Authors on Deck Guerilla Daughter by Virginia Hansen Holmes s1

CALENDAR ANNOUNCEMENT

AUTHORS ON DECK – GUERILLA DAUGHTER BY VIRGINIA HANSEN HOLMES & FATHER FOUND BY DUANE HEISINGER SPECIAL DOUBLE READING TO COMMEMORATE POW/MIA RECOGNITION DAY FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 16

WHAT: In honor of POW/MIA Recognition Day, the U.S. Navy Memorial will hold a double ‘Authors on Deck’ with readings by Virginia (Ginger) Hansen Holmes, author of Guerilla Daughter, and Judith Heisinger, wife of the late Duane Heisinger, author of Father Found. Guerilla Daughter recounts the experiences of an American family struggling to survive the Japanese occupation of Mindanao during World War II. Father Found tells the story of a father in the California National Guard taken prisoner by the Japanese in WWII seen through the eyes of his son.

RADM McKinnon will introduce both speakers and welcome guests to the day’s events. Following the lectures, Holmes and Heisinger will be available for a Q&A session and book signing. The Navy Memorial will then hold its official POW/MIA Recognition Day wreathlaying ceremony with the U.S. Navy Band and Ceremonial Guard at 1:00pm on the plaza.

WHEN: Friday, September 16, 2011 12:00pm

WHERE: United States Navy Memorial Naval Heritage Center 701 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, D.C. 20004 www.navymemorial.org

COST: Free and open to the public

CONTACT: 202-737-2300

Using original documents, vivid recollections and the memories of her siblings, Ginger Hansen Holmes presents a compelling account of extraordinary survival. When the war ended, Ginger graduated from the Colegio de Jesus- Maria in the Philippines and came to the United States in 1954. After marrying Kent Holmes in 1958, several of his foreign assignments with the U.S. government took them back to the Philippines. They now live in Virginia.

Duane Heisinger explores the war years from the viewpoints of both POWs and their families at home, weaving together his story using first hand reports, diaries, journals, letters to his family from his father’s surviving friends and interviews with men who endured similar conditions. Duane entered the U.S. Naval Academy graduating an Ensign in 1956 and retiring a Navy Captain after 30 years. Before passing away of lung cancer in May 2006, he was able to lead a tour to the Philippines and dedicate the Hellships Memorial in Subic Bay in January 2006 as a last tribute to this father.