Brunswick, Ga., for their invaluable technical assistance.
To George Gentry and the many other men who served in Vietnam and shared their experiences and feelings
with me.
To George, Bill, Bear, B.L., Nancy aid Slavko, Sandy, Jim, Frankie and Jingle, Larry, Averett, Ted, Mike, Kurt,
Richard, Ruth, Dayton, and all my friends and associates of the late, great Higdon?s on St. Simons Island, Ga.,
for sharing their names, friendship, time, and experiences with me.
To my editor, Peter Gethers, a man of awesome insights, and to Susan and Audrey, and the rest of his sterling
staff.
To Marc Jaffe, for his continued faith.
To Irene Webb, my favorite wonder woman.
And to a treasured and lasting friend, Owen Laster, at once and always, a gentleman of the realm.
SPECIAL OPERATIONS BRANCH
_HAITIAN PROVERB
PREFACE
DUNETOWN
Dunetown is a city forged by Revolutionaries, hammered and shaped by rascals arid southern rebels,
and mannered by genteel ladies.
Dunetown is grace and unhurried charm, azalea-lined boulevards and open river promenades, parks
and narrow lanes; a city of squares; of ironwork and balustrades, shutters and dormers, porticoes and
steeples and dollops of gingerbread icing; of bricks, ballast, and oyster shells underfoot; a waterfront
place of massive walls and crude paving, of giant shutters on muscular hinges and winding stairwells
and wrought-iron spans; a claustrophobic vista where freighters glide by on the river, a mere reach
away, and sea gulls yell at robins.
