"" Boarded the USS Midway Museum, San Diego, CA

Colonel Jim Bathurst’s recently published book now ranks high on the gift shop shelves of 17th place on the list of the 20 Best Museums in the United States (USS MIDWAY MUSEUM), as rated by YELP and posted on USAToday.

In it, Colonel Bathurst recounts his nearly thirty-six years calling the United States Marine Corps, where he goes from private to colonel. His only service during that extended period included as an infantry sergeant 0311 in the Vietnam War serving as a platoon order (a lieutenant’s ticket). He was awarded a Silver Star Medal, a Bronze “V” Star Combat Medal, a Purple Heart, and a Committee Second Lieutenant. Vietnam provided him with a wide range of leadership challenges. “Combat is the ultimate challenge for any Navy leader,” Colonel Bathurst states emphatically. As with most Marines, Vietnam changed his life forever.

Arriving home, still a soldier, he was assigned to be platoon sergeant for the famous Silent Drill Team at 8th and I St, Washington, DC, but his rapid promotion to second lieutenant, recommended by his commanding officer for his exceptional leadership in Vietnam, he changed that and became the commander.

During that tour, while temporarily serving at Camp David as security officer in charge, President Lyndon B. Johnson scolded him for wandering face-to-face, an encounter he details in all his bombast in the book: Johnson threatens to send him to “VET NAM “. The Commander-in-Chief of all United States military personnel couldn’t even make out a Vietnam Marine Corps veteran, despite the various major awards for heroism he wore as colored ribbons over his left breast pocket, who had served his country in times of war. honorably and heroically. Jim has never forgotten or forgiven. Including him in the book animated by his publisher has been a reckoning. Reading those few pages is the price of the book just to complete the ineptitude of some who acquire power from the White House.

Colonel Bathurst held several command tickets from platoon commander on up, including Commanding Officer of 2nd Battalion, 6th Marines, the battalion made famous by the book and movie Battle Cry written by Leon Uris and referred to as “Huxley’s Harlots”. Just before that, he had been in command for three years of the largest recruiting station in the Marine Corps: RSS Chicago. He retired as Director of the School of Infantry at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina in 1993.

General Peter Pace, the first Navy officer to serve as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said of the book, “Reading Jim’s book is like coming home…” The book has received rave reviews in prestigious military organizations and magazines. such as Leatherneck, Marine Corps Association, Military Writers Society of America, Naval Historical Foundation, US Veteran’s Magazine, as well as numerous rave reviews online from readers, including those who purchased the book on Amazon.

Typically, a single item seller is not the seller of choice for books. However, with the cooperation, interest, and willingness to try the book, Event Network, Inc., the leading operator of gift shops for highly regarded aquariums, botanical gardens, museums, science centers, and other cultural attractions, agreed. to a vendor agreement for a book.

Colonel Bathurst, grateful for their help in having the opportunity to offer his book to visitors to these military museums, says, “Event Network is a company that cares; on their website they emphasize that they are a company “with a purpose and in service.” and they proved to be just that.”

As for writing the book itself, Colonel Bathurst says, “I wrote this in hopes of guiding young Marines, both enlisted and officers, so that they might consider my advice on the demanding leadership requirements that a Marine marina finds daily…”.

Colonel Bathurst is retired in Crystal Lake, Illinois, with his wife Nancy and a dozen Siberian cats and kittens. He is often invited to speak on occasions like Memorial Day, Veterans Day, etc. He’ll be doing book signings at various places, maybe even the USS Midway Museum.

In short, Jim Bathurst puts it best when he writes “…The Corps was not a job, a career, or even a profession; it was still the way of life.”