Wildflowers Never Die by Randall Howlett and Deb Turnbull DeVries
What led to the CIA’s rise, and how did they come to accumulate the power they hold today?
From the Patriot Act post 9/11 to Snowden and, perhaps most recently, the documents leaked by the young national guardsmen, what the government is doing to us and others behind our backs has become a topic of discussion for many newsrooms and political campaigns. In Wildflowers Never Die, a new work of historical non-fiction written by Randall Howlett and Deb Turnbull DeVries, the authors dive into some of the most important conflicts of the past several decades and track the careers of key CIA agents along the way. Filled with eye-opening accounts and carefully researched history, this book is not one to miss.
We spoke with Randall Howlett about what it took to bring this raw, comprehensive account to life.
Q: What first inspired you to write this book?
A: A discussion on Facebook about a year ago delved into what happened to Camp Hale, Colorado after the 10th Mountain Division shipped out following training there near the end of WWII. Relatively unknown was that the CIA built a small camp at same location to train Tibetan freedom fighters from 1958 to 1964. Our discussion group members either grew up or went to school not more than 10 miles from where the camp was located. Residents back then thought something was going on but the CIA kept a tight lid on the matter. There were even “Atomic Testing — Stay Away!” signs posted all around and patrolling military police with shoot to kill orders.
Intrigued, I suggested that I write look into the matter and write a book about it. I only went to high school my last year in the area whereas my co-author, Deb Turnbull Devries, actually grew up there. I needed her contacts with old time residents to find out what they knew so I invited her to be co-author. I did all the writing whereas Deb handled the local research and interviews.
Q: In Wildflowers Never Die, you focus on the first thirty years of the Cold War, and particularly the authoritarian leaders of communist countries during this time. What drew you to this topic?
A: As we got to completing the local research, we found no one really knew much of anything. What books that had been written about the training added more information, but not much. I told Deb we don’t have much more than for a 80 page book. We needed to enlarge the subject matter to target a 200+ page book. I said, that meant expanding the topic to include the CIA and first three decades of the Cold War. The period which spawned not only the CIA/Tibetan operations but also the Korean War, the Secret War in Laos and parts of the Vietnam War. For good measure we also added what was happening during the 1950s in Berlin and also the strategic arms buildup. The book also is like a big morality play, so we focus on Mao Tse-Tung, an authoritarian leader taking over the helm of communism from Stalin who died in 1953. Khrushchev is mentioned briefly.
Q: What was the research process for this book? What was it like gaining first-hand accounts from those who saw the impacts of these leaders?
A: The only first-hand accounts were from the local area of upper Eagle Valley where Camp Hale (and therefore the CIA camp) was located. Deb spearheaded contacting these folks. I purchase a lot of books, mostly ebooks online, covering the early years of the CIA, their involvement in Korean War and Tibet, the little known Taiwan Straits crises and of course the wars in Laos and Vietnam. Add to that the research needed on matters pertaining to the Stasi and East Berlin, Pentagon wargaming, nuclear missiles and the CIA in Indonesia. Mao, his programs and damaging legacy was followed throughout. The whole research process took over a year with 110 reference sources cited in the book. There’s also 19 maps, giving the reader a better sense where places were located.
Q: The book’s introduction mentions how the Cold War and its resulting conflicts impacted both of your lives. I’m sure this was a personal book to write as a result. Were there any passages that were especially challenging for you?
A: The Cold War and its conflicts maybe affected me more than it did Deb, with the one major exception … that her recently deceased husband had fought in Vietnam, and recently passed away from his prior exposure to Agent Orange defoliant. Also, prior to being drafted, George had actually worked inside Titan II missile silos in Kansas. I lived in Denver which was surrounded back then by six Titan I silos. In the early 1950s my enlisted Air Force father, was approached by a KGB colonel when we lived in Oslo, Norway. In addition to his regular duties he acted as a double-agent for the US for the next 13 years. It was only shortly before he passed away that he was allowed to talk about it. I was also in Spain in 1966 when the Palamares incident happened. A B-52 crashed with a refueler midair resulting in four nuclear bombs being dropped over the southeast coast of Spain. Fortunately, they didn’t detonate but radiation was released and required extensive cleanup.
Q: What do you hope readers take away from Wildflowers Never Die?
A: Wildflowers is both a learning experience as well as being entertaining. Almost every other chapter we have a story based on true events and actual people which makes the book more of a page-turner. We realize many readers might get bored with reading something akin to a text book so we livened it up by including the stories, hopefully triggering interest and eliciting emotions. They add flesh to the bones and sinews of history. These were real people who lived and experienced those times, not simply numbers, dates and anonymous names. A text book narrative is still needed, however, to provide the “glue” … to give everything its proper historical context. So, at the end of the book, one should say to themself, “Wow, that was interesting. I didn’t know a lot of that stuff”. They should also reflect on the evil and hardship in the world perpetuated by authoritarian leaders behaving without restraint. A problem very much in existence still today.
Q: Is there another project in your future?
A: As an outgrowth of all the research that I collected on China, Mao and the communist party, I decided now to write my own book titled What Almost Was: China’s Flirtation with Democracy. It will be quite ambitious, covering Chinese history from the fall of the Qing Dynasty up to the present day under Xi Jinping.
By the way — Oppenheimer, an eagerly awaited film by Chris Nolan, is coming out later this year. It deals with development of America’s first atomic bomb. Wildflowers talks about the race with the USSR to build more destructive bombs and better delivery systems. Eisenhower dealt with the issue whether to use a nuclear device on the battlefield and later war gaming contemplated their use in Vietnam.
Randall Howlett is a 69-year-old retired and divorced American who has been living in Bangkok for the last ten years enjoying the life as an expat. Prior to that, he worked in middle management for a major insurance company for about 20 years after doing a stint as a Captain in the US Marine Corps for six years. He has a BA in Psychology from Mesa State College, an MA in Business Administration from National University in San Diego and an MBA in Finance/ Real Estate from the University of Denver. Randall had taken up writing books several years ago, focusing mostly on historical nonfiction.
Deb Turnbull DeVries is a native of the Eagle County, Colorado area where much of this story takes place. She is a retired teacher and a grandmother presently living in Wisconsin. She has a BS in Business Education from Northern Michigan University, an MA in Educational Administration from the same institution and an MA from Central Michigan in Library Science.
Both Randall Howlett and Deb Turnbull DeVries graduated from the same class of 1971 at Battle Mountain High School, located in Colorado’s high country.
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