Los Angeles, CA—When Michael B. Butler left Los Angeles, in late May 1994, his chances of attending the 50th Anniversary of D-Day were astronomincally slim. A series of mistakes, misunderstandings and coincidences, all chronicled in the final section of History Leading to 50th Anniversary of D-Day, Book 2, reveals how the book was born, at that moment, without the author knowing it for years.
No hotel room and no pass to the ceremony at the Normandy American Cemetery, above Omaha Beach, made his last minute trip seem nonsensical, even idiotic. Nonetheless, he landed in London and kept hope alive while watching the TV news reporters telling everyone with no arrangement to "stay away, there is nothing for you here."
But his D-Day Miracle happened when he accidentally ran into Pat Murphy, a D-Day Veteran, on the morning of June 6, 1994 in Cherbourg, France and came away from the chance encounter with a pass to the big ceremony.
Four years would pass while Butler wrote his first book, A World Flight Over Russia, which was published in 1998 by Wind Canyon Books. Then a contract was signed for a 50th Pearl Harbor and D-Day Book utlizing history written for the first book and additional sections, but it never happened. Then, 25 years later, the files were unearthed from their digital catacombs and organized into a two-book set.
Looking back, Michael B. Butler realized that not getting the pass from Pat Murphy would be mean no book dedicated to 15 wartime Veterans; no book paying homage to many others who served throughout the war; no book chronicling many different apsects of the European Second World War.
Here was one of those times when listening to logic and common sense was the wrong inclination, trusting Providence believing in the unbelievable turned out to be the right answer, and these two books are the proof of it.
History Leading to 50th Anniversary of D-Day, Book 2: My Journey Thru World & Family History Landed at Omaha Beach, 6/6/94
Michael B. Butler's Author Page on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/author/mbbutler
History Leading to 50th Anniversary of D-Day, Book 2 available in Amazon paperback (979-8328241489) or Kindle E-Book (B0F4GH8679) and at Barnes & Noble.
www.50thDDay.com
Pat Murphy, One of Michael Butler's D-Day Saviors
Great Uncle Henry Olivas, 5th Armored Division
Uncle Roy Larson, B-17 Pilot, Lost Over Germany April 1944
June 1941 German Invasion of Russia to Stalingrad
German Invasion of Poland, September 1939
Michael B. Butler's second book, released in 2022, is Without Redemption: Creation & Deeds Freeway Killer Bill Bonin, His Five Accomplices & How One Who Escaped Justice. In 2024-26 three books are slated for release: Round the World & Across Russia in 21 Days, 30 Years Later and the two-book history set dedicated to 15 wartime military veterans, many who saw combat, from his family—History Leading to 50th Anniversary of Pearl Harbor, Book 1 and History Leading to 50th Anniversary of D-Day, Book 2.