John E. Holloway
author of
Apricots
a war novel
Beirut - 1983
In 1983, a Marine battalion invaded Grenada and then moved on to Beirut, where it relieved the Marines there after a devastating truck bomb attack. This novel takes the reader out on ship with the Marines, on combat patrols on Grenada, and on to the bunkers of Beirut -- in all, this novel shows the reader what it was like to be there.
"...a literary winner...."
--Captain Dale Dye Jr. (U.S.M.C. Ret.), author, actor, radio host, and war film consultant for Platoon, Saving Private Ryan, Band of Brothers, Pacific and many others.
Apricots
a war novel
We generally experience overseas military operations in real time through the media of newspaper and television news accounts. The reports are generally superficial sketches of the action and rarely reveal the depth of the drama unfolding on the ground. This novel tells the story of Marines in combat ― the comradery and humor and sacrifice of the men on the ground thousands of miles from home. You go with the Marines out on ship and then ashore for the invasion of Grenada (the last combat of the Cold War) and then on to Beirut where the Marines fight Muslim militia (the first combat of the War on Terror). The fictional story is framed by real events, including non-fiction accounts of the terrorist attack on the Marine headquarters in Beirut, the coup in Grenada that triggered the invasion, and throughout, newspaper excerpts track events that provide the setting of the story. In all, this story shows the reader what it was like to be there.
"...a literary winner.... Loved the characters, particularly the Gunny … like a lot of Staff NCOs is superficially coarse but with depth of understanding and intelligence. ... finally, a novel that focuses on amtracs!”
--Captain Dale Dye Jr. (U.S.M.C. Ret.), author, actor, radio host, and war film consultant for Platoon, Saving Private Ryan, Band of Brothers, Pacific and many others.
About the Author
John E. Holloway was raised in Williamsburg, Virginia. He graduated from the Virginia Military Institute in 1981, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in biology. Upon graduation, he was commissioned in the U.S. Marine Corps. While an amtrac platoon leader with Second Battalion, Eighth Marines, he participated in the invasion of Grenada and operations in Beirut, Lebanon. In 1987, he graduated from George Mason University School of Law (now the Antonin Scalia School of Law), where he was editor-in-chief of the law review. After clerking for a federal judge, he has practiced maritime law in Virginia since 1988. He has been published by The Sewanee Review, Tulane Maritime Law Journal, Journal of Maritime Law and Commerce, George Mason University Law Review, and he has authored a chapter in Benedict on Admiralty. In 1982 he published an illustrated journal of his life at VMI, To Wear the Ring, VMI: Character, Characters, Caricatures (edited by John S. Manley ’83).