CHARLES MESSINA
ABOUT
A Journey of a Lifetime
Charles Messina's writing career was ignited after a Pennsylvania journalist from the local newspaper, impressed with James Messina's story and writing style, encouraged him to publish his father's autobiography. To complete his father's work, Charles began researching and developing his own style of writing, ultimately achieving his dream.
Both father and son never planned on becoming writers. By writing his life story, James was merely leaving a keepsake for his children to remember him. He refused to publish it, even though his son tried to convince him many times. Nevertheless, Charles was deeply affected by the way his father wrote and illustrated his life story.
After his death, Charles decided his father’s story wasn’t just the tale of a hardworking man from Pennsylvania standing up to do his duty for God and Country. It was the story of many Americans from that era, many of which never got the chance to share their stories.
Steel Soldier: Guadalcanal Odyssey is the result of Charles Messina’s labor of love in his
father’s memory.
His first published books are Grit, Smoke and Steam: The Journey of a Boy They Called Jinks (the first installment of his father's memoir) and Steel Soldier: Guadalcanal Odyssey. Currently, Grit, Smoke and Steam is out of print, but efforts are being made to republish it.
Grit, Smoke, and Steam
2012
Adapted from the memoir of his father, James J. Messina, Grit, Smoke and Steam is Charles Messina's first book.
Steel Soldier
2023
It’s been over ten years in the making, but the wait is finally over. Steel Soldier is the sequel to Grit, Smoke and Steam.
"Steel Soldier is an important piece of World War II literature including extensive research, hand-drawn remembrances, and striking historical images."
Valerie Ormond, Multiple Award Winning Author of the Believing in Horses Series
Steel Soldier: Guadalcanal Odyssey
After the attack on Pearl Harbor, on December 7, 1941, the United States seized the initiative in the Pacific by delivering a resounding defeat to the Japanese at the Battle of Midway. Following this turn of events, the U.S. decided to attack the Solomon Islands, especially Guadalcanal, to support further operations as they advanced toward the Japanese home islands.
Guadalcanal became a critical target for the Americans because of its position along Allied supply lines, its proximity to further Japanese bases, and because of an airfield the Japanese had constructed at Lunga Point. The U.S. sent more than 60,000 Marines to capture the island. Pfc. James J. Messina was one of those Marines.
James Messina served his country as a Private First Class in the Marine Corps, joining well before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The Pennsylvania native joined in September 1941 and served through the end of the Battle of Guadalcanal, where Messina and the 1st Marine Division defeated the Imperial Japanese Army over the course of six months.
Messina’s book follows his dad’s Marine Corps journey from the recruiter’s office through basic training, to combat training in New Zealand and then on to Guadalcanal, where Messina and his fellow Marines would be relieved by the Army in September 1942. It’s an honest and deeply personal account of some of the most intense fighting of the Pacific War, from the point of view of an everyman from Pennsylvania.
The younger Messina didn’t just recreate his father’s work, he painstakingly researched the details of the story and incorporated dates, facts, and statistics into his father’s narrative. The book is visually stimulating, entertaining, and educational at the same time. Readers will be moved by his story and gain a great deal of insight about one specific unit of the 1st Marine Division.
War history buffs will love the Marine Corps action as the war unfolds in front of Messina. Nonfiction fans will love the real-life information interwoven throughout Messina’s firsthand narrative. Everyone will love just how relatable this story of extraordinary feats by ordinary men can really be.
“Steel Soldier: Guadalcanal Odyssey” was released on July 25, 2023, and is available now on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Books-a-Million in hardcover (color) at $39.95 paperback (black and white) at $19.95, and Kindle (color), at $7.49.
