The Battle of Zig Zag Pass follows talented and tormented Lloyd Zadoc into and out of World War II. A young man orphaned by a house fire and expelled from his college, Zadoc takes a job smuggling booze from Canada in a borrowed Packard. His compensation is a Prison or War ultimatum from the Detroit Police Chief. Having vacationed behind the cold bars of prison years before, he decides to take the Chief’s balmy Southeast Asian resort offer instead.

Through Lloyd, we navigate mine-riddled seas aboard a Navy transport to sweltering beach missions, experiencing tumult and triumphs alongside the crew. Despite the trauma and tragedy these soldiers endure, they seem to remain unabashed. We return home with them, picking up the pieces shattered by the Depression and the War, and see what it takes to thrive in post-war America.

Lloyd Zadoc’s story resembles that of many American soldiers who have fought in wars across Europe, South Asia, and the Middle East. America is teeming with the damaged bodies and tortured minds from these wars, many compromised and ignored, in wheelchairs or worse, unable to realize their potential. The Battle of Zig Zag Pass is dedicated to my fellow U.S. Army Rangers and to all of our American Veterans, past and present.