"The Golden Kite"

[Richard LaTondre]

Well. . . . after nine years its finally finished! This week marks the arrival of my book about the longest reconnaisance mission in recorded history.

On February 11th 1892, Major Yasumasa Fukushima, a military attache stationed at the Japanese legation in Berlin, departs on a journey of 9,000 miles, 14,000 km, on horseback, alone, across two continents and nine countries to arrive in Vladivostok 488 days later. While outwardly doing this as a wager at the Officer's Club over several drinks, It was probably, in fact, the longest reconnaisance missions in recorded history. This event was never published in English and most of the records of this epic mission were destroyed by the Japanese government at the close of World War II. The book contains the daily journal entries he made during the complete journey. Was the Trans-Siberian Railway that great of a threat to Japan? He followed the then undergoing construction of the trans-Siberian Railway as well as the telegraph infrastructure enroute. Japan was aware that this railroad, when completed, would be like a sword pointing to Japan's soft underbelly. Russian expansion eastword would allow massive numbers of Russian troops to be moved to the Pacific and the Sea of Japan in a matter of days. His daily diary entries tell of this perilous journey as he meets Kings, Czars and War Lords. The brutal weather ranges from below zero Siberia to the intense heat of the Gobi dessert. He even meets the founder of a major Silicon Valley electronics conglomerate.Fukushima was also the founder of the Japanese Secret Service Kempei Tai. He attended the U.S. Centennial in 1876. He was one of the senior allied officers during the Boxer Rebellion, commanding over 18,000 Imperial Japanese Troops at T'ienChing. You might say that he, not Charlton Heston and the U.S. Marines, saved the day.

Thanks for reading this and the best regards to all,

Richard B. La Tondre

[Brian Wolfe]

Hello Richard,

Congratulations on the completion of yur book, that is quite an achievement.

You failed to mention where this manuscript may be purchased; I'm sure there are many, especially here, who would be interested in obtaining a copy.

Regards

Brian

[Richard LaTondre]

Thanks Brian. I tried to upload the books jacket (275 kb) bu the GMIC website would not allow it. I hear that you can pay by PayPal even though you are not a member of PayPal. You remit the funds to "USMCGungHo@aol.com". The book retails for $19.95. I would like to offer it to GMIC folks for $15.00 which includes domestic shipping by priority (2 to 3 days) mail. The book consists of 318 pages with index, illustrations, and gazeteer. The Library of Congress number is TXu00113660905 2007-07-17, The ISBN-13: is 978-0-9816493-0-6. I will have a website by next week which should help.

Richard

[Dieter3]

Hi Richard,

Congratulations!! The limit is 110k on the GMIC site. I'll have to get my copy soon!! :D

Edited April 24, 2010 by Dieter3

[Richard LaTondre]

Thank You!