Echoes of a Distant Clarion

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This book gives an inside view of 20th-century national and international events, through the life of a diplomat, soldier, and intelligence officer. Engaging boyhood experiences are followed by pioneer paratrooper training and combat in Europe in World War II. Assigned as special agent, Kormann goes behind the lines to apprehend Nazi war criminals and uncover a mass grave. As an Army Counter Intelligence Corps field office commander in Berlin 1945-47, he is assigned to track down Hitler's deputy, Martin Bormann, and the American traitor, "Axis Sally." He foresees the Soviet threat and the coming Cold War, rescues a German scientist from the Soviet NKVD in a case that made international headlines, and reveals Russian espionage and kidnapping efforts. As a new State Department officer in 1950, Kormann is placed in charge of three counties in Bavaria in the final days of the American occupation of Germany, where the requisitioning of land for a NATO tank training area displaces thousands of Germans and creates an uproar. In subsequent Cold War assignments he is involved in historic actions: the abortive Hungarian Revolution, international efforts to deal with the Russians, the U-2 spy plane affair, and the Berlin Wall. He served as political officer at Embassy Manila at the onset of the Marcos regime, as officer-in-charge at Embassy Benghazi, Libya, when it was attacked and burned during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, as deputy chief of mission at Embassy Cairo during the Kissinger Middle East "shuttle diplomacy", and on the staff of George H. W. Bush when he was Director of Central Intelligence. "John Kormann's memoir is timely and significant--an engrossing chronicle of one Foreign Service officer's courage, commitment, and good sense in war and in peace. His personal life and professional achievements as a diplomat and earlier, as a military officer in postwar Germany, trace the trajectory of America's emergence as the dominant superpower in the twentieth century, providing a ground-level perspective on many of the major crises that punctuated the Cold War era." --The Hon. DANIEL A. O'DONOHUE, President Diplomatic and Consular Officers, Retired "John Kormann's book runs the gamut from harrowing incidents to hilarious vignettes. His experiences reflect just how exciting and diverse a career in foreign service can be. Particularly noteworthy is the way he used his diplomatic and military skills to benefit both sectors. This memoir provides real insight into the challenges the author and his family faced on four continents." --The Hon. KENNETH L BROWN, President Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training