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Anecdotes
Phone calls. Unexpected ones. They have been among the most touching reactions to Mike's books. For example, in the space of 4 days he received phone calls from two readers who wanted to talk with him about Warrior Priest. The first of the two calls was on a Saturday night from a World War II veteran who also had been a POW. (He was the second WWII POW to phone Mike after reading Warrior Priest.) "I hardly ever read books," the veteran told Mike, "but you covered aspects of the war that hardly anyone ever writes about. It was terrific." The following Wednesday Mike received a call from a 90-year-old retired priest who wanted him to know that he had read Warrior Priest and that he was passing the book on to his younger brother -- an 86-year-old retired priest. Then the 90-year-old told Mike that he wanted to buy an inscribed copy of Fate of the Warriors. Heartwarming.
In September 2007, Mike and wife Lynne were visiting Colmar, France. One morning they walked into a little cafe for breakfast. A man about their age, sitting alone at the adjacent table, heard them speaking English and asked if they are Americans. Yes, Mike said, and invited the man to join them. For the next two hours, they had a stimulating conversation. Afterward, they shook hands and parted. Then, four months later in January 2008, Mike received the following email: "Hi Mike, I don't know if you remember me, but we met in a small restaurant in Colmar, France. We had breakfast together. I bought your books shortly after returning to California; just finished reading Warrior Priest. Great story!!!!! As I told you, I was born and raised in Alsace and left in 1960 for California. My whole family still lives in France. I usually go home at least once a year. I am looking forward to reading your second book. Alphonse Grunewald, San Jose, California."
A high school history teacher read Warrior Priest and concluded that it is a better way to teach about World War II than a history text book. He then applied for -- and was awarded -- a grant that enabled him to buy 35 copies for his classroom.
Making the rounds, academically speaking...A Cornell University professor bought an inscribed copy of Warrior Priest as a gift for an emeritus history professor at Ohio University -- who read the book and then bought an inscribed copy for a student of World War II in The Netherlands.
When a woman was ordering a signed copy of Warrior Priest as a gift for her brother-in-law, she commented, "I don't read books myself." Mike "dared" her to read the first 15 pages before giving the book to her brother-in-law. A few weeks later, this note arrived in Mike's mail: "You got me!!! Not only did I read the first 15 pages, but I read the first five chapters. I didn't want to read any further in my brother-in-law's copy so that it would still look brand new. Therefore, enclosed is a $26 check for my very own copy of Warrior Priest. I look forward to receiving it and continuing the journey."
A woman sent me a check for an inscribed copy of Warrior Priest and a note in which she told me she had just celebrated her 62nd birthday and wrote: "I am now collecting Social Security! If I have to be this old, I want something for it! This is the first money I have spent from Social Security! Happy Birthday to me!"
A retired English teacher from my high school was on the phone -- she doesn't have email -- and told me she had read Warrior Priest and had an assessment. I felt like a high school kid again, nervously waiting for test results. Then she rendered her verdict: "I really, really like the book. I've loaned it to a friend, and I'm telling our library to buy lots of copies." Whew. I felt like I'd just passed a tough test. Remember the feeling?
From England,a Warrior Priest reader sent me a booklet titled "Instructions for American Servicemen in Britain 1942." With it came a note reading, "I thought you might find this interesting and useful for a future book!"
From Virginia Beach, a Warrior Priest reader sent me a clipping of a newspaper feature story on French war brides and a note reading, "Thought you could put this in your files in case you write a sequel."
A friend with accounting firm Crowe Chizek blackberried me from 33,000 feet on a New York to Chicago flight to tell me that the chap sitting next to him was reading Warrior Priest.
A Stanford classmate emailed me from London to tell me he had ordered Warrior Priest. Other friends have emailed from China, Korea, Singapore, Poland, France and Romania to say they have the book.
A married couple who live in Statesboro, North Carolina read and enjoyed Warrior Priest. They then recommended it to the wife's brother in Lexington, Ohio. What they didn't know is that her brother, who lives in Lexington, Ohio, and I had played on the same American Legion baseball team back in the early 1960s in Shelby, Ohio. Imagine my surprise when I was doing a book signing in Ashland, Ohio and the brother walked up to the signing table with a copy of Warrior Priest for me to inscribe. It was the first time we'd seen each other since 1961. Yes, we hugged -- and then talked for more than an hour.
Libraries and schools have invited me to do programs on the book. They've been lots of fun, and it's been especially gratifying to see youngsters get energized about the unusual perspectives of WWII that are the raison de etre for Warrior Priest.
Another early buyer of the book emailed me to tell me she volunteers at a hospital and took her copy to work. The manager of the hospital gift shop saw it, read the opening pages and phoned me to say she'd like to sell it there.
My grandniece took the book to school -- and the school secretary saw it and ordered a copy.
My first intern -- back in 1976 and then an Ohio State student -- ironically now lives just a few hundred yards down the street and around the corner from us. He was an early buyer and took it upon himself to initiate contact with the Canton Repository which then proceeded to profile the book and me.
A professor friend who has published several books told me he had decided to begin reading Warrior Priest late at night -- just enough pages to help him get to sleep. Then he read the chapter that introduces the Polish lancer and that kept him awake.
Five teachers who bought and read the book invited me to talk with their students -- about researching and writing a book and about unusual aspects of WWII.
One day, I walked into the local branch of my bank to deposit some checks sent to me by people who had bought signed copies of Warrior Priest and a teller handed me a check -- for Warrior Priest.
A clerk at the local Post Office, after seeing me walk in several times with shopping bags of signed copies of Warrior Priest to mail, got on-line and ordered her own copy. And then each time I entered the Post Office, she would tell me which chapter she was reading and how she had reacted.
Among Warrior Priest's early readers who had bought inscribed and signed copies, about 25 so far have ordered from one to five additional signed copies, emailing me instructions on personalizing for friends and family members.
A librarian at Davidson College emailed to tell me she had ordered a copy of Warrior Priest for the university library -- and a second for herself. Similarly, a man in Canada ordered a copy for himself and one for his community library.
One Warrior Priest reader, curious about two of the Arizona locales in the book, emailed to say he was planning to visit them to take pictures -- and asked if I would like him to email them to me. My reply: Yes! (My Warrior Priest descriptions of the locales as they appeared in the 1940s were based on 1940ish black and white photos as well as my own travels there.) He followed through,sending me a pack of prints.
After finishing the book, one reader emailed feedback. Then a few weeks later, he had a small epiphany and emailed again to say that he had remembered having played golf and downing a few beers with the real-life priest on whom the title character is based. "Great times and a wonderful man," says this reader, who was born in 1922.
Copyright © 2008 Mike Johnson's Books
North Canton, Ohio
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