David Olsen

Three Wars Two Loves David Olsen

Master Sergeant Dick Mollison had fought his way across the European theater of WWII. Now, as that conflict drew to a close, he was faced with a new assignment in a different world. An island in the South Pacific. He would be the senior man of a two-man unit that would broadcast navigational signals for a group of super-bombers. The same planes that would drop the first atomic bombs. Mollison's subordinate, whom he referred to as his "Number Two," at first resented the sergeant but later grew to respect his direct ways of getting things accomplished. Some of the "things" were: romancing and marrying an island princess; electrifying much of the island; and introducing capitalism to the natives. In the process Mollison achieved royalty status. The lives of Mollison and "Number Two" Warren were to be inextricably intertwined for the next few decades. At the end of the war Mollison kept his promise to stay on the island and help the people prosper. Even Paradise has a time limit. When the Korean hostilities flared, Mollison was called back to active duty and was soon leading a ragtag bunch in the shooting war that was really a combat filled retreat. Mollison was seriously wounded and found himself in a military hospital talking to an also wounded Warren. Mollison received a battlefield commission, as did Warren. Mollison was glad to leave Korea and war behind. While in the hospital he learned that a typhoon had cleared his island home of all life. He couldn't believe his young wife was gone forever. Mollison returned to the States and in Boston he met the island girl who had always loved him. She left the island for a nursing career in the USA when Mollison married. Now he found he was drawn to her. Perhaps he had at last found the love and the life that he had always sought. But it was not to be. His friend Warren had stayed in the Army and achieved the rank of Lt. Colonel. Warren was deeply involved in the inevitable US involvement