Drafted into the Army in the fall of 1941, Robert D. Daves, in January of 1942, joined a new (still highly experimental) fighting unit of the Army -- the Paratroops.  For most people in 1942, riding in an airplane was unthinkable, much less volunteering to jump out of one!  After rigorous training, Robert's outfit (ultimately designated as the 509th Parachute Infantry Battalion) was singled out to become the first Paratroops to jump in combat in WWII.  After intense training with the British in England, they participated in the Allied invasion of North Africa on November 8, 1942, and in the invasion of Italy in September of 1943.  On November 23, 1943, Robert was wounded on a mountain in Italy and declared "Missing in Action."  Six anxious years would pass before his body was found and returned home for burial on November 10, 1949.  But that was only the beginning of a 60-year search by the family to find out what actually happened to Robert that fateful day when a German ambush took his life.

Silver Wings and a Gold Star, written by Robert's sister, Edna Daves McCall, tells that story in a historically accurate and moving tribute to the 509th Parachute Infantry Battalion and their pioneering role in World War II.  This 7 x 10 hardcover book contains 352 pages with index; 280 photographs, illustrations, maps; and 150 of Robert's letters written home during the war.

Comments:

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They Won't Hang a Woman  (Heritage Edition),  by Maxine McCall

For more than thirty years, Maxine McCall's They Won't Hang a Woman has captivated the imagination of those who have read or seen dramatized presentations of her fictional recounting of Burke County's most sensational case of crime and punishment.

In 1832 Frankie Silver was tried by the State Superior Court in Morganton, North Carolina, for killing her husband Charlie with an axe and burning his remains in the fireplace of their mountain home to conceal the deed.  She pled her innocence, but was never allowed to testify in court.  After the jury declared her guilty and the judge sentenced her to hang, a daring escape disguised as a man fueled even more talk about the crime.  Nearly 175 years later, the talk continues about Frankie Silver and her infamous deed.

Who was this black-hearted murderess who committed so vile a crime?  What lessons for today might lie in this tragic tale from Burke County's haunted past?

Maxine McCall's carefully researched story -- told as Frankie's personal testimony -- was among the first literary works to present a sympathetic portrait of Frankie Silver as a young woman who may have been wronged by the courts.  Evidence based on reliable testimonies of persons living at the time of the trial reveals that Frankie may have acted in self-defense.

This new 100 page hardcover "Heritage Edition" of They Won't Hang a Woman contains Maxine McCall's original story with new illustrations by Jackie Deaton, an expanded Appendix containing additional information and photographs pertaining to the story, and Cheryl Oxford's adaptation of the story for dramatic presentation.

Comments:
    --  Wayne Silver, Silver family historian, speaking of the 1972 edition of They Won't Hang a Woman  said:  "We loved your Book.  Of all the ones who've written about Frankie, you are the only one who gave her a chance."

    --  Stanley Moore, editor of The News Herald, Morganton, speaking of the first edition in 1972:  "Much work went into the preparation of They Won't Hang a Woman and Mrs. McCall deserves the thanks of Burke County for helping students of local history to regard Frances Silver as a human being, even an understandable human.  The fictionalization, while admitted as such, helps to make her understandable.  Any other interpretation would have pictured Frankie as a mad, almost maniacal killer who had been a jealous wife, if she had actually been guilty of the premeditation that is essential of first degree murder.

Mrs. McCall's interpretation is in keeping with the recorded beliefs of persons with a reputed knowledge of circumstances who have been quoted as saying that Frankie Silver would never have been convicted if she could have told what happened.

Pursuing that theory, Mrs. McCall presents the case of poor Frankie in such a fashion that her readers are inclined to think Frankie is entitled to a new trial now,   even after 138 years (now more than 170 years) since Burke County gained the unenviable distinction of putting to death 'the first woman hanged in North Carolina.'"

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