Dr. John Linnear is world famous as the founder of bariatric surgery, which can be a life-saving procedure for the morbidly obese. He performed the very first operation.

But decades before, he was part of something just as important. He was right in the thick of the D-Day Invasion, the Allied push that turned the tide of World War II. He was later stationed on a ship full of ammunition that was headed towards Okinawa when the atomic bomb was dropped.

Linnear, a medic then, kept a detailed journal of his experiences. But after the war, he tucked the journal away and forgot all about it for half a century. But at the urging of his family, Linnear compiled his entries into a fascinating historical account called, “From Normandy to Okinawa.”