Skip O Neill was just twenty two when he volunteered to participate in an atomic test. He did so willingly, certain his government would not put him in harm's way. Afterwards, he served his country honorably and with courage, retiring as a Colonel and combat decorated fighter pilot. Years later, he learned the awful truth...he was dying of leukemia, most likely due to radiation exposure. While Skip is fictional, his story unfortunately is not. More than 400,000 troops were exposed to radiation during atomic tests or as POWs in Japan. Fewer than 20,000 are still alive. Most are over seventy...

Skip O'Neill lies dying of leukemia in a New York hospital, determined to live until the new millennium. His wasted body shows scant evidence of the man he once was-an Air Force fighter pilot and decorated combat veteran.

O'Neill's first assignment as a young lieutenant places him among hard drinking World War II-and Korean War-era fighter pilots who quickly teach him their ways. He almost washes out of pilot training but is persistent and manages to graduate. In Vietnam, he proves to be a skillful and courageous pilot who faces dangers of all kinds with equanimity. But the greatest-and...