Holding Hands with Heroes

As a teenager growing up in rural Kentucky, Jack Kassinger worked long hours as a field hand on a neighboring farm.  After graduating from high school, he took a job at a Peabody Coal Company strip-mine in southern Illinois. He worked with Peabody until he received his draft notification in December 1967, and subsequently jointed the U.S. Marine Corps at a Kentucky induction center the following month.  Holding Hands with Heroes chronicles a common man's service to his country—from Operation PIPESTONE CANYON in Vietnam as a young, enlisted Marine, to the halls of the Central Intelligence Agency where service and dedication to a cause became a way of life. This is the story of one man's journey through the throes of war and his selfless dedication while employed at the country's most prestigious, clandestine, intelligence-gathering organization. About the Author Jack Kassinger was born in Kentucky and currently resides in Texas with his wife, Cherie. They have a daughter Emily, and a son, Jesse each of who have brought them two wonderful grandchildren (A.J., Cordell, Max and Malia).    Mr. Kassinger attended Northern Virginia Community College where he earned an associates degree and much later in life a certificate of completion from the Federal Executive Institute in Charlottesville, Virginia.  He is currently employed as an executive with a privately held firm in San Antonio.    His interests include golf, tennis, music and travel.     Holding Hands with Heroes is his first published book.