Welcome
Welcome to the web site of bestselling author Gregory A. Freeman. Known for writing books that make a true story read like a gripping, fast paced novel, Freeman is one of the most respected and successful authors in the field of narrative nonfiction.
Freeman's latest book is The Gathering Wind: Hurricane Sandy, the Sailing Ship Bounty, and a Courageous Rescue at Sea. In October 2012, a famous but troubled replica of an 18th century tall sailing ship was on a collision course with a storm that would become the largest hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic. The Bounty and Superstorm Sandy were racing toward each other for a conflict that would prove dramatic, tragic, perplexing, and ultimately one of the most unforgettable stories of the national crisis that gripped the entire East Coast.
The Bounty was crewed by an eclectic team of seafarers, some with experience and trained as mariners but others who were simply drawn to romantic notions of a tall sailing ship at sea. They were led by a skilled, highly respected captain with decades at the helm, and it would be his decisions – sometimes questionable -- that ultimately decided the fate of his ship and crew.
As the crew struggled in the massive storm, fighting to save their beloved Bounty and finally to save themselves, the men and women of an outlying Coast Guard station in North Carolina rose to the occasion and found the courage to fly into Sandy while the rest of the eastern seaboard was fleeing or bracing for the hurricane’s impact.
Based on exclusive interviews with Bounty survivors and Coast Guard rescuers, The Gathering Wind is the first complete, authoritative account of this incredible story.
Order Your Copy of The Gathering Wind Now
The Gathering Wind: Hurricane Sandy, the Sailing Ship Bounty, and a Courageous Rescue at Sea is available in book stores and on any online site that sells books. Just click below to go to the Amazon.com page where you can order the hardcover book, the audio version, the Kindle download, and all of my previous works.
Digital books available for Kindle, Nook, other e-readers!
The Gathering Wind and other books by Gregory A. Freeman are all available for immediate download to your wireless reader.
Gregory A. Freeman's digital books on Amazon.com
Gregory A. Freeman's digital books on Borders.com
Gregory A. Freeman's digital books on Barnesandnoble.com
Books
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Latest News
Forgotten 500 list of rescued airmen has been updated!
The list of airmen rescued in Operation Halyard that was included in THE FORGOTTEN 500 was known to be incomplete, and many people have asked if their family members might have been rescued even though they weren’t on the list. Now we have an updated list, thanks to the great research by Wendy Irwin, a relative of one of the men rescued.
Using the Missing Air Crew Reports that were filed after a bomber went down, Wendy has added a number of crew members who most likely were sheltered by Draja Mihailovich and rescued in the Operation Halyard flights. We still can’t call the list complete, so your relative might have been part of Operation Halyard even if his name isn’t included. But this is a great addition to the Forgotten 500 canon and I hope it answers important questions for some families.
See the updated list here. Order your copy of THE FORGOTTEN 500 here.
THE FORGOTTEN 500 now available in Italian!
The story of Operation Halyard and rescue of airmen in World War II is now available in an Italian translation. This follows the Serbian translation that was released a few years ago. The Italian version is I 500 SOPRAVVISSUTI and is available here.
The Gathering Wind is now available!
On the one-year anniversary of the loss of the great sailing ship Bounty in Hurricane Sandy, I released The Gathering Wind: Hurricane Sandy, the Sailing Ship Bounty, and a Courageous Rescue at Sea.
The Gathering Wind is coming on October 29!
On the one-year anniversary of the loss of the great sailing ship Bounty in Hurricane Sandy, I will release The Gathering Wind: Hurricane Sandy, the Sailing Ship Bounty, and a Courageous Rescue at Sea.
Based on interviews with Bounty survivors and unfettered access to Coast Guard rescue team members, The Gathering Wind offers not only the first, but the most complete account of this heartbreaking, thrilling, and inspirational story. Why in the world was an old wooden ship sailing directly into a hurricane? Why did the crew go along with the captain’s decision? This book will tell you.
I was honored to get to know the Bounty survivors and the rescuers who willingly flew into one of the worst hurricanes in history. Their story will have your attention from the first page to the last.
Red Tails: The Forgotten 500 chapter now released
Red Tails tells the story of the Tuskegee Airmen, the first black pilots in WWII, who saved the lives of 500 Americans. This E-chapter of The Forgotten 500 can be found at Barnes and Noble
New book available now!
The Last Mission of the Wham Bam Boys tells the little known story of an American bomber crew, all young men with families waiting for them back home, and their fateful mission in the last days of World War II. Click here to order The Last Mission of the Wham Bam Boys!....Click Here
Red Tails: A new E-chapter for The Forgotten 500
A new chapter will soon be available for everyone who loved the story in The Forgotten 500. Titled Red Tails, this chapter tells of the previously unknown contribution of the famed Tuskegee Airmen, the first black pilots in World War II, to the rescue of more than 500 American airmen behind enemy lines. The new chapter will be available as an e-book download and includes a summary of the entire story told in The Forgotten 500. Watch this site for information on how to order Red Tails.
Read The Forgotten 500 in Serbian
The Serbian translation of The Forgotten 500 is on sale in Serbia and can be ordered in the U.S. The title is 500 Zaboravljenih by Gregori A. Friman.
To order, send an e-mail to Marko at marko@evro-giunti.com and he will arrange the purchase and shipment.
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Amazon.com Author Page
Go here to find all of Gregory A. Freeman's books and more about the author: Gregory A. Freeman on Amazon.com
Reader Reviews
" An intense account of the last days and
moments aboard the sailing ship Bounty.
Due to its use in the film Mutiny on the
Bounty and in two of the Pirates of the Caribbean films, the tall,
wooden-hull Bounty was one of the best-known ships in the tall-ship
community. She drew large crowds to her decks while in port but only sailed
with her crew due to her inability to pass Coast Guard regulations for
"safety and seaworthiness." Using exhaustive research and first-person
interviews, Freeman (The Last Mission of the Wham Bam Boys: Courage, Tragedy
and Justice in World War II, 2011, etc.) places readers aboard the Bounty
during her last voyage-straight into the center of Hurricane Sandy. Although
the ship was old and full of wood rot, and despite the warnings he received
regarding the superstorm, her captain, Robin Walbridge, chose to set sail
from Connecticut for Florida, determined that he could outrun the storm and
reach their destination safely. Freeman narrates a harrowing account of the
next several days aboard the Bounty as the crew wrestled with the bilge
pumps, which could not compete against the massive amounts of water entering
the hold through cracks in the hull and from the deck due to the storm
swells. When the abandon-ship call finally went out, the Coast Guard was
quickly on hand, although the airplane and helicopter crews had their own
nightmarish rides through turbulence to reach the survivors of the
shipwreck. Written almost minute by minute in places, Freeman's rendering of
this horrific storm and the courage of the men and women aboard the Bounty
and in the Coast Guard will place readers on edge until the last plane lands
safely back at base. On a quieter note, the author includes testimony and
reports on the ongoing Coast Guard investigation into the last voyage of the
Bounty."
An incredible story of courage, endurance
and luck. -- Kirkus Reviews
"The Last Mission of the Wham Bam Boys is the gripping and insightful story of the Wham Bam crews first and last combat mission. Meticulously researched and masterfully written, Gregory Freeman expertly weaves the history of the crew with the historic events that followed after they were shot down and captured. This is a fascinating and engrossing book that will be read for many decades."— Brigadier General Don Harvel, Deputy Commander, Texas Air National Guard
"Gregory A. Freeman's The Last Mission of the Wham Bam Boys is a compelling, thought-provoking, and harrowing account of how a seemingly minor, brutal incident during World War II touched, and devastated, countless lives. It's a well-written, exhaustively researched, and thoroughly human story that shows how war can bring out the worst, and the best, in combatants and noncombatants alike. Haunting."— James Carl Nelson, author of The Remains of Company D: A Story of the Great War