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Gemma is the daughter of creative and entrepreneurial first generation Italian/American parents. Growing up as the youngest of 4 and spending her youth working in the family restaurant business, she learned a lot about business and people. After graduating college, she enjoyed a career in commodity futures trading for nineteen years while living in Manhattan and Chicago. On a snowy evening visiting her sister, she met the man of her dreams. Soon after, Gemma relocated and married Mike off the 18th hole on Pebble Beach in Monterey, California. She happily and creatively lives in Southeastern Pennsylvania and writes books about people and circumstances. After meeting and becoming friends with John over the past 18 years, Gemma was and remains impressed with his military stories about his heroism and that of his military brothers. She felt compelled to put his words to print, and to share with others who wore the uniform, who served, and who made the ultimate sacrifice defending our freedom. Battle of Ia Drang, Commanding Officer of Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 5th Cavalry ""We Were Soldiers Once...and Young"" - Book by Co-Authors Joseph L. Galloway & Lt. Gen. Harold G. Moore (Ret.) and Movie.
""This is a power packed, no holds barred account of the day-to-day activities as seen thru the eyes of a combat helicopter pilot. It captures the realism of war and indelible impact the Vietnam era had on so many of us who served. Fifty plus years later, the scares, the highs, the lows, are documented in these pages. It puts John in the unique position of being able to look with a clearer view of the contributions made by ordinary men, who did extraordinary things. He also cautions us not to forget the hard lessons history continues to teach."" - Lt. Col. George Forrest U.S. Army (Ret.) ""We Were Soldiers Once...and Young"" ---------------------------------------------- ""John and I had met at MC Air Station, New River prior to our arrival in South Vietnam. We flew a lot of Medevac support missions together and I was his co-pilot on the flight he earned his second Purple Heart. John always demonstrated a level of élan that carried him forward in the challenges of our flying. John made me into a Combat Pilot and for that, I am forever grateful."" - Lt. Col. Michael Kelly, U.S. Marine Corps (Ret.) ------------------------------------------------------------- ""Maybe the war movies will remind us that the American warrior, almost universally, is just like you and me, only forced by circumstances to hold the things we hold most precious. Riding in back of a combat helicopter is particularly interesting when the shooting starts. Imagine for a moment what life was like for a helicopter pilot in Vietnam. When you lifted off on a mission, you knew, somewhere down below you, hundreds of bad guys were just itching to represent your departure from this world with a notch on their AK-47s. Time mattered, you sucked it up and went in. There are men out there today who are alive because he drove his helicopter places where others would have been reluctant to go."" - Cpt. Bill Dial U.S. Navy (Ret.)
