Frances Kane

Michael Gunn Frances Kane

"You may think I'm crazy, but the gun actually talks to me," says Francis Kane, who has agreed to write the autobiography of a gun that had twelve owners.

The gun, a.k.a. Michael Gunn, an M-1911 Colt .45 ACP, is a sidearm used by the U. S. military for five-plus decades. Michael fears his usefulness is coming to an end, so he wishes to have his story set to words for posterity.

Michael relates the tales of his 12 owners - or "handlers" - as Francis likes to call them. There was the World War I doughboy; a French train engineer; a small French boy during the Nazi occupation; a German Luftwaffe pilot; a WWII American sergeant; a Korean soldier; a USAF Search-Air-Rescue airman in Thailand; the Hispanic gang leader in San Antonio; the young homeless woman from Louisiana; the female SWAT team member in Washington, D. C.; the African-American Philadelphia policeman; and finally, Francis Kane himself.

Prior to relating its owners' stories, Michael spins a lengthy narrative on how its creation came to life.

About the Author: R. T. Budd spent his formative years as an Army brat. Following in this father's footsteps, he enlisted in the Army in 1969 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and retired in 1992, after 23 years of military service at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. The author lives with his wife of 46 years in Hershey, Pennsylvania. He is also the author of Knight's Blessing, The Deepest Wounds of War, and Once in a Red Moon.