Meet Larry Toerber, new member from District 5!
I'm new to authoring books, with a focus on history, memoir, and nonfiction. In June of 2023, I published my first book: Exercise Tiger: The Silent D-Day “Link” of World War II.
The book is a "never been told story" of how the Toerbers, an Iowa farm family in the 1940s, lost a member: son, brother, husband, and soldier, and how their families were influenced by their "Missing in Action" loss. The truths of an eerie nighttime practice before the D-Day invasion known as "Exercise Tiger" were never told to the affected families. The exercise went horribly wrong when seven German E-Boats savagely attacked the undefended American Forces aboard amphibious Landing Ship Tanks, killing my uncle Mearl and at least 749 troops. The Supreme Commander of Allied Forces, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, decided to cloak the terrible event as a National Security issue, and make sure all the information on the episode was buried with the 749 bodies. There were more American soldiers killed during Exercise Tiger than on D-Day! To this day, over 80 years later, there is speculation that the government deliberately falsified information forwarded to the next of kin. My parents and grandparents went to their graves not knowing the true story.
On April 14, 2010, two military historians researching the first Naval officer fatality of WW II contacted me and set my investigative energies on an 11-year mission to explore this very secret military event. These two historians who discovered the Toerber link suggested I write the "untold story" of this secret military event. I accepted the challenge and never looked back.
A link to preview the book is here: https://issuu.com/mennonitepressinc./docs/toerber-exercise_tiger; more details are here: https://www.amazon.com/Exercise-Tiger-Silent-D-Day-World-ebook/dp/B0CK2Z5H69.
During my Exercise Tiger journey, I was employed by the U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Railroad Administration, traveling throughout the continental United States conducting investigations into railroad accidents, incidents, and safety concerns. I and my beautiful bride Zelma raised our family and still reside in rural Harvey County near Newton, Kansas.
The book is a "never been told story" of how the Toerbers, an Iowa farm family in the 1940s, lost a member: son, brother, husband, and soldier, and how their families were influenced by their "Missing in Action" loss. The truths of an eerie nighttime practice before the D-Day invasion known as "Exercise Tiger" were never told to the affected families. The exercise went horribly wrong when seven German E-Boats savagely attacked the undefended American Forces aboard amphibious Landing Ship Tanks, killing my uncle Mearl and at least 749 troops. The Supreme Commander of Allied Forces, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, decided to cloak the terrible event as a National Security issue, and make sure all the information on the episode was buried with the 749 bodies. There were more American soldiers killed during Exercise Tiger than on D-Day! To this day, over 80 years later, there is speculation that the government deliberately falsified information forwarded to the next of kin. My parents and grandparents went to their graves not knowing the true story.
On April 14, 2010, two military historians researching the first Naval officer fatality of WW II contacted me and set my investigative energies on an 11-year mission to explore this very secret military event. These two historians who discovered the Toerber link suggested I write the "untold story" of this secret military event. I accepted the challenge and never looked back.
A link to preview the book is here: https://issuu.com/mennonitepressinc./docs/toerber-exercise_tiger; more details are here: https://www.amazon.com/Exercise-Tiger-Silent-D-Day-World-ebook/dp/B0CK2Z5H69.
During my Exercise Tiger journey, I was employed by the U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Railroad Administration, traveling throughout the continental United States conducting investigations into railroad accidents, incidents, and safety concerns. I and my beautiful bride Zelma raised our family and still reside in rural Harvey County near Newton, Kansas.
Glad to have you join us, Larry!
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