.  For me to make a five buck a copy royalty, you want to pay Amazon 140% of what the Blurb price is?
     
Q:  Can I get a PDF FILE of the book?   Yes, a PDF version is available for  US$9.99. You might want to get a PDF file before you consider lashing out for the printed hardcover version. Be wary, though, for the book is so large,  downloading its 500+ megabite size will take a considerable time.
     
Q: There's a PICTORIAL COMPANION VOLUME released by the same publisher. What's the difference?   While Bill Calhoun was still alive, I worked with him on creating a stand-alone book of his photograph collection. It can be read together with the main work, or as a photo-book in its own right.
     
Q: You've released other books in a special ePub version for Apple iPad tablets.Are there plans for an E-version for it?    A: No. The book's layout, fonts and layouts were conceptualized for print production, and it woud look completely crappy if converted to ePub format. (E-Versions change the fonts and line spacings. It's possible to produce the book as a series of graphics, yes, but it would take me months - and it would interfere with my preparation of the next volume.  If you're a cheap Charlie, read the website.
     
Q: How do I buy it?    Only through the publisher - and you get there via the PREVIEW PAGE.