From the Author

A NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR: Although my first published book, San Mario Island deals with the plight of Mesha Covanich and other members of the Mihailovich underground in Yugoslavia, this writing is my first attempt to tell the true story about these noble patriots. In San Mario Island, allusions to Mesha and to her life and her demise were accomplished by means of memory flashbacks and did not tell the complete story. Following this endeavor, I plan to present yet another work that deals with some of the characters presented in both San Mario Island and Mesha. The title of this novel, which is already in progress, is Jüdische Jade. The story deals with one Major Heinrich Peeler, former assistant director of the German Schutzstaffel. It is needless to say that this sadistic pawn of the Nazi delusion was one of Hitler's most despised envoys. Finally, it should be known that these works are not presented as sequels, and hopefully may be pleasurably read in any order. Thank you for reading my book, HENDERSON FRANK PONDER

About the Author

Henderson Frank Ponder, grew up along the banks of Raccoon Creek near the little cotton mill town of Berryton, Georgia. Like many young men crossing the threshold of puberty at the end of the depression, news of the war sparked within him a promise of adventure... not a threat, as it should have. Trained as a covert operations specialist by the OSS, he served during the latter days of World War II as Weapons Procurement Agent for the Covanich Group... a remnant of the Mihailovich Underground in Yugoslavia. Using memories of people and events of that era and the unrelenting memory of Myeshka Yolande Covanich, a young freedom fighter with the Chetnik underground movement, Ponder has created a narrative that is full of surprises for all who venture to read Mesha.

Laced into the fabric of the story as memory flashbacks, events from the past bring into focus a truly gripping saga of love, hate, fear, and intrigue that is bound to hold the reader's attention until the very end.

Ponder is an eighty year old accountant. He is married to the former Mary Frances Gilmer. They have two daughters, Claudette Mahan and Jenette Slay, a total of five grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. The Ponders live quietly in a small cottage in the northwest Georgia mountains.