The Man Next Door

And Other True Stories of War and Peace

Mike Colman

$32.95

Paperback

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English

STOKE HILL PRESS
01 November 2023

True war & combat stories; History

For several years, the Courier-Mail featured a special Anzac day story by their Walkley Award-winning journalist, Mike Colman. In The Man Next Door, Colman's superb writing about war - focusing on the men and women who saw the frontline and their loved ones back home - is brought together in one volume. The book opens with a never-before-told story, shocking but inspiring, of Ray McMillan, an aircraftman on the Hudson bomber that sunk the Awazisan Maru - an episode captured in Frank Harding's painting that adorns the front cover.

Colman knew 'Mr McMillan' when he was growing up, but had no idea of his sacrifice until years later, when he read his next-door neighbour's war diary. In the chapters that follow Colman captures Australia's wartime experience from Gallipoli to Vietnam in a way that has perhaps never been done before. He follows in the footsteps of his grandfather and great-uncle, who went ashore at Anzac Cove on April 25, 1915. There are stories of Keith Payne, Australia's most decorated soldier in Vietnam, war brides and the Rats of Tobruk, the fight for recognition for Indigenous Digger Charlie Blackman, and the search for the ill-fated hospital ship AHS Centaur.

In the final chapter we meet the children of Sutton Veny, Wiltshire, who for more than a century have honoured the 143 Anzacs buried there.

To truly appreciate Sutton Veny, you have to go there. Fortunately for us, Mike Colman has.

By: Mike Colman
Imprint: STOKE HILL PRESS
Country of Publication: Australia
Dimensions: Height: 233mm, Width: 149mm, Spine: 32mm
Weight: 424g
ISBN: 9780648733164
ISBN 10: 0648733165
Pages: 256
Publication Date: 01 November 2023
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Mike Colman is an award-winning journalist and author. He has covered major sporting events in Australia and overseas -including seven Olympics, six Commonwealth Games, four Rugby World Cups, and numerous Ashes, State of Origin and Bledisloe Cup series -and is the author of several best-selling sports books.