With love and admiration for Mary French Simmons, of Springfield, Tennessee, in recognition of her courage and devotion, and who, as Lady Stephenson, made Intrepid possible.

A brash young man named Winston Churchill was on the North American lecture circuit at the turn of the century, retelling the story of guerrillas in South Africa and his own escape from their “camps of concentration.” His audiences were disappointingly small.

I listened to this valiant man and thought once again how superbly apt Winston Churchill had been in selecting his code name: INTREPID.