My BOOKS
Two Wings and a Star
Chester Baudoin was a top-notch Louisiana Sheriff in St. Mary Parish from 1964 to 1984. He was responsible for inventing the barrier that separates the front and back seat of a patrol car and used flying extensively in the St. Mary Parish Sheriff's Department. Baudoin had a love of flying since he was a young boy and he went on to become a "hump" pilot in World War II and flew gasoline to Chennault's Flying Tigers over the Himalayan mountains. His story is told through his grandson, Chet Wallace, and many stories of his grandfather's flying and methods of law enforcement are shared in this account. The book is a fascinating read of a life of law enforcement and flight. Guaranteed to enthrall any reader, especially readers of history, flying and law enforcement.
Stories of the Winecoff Fire
Exactly five years after President Franklin Roosevelt declared that December 7, 1941would be “a date which will live in infamy,” the families and friends of 119 people who had gathered in a hotel in downtown Atlanta would feel the sting of another shocking tragedy. The President was referring, of course, to the Japanese sneak attack on Pearl Harbor. But in 1946, what people tried to comprehend is why, of the 280 guests staying at Atlanta's Winecoff Hotel, almost half would die in the early morning hours, or soon after. The infamous Winecoff Hotel Fire, spawned the iconic picture of a woman plunging to her death from one of the upper floors of the hotel. It also prompted the swift enactment of more stringent safety ordinances all across the country and shamed the organization that had, just two months before, cited Atlanta as “the safest city from fire in the United States.”
