Dear Roland Cheek,

I was fascinated to read a passage in your latest book about the soldier aboard the King John as it chugged around Cape Nelson, engaing in a conversation with a reporter from New York Times. That reporter was in fact my father, Barney Darnton, who as you undoubtedly know was killed during the bombing raid later that day. By what is certainly a non-coincidence, I (who was 11 months old at the time of this death) followed in his footsteps, also becoming a foreign correspondent for The Times. I'm now semi-retired, after 44 years at the paper, having recently written a number of novels. My latest, which I've finished, is a family memoir -- basically a search for my father, and to do it, I uncovered a number of documents and eye-witness accounts about the

BOOK REVIEWS BY JOAN G. SMITH

THE DOGGED AND THE DAMNED BY: ROLAND CHEEK

This novel is based on fact – names and places have been changed or altered; However, the author knew a person and, or persons that are very like the characters that appear in this book.
Private Mikhail Baranovitch enlisted in the 128th Regiment of the 32nd Infantry Division. It was WWII – he was 19, and he was sent to the Pacific theater of war. His heroism and ability to survive is described in detail – the good and bad officers he served under create quite a picture of how it was.
We meet Mikhail in a United States Veterans Hospital in Roseburg, Oregon. He is being treated there for what was then called Battle Fatigue and is now known as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. He is being interviewed about his experiences in his war by a psychiatrist, Dr. Henderson.
There are many interviews in this book that tell us of Mikhail’s unbelievable battle experiences. He won the Purple heart, Bronze and Silver Star medals, which he dismisses as “doing what you had to do”.
The staff at the hospital is understanding, kind and helpful. The psychiatrists are wise, thoughtful and resourceful – the one bad one that appears is finally sent packing through the dedicated and ingenious efforts of the staff. One kind doctor is posted to Korea, another dies of injuries from his own war and finally Mikhail is on the run again – a fugitive the media call a “Wild Man”. Mikhail knows how to live off the land, but it becomes more difficult as time goes by.

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Book Review

"The Dogged and the Damned"

- by Roland Cheek

Reviewed by Jack McNeel

Our newspapers and magazines frequently discuss and review post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) that many combat veterans face, sometimes for many years after returning from war. World War II made it just as prevalent and just as debilitating as it is today, but then it was even less understood and simply called battle fatigue.

Montana writer Roland Cheek has crafted "The Dogged and the Damned" about PTSD, a WWII war-hero veteran of battles in the South Pacific, and his life following the war. It is a hard-to-put-down, compelling story that will likely bring tears to your eyes as he struggles to return to mental normalcy.

Cheek is known to thousands for years of syndicated columns and radio shows he produced from his home in Whitefish. His education came from "God's own University of Wild Places and Wilder Things." The Bob Marshall Wilderness and similar places were his stomping grounds. A saddle horse and a pack string with a tent and campfire were his home and companions on many nights in the wild country that provided the grist for his writing mill and honed his ability to put words to paper. It has been my good fortune to know Roland Cheek for a number of years ... and my misfortune not to have spent time with him in the Montana backcountry.

I read avidly many of Cheek's earlier books pertaining to wildlife, but in this latest, his words grabbed and held me. Cheek creates an unforgettable book by combining his ability to relate this hero's struggle to return to society with Cheek's knowledge of the region where the events take place.

Cheek was raised not far from the U.S. Veteran's Hospital in Roseburg, Oregon. He was a teenager when the story unfurled and his memories of those newspaper accounts brought him full circle to write this book.

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Butte Weekly

The Great Outdoors

The Dogged and the Damned, by Roland Cheek, published by Skyline Publishing

Roland Cheek is a Montana writer. His book, "The Dogged and the Damned" is a novel based on actual events. It tells the story of Michael [Baranovitch], a Butte High School football star and decorated soldier hospitalized in a VA mental hospital in Roseburg, Oregon in the years following WWII. Michael is haunted by memories of the Pacific islands where he fought. In today's terminology, he has PTSD.

In this book, Mikhail grew up in Butte, Montana and his father was a miner. During his interviews during treatment we also hear about growing up in Butte. Without any advantages, we see him become an all-state football player in Butte High School, with a B+ average scholastically.
We meet many kind, knowledgable and intelligent people in this narration. It is remarkable to see how several of them come together in the end to outwit the politicians, Sheriff Finch and the other powers that be in defense of this amazing man and soldier.
Roland Cheek is a talented writer and has written a story with a message. This is a story worth reading, because it paints a picture that showcases “a man driven beyond his depths by the horrors of war.”
One final note from Ray Moore, a psychologist who served in the very hospital used as a setting for this story. Dr Moore went on to say, “Symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorders were recorded in 490 BCE by Herodotus in his descriptions of the battles of “Marathon”.
I can promise the author I will be recommending this book to my personal book loving friends from coast to coast and giving it as a gift as well.

Published: Skyline Publishing
P.O. Box 1118
Columbia Falls, MT 59912
Copyright: © 2009 by Roland Cheek
Reviewed: 02/15/10 – 296
Copyright: © 2010 by Joan G. Smith
296

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Surprisingly, similar events occurred near this location, which caused Ken Kesey to write "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" in the same period. Cheek's story is true although some names, places, and times have been altered. Cheek also comments that if the main character, Mikhail Baranovitch, is portrayed in a more heroic fashion than he actually was, it's because that is the way Cheek saw him as a teenager when newspaper stories told of Baranovitch's exploits.

Baranovitch was a football star in Butte, an all-state lineman destined for bigger accomplishments in college when problems erupted aty home, World War II started, and he enlisted in the Army. The accounts of his action in New Guinea and elsewhere will mesmerize the reader with his daring. His ability to relate those accounts come only years after the war ended while he is locked away in the Roseburg hospital. Months pass with little progress toward release as psychiatrists attempt to help him overcome the mental blocks that prevent him from facing and talking of those military actions.

Escape and life alone in the mountains of western Oregon seem to be his only hope. It is during this time that newspapers ran frequent accounts of the "Wild Man of the Umpqua." It is also a section of the book that few writers could so accurately portray. Cheek's long years of hunting and horse backing through Montana's backcountry provided the knowledge to describe so correctly and poignantly that period and that lifestyle. To say more would steal from the readers' discovery and emotion as they read the book.

It was a chance encounter in Whitefish with retired psychologist Dr. Ray Moore that prompted Cheek to publish "The Dogged and the Damned." Dr. Moore did his internship and residency at the Veteran's Hospital in Roseburg.

Dr. Moore made the following observations after reading the final version. "It is truly a compelling read. The book is about the timeless effects of war on a soldier. This present-day social relevance will pique interest among contemporary readers. To me, it seems to have movie potential."

To preview the book, read reviews, and even read the first chapter, visit www.rolandcheek.com.

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Michael eventually walks away from the hospital and starts to live off the land, including breaking into seasonal homes, causing a widespread panic and a manhunt by a local sheriff. It's a fascinating tale of recovery and setbacks, along with woods lore.

The author grew up in the Roseburg area at the time of the actual events and was even once jailed by the same sheriff who pursued Michael.