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Author, Donald (Rube) Waddell, was born and raised in Concord, NC. He graduated from High School in 1950 and afterwards attended the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. After two years at Chapel Hill he chose the opportunity to join the United States Air Force via the Aviation Cadet Program, first becoming a navigator then becoming a pilot. His service career spanned twenty-three years. He has a BS Degree in History. He presently resides in a residential airpark just south of Savannah, Georgia but spends the summer months in his home in Spruce Pine, NC, just off the Blue Ridge Parkway. He is married with two sons and three daughters. Rube is an avid aviation enthusiast, antique car hobbiest and baseball fan.
JN-4D replica
Photo courtesy Panhandle Skyshots
ISBN 978-0-9772048-6-1
Published in 2007
Book #2 of the Cobra Series
Rosalita Guttierez, code name 'Cobra', is an undercover Cuban-American working as a field agent for the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. This book is the second in the Cobra series following her exploits.
After fleeing from Cuba with Rosa, private citizen Jay Cobb returned to his corporate business in Oklahoma. Rosa Guttierez was assigned to the Cuban desk within the Latin Affairs Directorate at CIA Headquarters; spending the last three years tracking Cuban Affairs.
The Congressional Intelligence Committee receives an official request from the Mexican Attorney General asking for help in stemming a growing crime syndicate along the tourist oriented Mayan Riviera. Raphael Almarales Pardo is the crime boss and the target they desire to bring down. Rosa, familiar with Pardo, is recruited to seek him out.
Rosa, as 'Cobra', is covertly established as a beachwear boutique owner in the 'zona hotelera' in Cancun. From there she is to assist the Mexican Attorney General in bringing the new crime boss, Pardo, to justice. Corruption among Mexican Officials runs rampant, even at the highest levels. Officials, paid to look the other way, are the biggest obstacle to stopping this mafia styled syndicate. The syndicate flourishes in prostitution, money laundering, drug smuggling, and human trafficking. Typically they use heavily armed mercenaries to stamp out competition and protect high-dollar illegal businesses from any and all interference. Espionage, intrigue, fast action and adventure capture the unadorned truth of the influence of money in Mexican affairs. Local, state and federal police protection can be purchased by any crime boss or syndicate. Looking the other way assists their growth in criminal activity even in the heavily tourist oriented locations, Cancun, Cozumel, Chetumal. 'Cobra Undercover' brings it all to light.
Unknown to both Rosa and Jay, the CIA secretly teams them together, once
again, to track and breakup Pardo's syndicate in Mexico.
ISBN 978-0-9772048-5-4
Published in 2007
Sam Coulter, a confident and successful biochemist in his early sixties, has his world shaken during his annual obligatory Christmas visit back to his home town and his step-father.
During his visit, Sam's step-father suffers a mortal stroke. Sam Coulter is appointed Executor of the Estate and in this capacity discovers many secrets and surprises about this man whom he chose not to consider as a father.
Sam explores the contents of a special and personal box his step-father leaves behind. He discovers life-long sacrifices made for him and his Mother and for friends and country. As he watches this man's life unfold through these personal treasures, Sam is surprised and overwhelmed.
He receives Christmas revelations like no other!
ISBN 0-9772048-3-9
Published in 2005
as a revised edition
of 'Forget me! Not!'
'Operation Pat Hand' honors a special group of secret undercover pilots. They wore civilian clothes in a secret war in The Kingdom of Laos flying as Forward Air Controllers in the 0-1 Bird Dog aircraft. These one hundred and sixty men were volunteers flying under the call sign Raven and were truly our nation's best. Because their mission was 'Top Secret' their exploits were unsung. Incurring losses of nearly one in three their history deserved to be chronicled. 'Operation Pat Hand' is the dramatic, although tragic, fictionalized account of one of these men, Raven 45. He was shot down in Laos. The ensuing crash and fire leaves him heavily disfigured. He was taken to North Vietnam as a POW. After a long healing process he escapes and is lost for twenty years. A recovery team discovers him and brings him in as a deserter. His status as a deserter is corrected and he is asked to attempt a final mission. His one last mission into Hanoi is successful. The story gives every pilot who flew in Southeast Asia the opportunity to recall the memories, both good and bad, of his tour. The story also brings to reality the 'what-might-have-beens' for those families still suffering the loss of a loved one in a war that shouldn't have been.
TWISTED JUSTICE
ISBN 1-59113-590-7
Published in 2004
This book began on January 23, 1977 when a seventy foot, steel hulled, shrimp trawler, 'The Gunsmoke' with twenty tons of high grade Colombian marijuana on board ran out of fuel off Tyndall Air Force Base in eastern Bay County, Florida. Assistance was refused. On January 27, 1977 the Florida Marine Patrol discovered 31 bales of marijuana floating in the bay off Sandy Creek in eastern Bay County. This story, painstakingly researched, chronicles this fateful night in which four residents from the Springfield community disappeared. The drug smuggling operation and the disappearances dropped from public scrutiny. On August 7, 1977 two teenage divers searching for artifacts in the murky waters of 'The Watering Hole' sink in Taylor County were startled and frightened at their discovery. They found the decomposed remains of four bodies, murdered execution style and weighted down with concrete blocks. The bodies were those of the four missing Springfield residents. One man, 120 miles away from the crime scene at the time of the murders, is convicted of the crimes and remains incarcerated after 28 years of wrongful imprisonment. This story recounts every turn of events unraveling a hidden conspiracy to mask evidence from the public resulting in an extraordinary twisting of justice. One man remains victimized by this manipulated injustice.
CRYING BLOOD
ISBN 0-9772048-1-2
Published in 2005
Book #1 of the Cobra Series
In February 1973, 'Operation Homecoming' brought back to the U.S. 591
POWs from prison camps in North Vietnam. The tales they brought to light
on their return made us wince and weep at the torture some POWs endured.
Some prisoners died at the hands of Cuban interrogators sent to North
Vietnam by Cuban dictator Fidel Castro. Their mission was to teach the
North Vietnamese techniques for extracting information from captives.
This fictionalized story tells how one man met his death from these 'teachers
of torture'. This man's son, when ultimately told of his father's death,
became obsessed with seeking revenge. Cherokee Indian lore recognizes
spilled family blood as 'crying blood' and avenging the loss is expected.
Steeped in family tradition and heritage, the son is determined to find
his father's killers. His odyssey takes him to modern day Cuba. A CIA
undercover agent in Cuba, Rosa Guttierez (Code Name Cobra), is tasked
with keeping him out of harm's way. After he and Rosa locate the two Cuban
interrogators he is faced with an unexpected internal challenge. His character
and upbringing clash with his Indian heritage. He is morally incapable
of inflicting his revenge. His lessened efforts allow them to be discovered.
A nation wide manhunt is instituted by Cuban authorities. The two, with
State Police on their heels at every turn, are chased out of Cuba. Their
harrowing escape relives the Mariel Boatlift escape of the 1980s. Rosa
Guttierez a beautiful and strong Cuban-born-American leaves the reader
wanting more.