Finding Uri: A Man's Journey to Discover the Father He Never Knew

"Finding Uri" is a memoir written by a man who has only one fleeting memory of his father. Uri Munro, a naval aviator flying off the U.S.S. Enterprise in the Pacific during World War II, was shot down and lost in January 1945. The author, also a Navy carrier pilot, unexpectedly received a box in the mail following his mother's death. It contained 190 letters written back and forth between his young parents, Uri and Betsy, while Uri was in the service flying in TBM torpedo bombers. After almost a year's consideration, the author began a two-year process of reading the letters and writing about the experience in real time. He includes photographs and often-emotional excerpts, and weaves other family members into the story. Using thorough research Munro tells the fascinating history of Uri's Torpedo Squadron 90. But more significantly he gets to know his father -- and his mother -- during that two-year period in their lives. It's an intimate, true tale that the reader discovers along with the author.

About the Author :
A former U.S. Navy pilot (1964-'69), Sandy Munro is a musician and writer whose father went missing during an air battle in the Pacific in World War II.

Review :
"I now know Uri and Betsy Munro and I know them intimately. I dated them, met their families, fell in love, went to their wedding, even went into their bedroom, made love, had a son and went to war with them. In this more than moving, emotional book I opened the long lost, never-opened letters between two people deeply in love but hopelessly separated by a world at war. Even in the beginning we know the end, but Sandy Munro, a naval aviator himself, takes us through history, war and tragedy with a loving pen. He doesn't just tell the story he captures us by taking us on his journey as he unravels the mystery of his father's death. We laugh, we weep, we remember and we breathlessly anticipate a new revelation on the next page. This is not a war book, nor a history. "Finding Uri" is a love story about two people, their son and his search for the father he never knew. It should become a classic bestseller about human suffering and uplifting perseverance in life. One of a handful of books I will remember forever." - Major General Don Shepperd, USAF (ret.), Co-Author of "Bury Us Upside Down" "This weekend I traveled back in time to World War II America by reading this poignant and haunting memoir. With simple yet powerful prose, Sandy Munro gives us an adult child's newfound understanding of the love affair between his mother, Betsy, and his father, Uri, who never returned from the war. With 190 newly discovered letters, Sandy takes the leap into the unknown, and the result is a remarkable story of enduring love and bravery. Highly recommended." - J. Carson Black, Author of "Darkness on the Edge of Town" and "The Shop"