LAS VEGAS, May 28, 2009 — Award-winning author Robert X. Leeds is working on a new book to be released this December that will describe the adventures he encountered in over 70 years of service as an American knight-errant.
Not long after the Japanese invasion of Manchuria, a 5-year-old American boy found a disturbing trading card with a picture of a Japanese soldier holding a rifle with a Chinese baby impaled on the end of its bayonet. That image stayed with Robert X. Leeds forever. He wanted to make a better world.
A 10-year-old Leeds was stricken with a heart disease and confined to his bed for over a year. Two books that he read changed his life forever: King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table and Don Quixote. He found King Arthur’s story entertaining, but Don Quixote, the story of an elderly, senile man who wanted to reintroduce the values of the Age of Chivalry to current times, was more than just entertainment to Leeds. It was a lesson in honor, loyalty, chivalry, courage, and compassion.
By age 11 his heart defect mysteriously disappeared. He fashioned a sword out of wood and took a knight’s oath of allegiance that he still lives by today:
“I pledge fealty to my God, my country, and to my sovereign. To slay dragons; to rescue maidens in distress; and to favor those in need and those oppressed everywhere.”
When Pearl Harbor was bombed on December 7th, 1941, Leeds joined the Civil Air Patrol Parachute Squadron and made over 60 freefall parachute jumps at Army recruiting drives and Bond Rallies. At 17, he enlisted in the United States Air Force. Seeing the war was coming to completion before he could complete the pilot training program, he obtained a leave-of-absence and joined the Merchant Marines. He served in more countries over the next few years and received several military awards including citations for “Service Above and Beyond the Call of Duty” and “Heroism and Courage Without Hesitation.”
Leeds wanted to serve in Iraq after America went to war. He received permission last December to embed with the First Cavalry Division in Iraq. From January through April, he went on 65 missions and was the oldest warrior serving with the armed forces.
In March, in Baquba, Iraq, Leeds’ vehicle was struck by a rocket-propelled grenade. Leeds insisted his wounds were minor and would not restrict his service. Despite a loss of hearing and other injuries, he went back on patrol two days later.
Arriving back in the states on April 25, Leeds decided to continue working on his autobiography and amend the content to include information about American soldiers, the volunteers who, he believes, carry out a knights’ code. It will be called “The Last Knights-Errant.”
Photos of Robert X. Leeds:
http://www.ereleases.com/pr/2009-RobertLeeds.jpg
http://www.ereleases.com/pr/2009-RobertLeeds2.jpg
To learn more about the upcoming book or for interviews with the author, Robert X. Leeds, contact Peggy Baran at Epic Publishing (peggybaran@epicpublishing.com) or (702) 248-7263.
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