Code Name: Johnny Walker by Johnny Walker

Code Name: Johnny Walker

The Extraordinary Story of the Iraqi Who Risked Everything to Fight With the U.s. Navy SEALs

Johnny Walker, Jim DeFelice

HarperCollins · Print & ebook · February 11, 2014

In this unforgettable memoir, the Navy SEALs’ most trusted translator—a man who is credited with saving countless American lives and became a legend in the special-ops community—tells his inspiring story for the first time.

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Who it’s for
An Iraqi interpreter’s memoir brings a ground-level view of war, loyalty, and its human cost.
Themes
Iraq War and insurgency, An interpreter’s wartime experience, The human cost of war
Genres
Military Lives, Iraq War (2003-2011), Special Forces History

About this book

In this unforgettable memoir, the Navy SEALs’ most trusted translator—a man who is credited with saving countless American lives and became a legend in the special-ops community—tells his inspiring story for the first time. As the insurgency in Iraq intensified following the American invasion, U.S. Navy SEALs were called upon to root terrorists from their lairs.

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Unsure of the local neighborhoods and unable to speak the local languages, they came to rely on one man to guide them and watch their backs. He was a "terp"—an interpreter—with a job so dangerous they couldn't even use his real name. They named him Johnny Walker. They soon called him brother. Over the course of eight years, the Iraqi native traveled around the country with nearly every SEAL and special operations unit deployed there. He went on thousands of missions, saved dozens of SEAL and other American lives, and risked his own daily. Helped to the U.S. by the SEALs he protected, Johnny Walker's life is so remarkable that his tale reads like fiction. But every word of it is true. For the first time ever, a "terp" tells what it was like in Iraq during the American invasion and the brutal insurgency that followed. With inside details on SEAL operations and a humane understanding of the tragic price paid by ordinary Iraqis, Code Name: Johnny Walker reveals a side of the war that has never been told before.

War From Within

An Iraqi interpreter’s memoir brings a ground-level view of war, loyalty, and its human cost.

Come here for

  • An interpreter’s perspective on SEAL operations in Iraq
  • A memoir shaped by danger, trust, and service

Expect

  • Firsthand detail from eight years alongside special-operations units
  • Attention to the price ordinary Iraqis paid

Where it sits

Iraq War (2003-2011)72%
Special Forces History64%
Military Lives43%

Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.

Publisher categories

  • Lives in History
  • Military Lives
  • Political Lives
  • Personal Memoirs
Show all 8 publisher categories
  • Survival Stories
  • Iraq History
  • World War II History
  • Iraq War (2003-2011)
Authors
Johnny Walker, Jim DeFelice
Publisher
HarperCollins
Published
February 11, 2014
Format
Print & ebook
Theme
Iraq War and insurgency · An interpreter’s wartime experience · The human cost of war
Reading lane
Lives in History