The horrific tragedy at Parkland, FL has affected me on a deep level. I have children the same age as those who were savagely gunned down. I used to be a supporter of "the people's right to bear arms." I no longer hold that view for three very specific reasons.

1) That right was signed into law at our country's founding when citizens carried muskets and the most powerful weapon on earth was a brass cannon that shot a 2 - 6lb lead ball. The world has vastly changed since the Revolutionary War but the 2nd Amendment has not.

2) Weapons of war should simply not be available to anyone not engaged in war. An AK-47 or AR-15 is a weapon of war.

3) The state of background checks for purchasing a fire arm of any kind is a completely broken system. If current background checks were effective the 19 year old shooter at Parkland with his troubled history would not own a gun. And in fact he owned 10.

I am known by my books and films about war which of course is violent. But if you've seen any of my films or read any of my books you'll know they have never been about guns or violence. They are about humanity's capacity to rise above the horror (war) that surrounds them find grace and persevere. And that as a society is what we have to do now.

This atrocity has landed on our doorstep and in the nation's consciousness for one very powerful reason. It is time for our society to decide what we will and will not permit to stand. Everyone must ask themselves, "does the right to permit someone to carry arms supersede our children's right to live in safety without fear?"

It is clear that things in this country need to change. The tipping point has been passed. Below is a PSA produced in March 2018 by U.S. military veterans which illustrates EXACTLY what I am speaking about.


The time has come to say NO MORE because it is up to us to create the world we want to live in. The majority of the population believes and in fact demands that they and their children have the right to live their lives in safety free from fear. That is a divine right more powerful than the minority who believe the right to bear arms and the gun laws that support them should stay the way they are. No they should not.

Robert Child

Since I like to highlight great projects I wanted to let folks know about a fantastic forthcoming film by my colleague, Lauren Meyer. Lauren is a director based in New York and she has been working on The Other Boys of Summer for over a decade. That's dedication! Lauren launched a fundraising campaign yesterday in honor or Martin Luther King Jr., civil rights and equality.



You can check out the project HERE ON KICKSTARTER.

The Other Boys of Summer is a documentary exploring racism, segregation and civil rights in America through the lives of the Negro League baseball players.  She has interviews with the men (and women) who played alongside of Jackie Robinson and were the trailblazers of the civil rights movement.  Most of the players have passed away and she has exclusive, never-before-seen interviews with them sharing their personal stories.

Why is this film important?

Not only did the Negro League players change the game of baseball, but they changed America.  The story is relevant today and has the ability to inspire people to pursue their dreams and believe they can impact change.  It offers an alternative to all of the anger and protests associated with civil rights today.  As this generation of players dwindles, their history is vanishing along with them. This film will preserve their legacy.

"The Other Boys of Summer" is part prosocial campaign, part love letter to a generation of unsung heroes and the game of baseball, and part civil rights advocate. Jackie Robinson is the face of Black baseball. But, there are hundreds of others who he played alongside of in the Negro Leagues, who also had a major role in impacting civil rights in America. These men and women can be seen as a spearhead to the Civil Rights Movement, but few people have ever heard of them.

I hope you'll check out Lauren's project and consider supporting it with a contribution. As of this writing she is more than 80% towards her fundraising goal. Help her put this great project over the top. You can check out the project HERE ON KICKSTARTER.

Just yesterday I received in the mail this beautiful signed Senate Resolution, S. RES. 99, honoring the service and sacrifice of The Wereth Eleven. Today December 17, 2017 I opened it 73 years to the day after they were murdered in 1944. Sometimes timing means something and this is the case here.

I have been involved with bringing the Wereth story to light for going on nine years both with the Wereth Eleven docudrama and the subsequent book, The Lost Eleven. The story has become a part of me and opening this Resolution today personally signed by Senator Joe Manchin (WV) @JoeManchinWV means more than words can express.

To me it means all lives matter and the drive to shed light on this atrocity fulfills my fellow producer, Joseph Small's simple reason for doing the story. He said, "I felt the men's dignity had been taken from them and I could not let that stand."

With passage of this Resolution I believe the men have had their dignity and honor restored. And I plan to continue to remind all about this story in every way I can so that something like this never happens again.

The Wereth Eleven.....Are

Staff Sergeant Thomas J. Forte

Technician Fourth Grade William Edward Pritchett of Alabama

Technician Fourth Grade James A. Stewart of West Virginia

Corporal Mager Bradley of Mississippi

Private First Class George Davis of Alabama

Private First Class James L. Leatherwood of Pontotoc, Mississippi

Private First Class George W. Moten of Texas

Private First Class Due W. Turner of Arkansas

Private Curtis Adams of South Carolina

Private Robert Green of Mississippi

Private Nathanial Moss of Texas

The Wereth Eleven docudrama can be seen often on American Heroes Channel (AHC) and it streams on Amazon Prime and Hulu.

In honor of Veterans Day Weekend 2017 and my Great Grandfather, Thomas W. Child, who fought on Little Round Top with the 18th Massachusetts on the third day of battle, (See story) I am offering the Kindle version of my book Gettysburg Voices From the Front at the very low price of free. It is a stirring collection of first person narratives from the great battle.

The is also a paperback version and audiobook version but they are not part of this special promotion. If you're a Kindle user I hope you will garb a copy of this book while the promotion lasts!

Gettysburg Voices From the Front
(grab the book here)

A stirring collection of first-hand accounts from Privates on up to the commanding Generals at the Battle of Gettysburg woven into a dramatic and compelling narrative. The reader is transported back to the chaos and uncertainty of the sweltering first three days of July 1863 when Lee's Army of Northern Virginia invaded the North threatening Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington itself. Soldiers on both sides gave everything they had believing that Gettysburg would be the final epic battle in an already long and terrible war.

Below is an interview from the Gettysburg 150th Event in the summer of 2013 when I was interviewed by Steve Bannon on the hallowed grounds of Pickett's Charge.

I've begun work on a new crime thriller based on an actual FBI investigation. Felony Express is the second book in the Agent Frank Murray FBI Thriller series and the follow up to the well received Blood Betrayal.

Felony Express is based on the infamous FBI "Fed Ex Case" from the early 1990s. In the case Los Angeles drug kingpin, Ted Edmonds, established a nationwide 27 million dollar cocaine and heroin distribution ring all distributed via Fed Ex packages. The main distribution points were Philadelphia, PA, Delaware, North Carolina, Ohio and Michigan.

The lead agent on the case was Charles "Bud" Warner who is the the main character, Frank Murray. He was responsible for shutting down the vast drug ring and bringing a number of suspects to justice.

Bud and I have decided to expand his most compelling case files into a continuing crime series featuring the Frank Murray (Warner) character. If you ever have the honor of meeting Bud Warner, in person whom the Philadelphia papers labeled, “the FBI’s Stand Up Guy”, you’ll instantly recognize that he and Frank Murray are one and the same - a real life, no nonsense crime fighter who put his life on the line every day for the citizens of this nation.

Working with Bud is such a great pleasure and he keeps me constantly laughing about all the crazy characters and situations he encountered as an agent for the FBI. In addition as I have mentioned to him these books are a true window into the inner workings of how the FBI tackles crime and criminals. The general public is really getting to see behind the curtain in these thrillers.
We are estimating a spring 2018 release for the book so stay tuned for updates and excerpts over the coming months.

Also if you have the chance pick up the first book in the series, Blood Betrayal, it will introduce you to the Frank Murray character and I promise you as reviewers have stated, "you'll want more Frank Murray."

Finally check out the book trailer below, which I produced for thriller.  The video continues to get hits on Youtube generating interest in the series.

This is a monumental day in honoring the service of the Wereth Eleven also known as The Lost Eleven.

I received an email this morning from the Policy Advisor to Representative David McKinley of West Virginia's 1st District with great news. Resolution 43 "Honoring the Service of The Wereth Eleven" has now passed the United States House of Representatives. A parallel bill has already passed the Senate.The next step is to reconcile the two bills and get it signed into law.

Among the greatest "unknown stories" from WWII is that of the Wereth 11. Shortly after the outbreak of Hitler's Ardennes Offensive or Battle of The Bulge in 1944, members of the all-black 333rd Artillery Battalion were just eleven miles behind the front lines. With the rapid advance of the Germans the 333rd was ordered to withdraw further west but C and Service Battery were ordered to stay behind to give covering fire to the 106th Infantry Division. 

On Dec 17th the 333rd were overrun with most killed or captured. The remnants of the unit were ordered to Bastogne and incorporated into its sister unit the 969th Field Artillery Battalion. Both units provided fire support for the 101st Airborne Division in the Siege of Bastogne, subsequently being awarded the Presidential Unit Citation.

11 soldiers, however, from the 333rd were separated from the unit shortly after they were overrun by the Germans. These men wound up in the little Belgian hamlet of Wereth, just 25 kilometers southwest of Malmedy, Belgium, site of another much more well known WWII atrocity.

At about 3 pm on Dec 16, 1944, the 11 men approached the first house in the nine-house hamlet of Wereth, owned by Mathius Langer. A friend of the Langer's was also present. The men were cold, hungry, and exhausted after walking cross-country through the deep snow. They had two rifles between them. The Langer family welcomed them and gave them food. But this small part of Belgium did not necessarily welcome Americans as “Liberators.” This area had been part of Germany before the First World War and many of its citizens still saw themselves as Germans and not Belgians. 

Word leaked out from a Nazi sympathizer in the area that the men had been sheltered and were hiding in the Langer home. When the SS troops approached the house about 4 pm that day, the eleven Americans surrendered quickly, without resistance. The Americans were made to sit on the road, in the cold, until dark. The Germans then marched them down the road and gunfire was heard in the night. In the morning, villagers saw the bodies of the men in a ditch at the corner of a cow pasture. Because they were afraid that the Germans might return, they did not touch the dead soldiers. The snow covered the bodies and they remained entombed in the snow until January when villagers directed members of the 99th Div. I&R platoon to the site. 

In the official US Army report it was revealed that the men had been brutalized, with broken legs, bayonet wounds to the head, and fingers cut off. And It was apparent that one man was killed as he tried to bandage a comrade's wounds.

In 2001, three Belgium citizens embarked on the task of creating a fitting memorial to these men and additionally to honor all Black GI’s of World War II. With the help of Norman Lichtenfeld, whose father fought and was captured in the Battle of the Bulge, a grassroots publicity and fund-raising endeavor was begun. The land was purchased and a fitting memorial was created There are now road signs indicating the location of the memorial, and the Belgium Tourist Bureau lists it in the 60th Anniversary “Battle of the Bulge” brochures. The dedication of the memorial was held in 2004 in an impressive military ceremony. 

On October 16, 2017 the US Senate passed Resolution S.99 honoring after 73 years the sacrifice and service of The Wereth Eleven. The Resolution now moves onto the House where full passage is expected. Needless to say this has been quite a long time in coming. I am very proud of our entire Wereth team and the small part we played in helping to shed light on this terrible war crime.

The book I coauthored, The Lost Eleven, was optioned in August for a major motion picture. This will bring this story to an even wider audience and remind Americans of the sacrifices made in the name of freedom by African Americans during WWII.


This is the text from the Congressional Record, Oct. 16, 2017:
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


    RECOGNIZING THE 11 AFRICAN-AMERICAN SOLDIERS OF THE 333RD FIELD 
 ARTILLERY BATTALION WHO WERE MASSACRED IN WERETH, BELGIUM, DURING THE BATTLE OF THE BULGE

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate Armed Services Committee be discharged from further consideration of S. Res. 99 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The clerk will report the resolution by title.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       A resolution (S. Res. 99) recognizing the 11 African-
     American soldiers of the 333rd Field Artillery Battalion who 
     were massacred in Wereth, Belgium, during the Battle of the 
     Bulge in December 1944.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the 
resolution.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I further ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The resolution (S. Res. 99) was agreed to.
  The preamble was agreed to.
  (The resolution, with its preamble, is printed in the Record of March 
27, 2017, under ``Submitted Resolutions.''

You can read more about the Senate passage and Joe Manchin's part in the bill at this link CLICK.