McGrath's Detail
Laurence A. Booker

THE BOOK

How could Eisenhower ever launch the greatest armada against Nazi Germany without knowing the winds, tides and weather hitting Britain from the North Sea?  A small detachment, led by Lt. William McGrath, USN, spent a year on the Irish west coast supplying London headquarters with meteorological information to support  the Normandy landings.  Life, loves, fights, IRA sympathizers, spies, turncoats, Irish versus American ways and nobility all play a part in this marvelous, poignant, funny and moving story.  The end itself is an adventure to satisfy even the most demanding reader.

DEDICATION

This book is for Marsha and the kids: Thomas and Heather, Alexa and Bill. But it is especially for the people of Ireland, particularly those in the beautiful West Country.

THE AUTHOR

Larry Booker is a native of New York City and of predominately Irish heritage.

He spent four years in the U.S. Navy, sailed to the Far East, went to Weather Observer School in Lakehurst, New Jersey and spent the next two years in England taking weather observations at West Malling, Kent, England, for the Navy.

Discharged in 1963, he attended Hunter College and then transferred to New York University where he majored in History and graduated in 1967.

He worked for IBM, Corp., as a systems engineer (computer software specialist); left IBM and programmed with several companies in the New York City area. He took his wife, Marsha, and son, Thomas, now a doctor, to Europe in 1973, spending ten days in Ireland and visiting the Galway and Cliffs of Moher areas.

He and his family relocated to Vermont, where his father had come from, in 1975, and have been there ever since. He programmed for the Killington Ski Resort.

He entered the education profession in 1978, took a master's degree at Castleton State College in Vermont, and taught systems and programming. During this time he wrote several articles on education and was published in Ireland, California and Florida.

A daughter, Alexa, was born to him and Marsha in 1980, and she is now a ballet dancer and management trainee for Anne Taylor Loft in Chicago.

Leaving education in 1992, he entered the Financial Services field and became a Registered Representative with the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) and worked for Prudential Financial Services, selling mutual funds, IRAs, variable products and provided other financial services.

Larry and his family traveled back to Ireland in 2000. After returning to Vermont, Larry contacted Galway Now magazine and ended up writing about six articles for them.

He has since left the Financial Services field and currently teaches Business at Windsor High School, in Windsor, Vermont.

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