Inside Marine One

Four U.S. Presidents, One Proud Marine, and the World's Most Amazing Helicopter

By: Lee Kelley, Ray L'Heureux

Narrated by: David Drummond

Length: 7 hrs and 11 mins

Publisher's summary

Colonel Ray "Frenchy" L'Heureux always dreamed of being a pilot. Growing up, he built airplane models and dreamed about soaring over the Earth. When he was 12, his mom treated him to a flying lesson at the local airfield. Taken on a short flight by an instructor and allowed to operate the controls for part of the flight, he was hooked forever. It wasn't until he was running low on college funds and saw a recruiter at his college that he joined the Marines and began the journey towards his dream from Parris Island to Bravo Company, and then officer training school. One day at an airfield when President Reagan landed on his way to a fundraiser, Frenchy's life changed forever when he encountered HMX1, the squadron that flies the President in Marine One. When he saw the white-topped Sea King and White Hawk helicopters, he was determined to become part of that elite group. Inside Marine One is Colonel L'Heureux's inspiring story of a young man who dreamed of flying, trained, studied, and worked hard to become the pilot who ended up serving four US Presidents - George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama. It's also a personal guided tour inside the world's most famous helicopter by a man who knows that flying machine better than any other. Inside Marine One is a great American success story of a young boy who dreamed big, worked hard, and finally flew the President of the United States as his number one passenger.

©2014 Colonel Ray L’Heureux with Lee Kelley (P)2014 Tantor

awesome story!

It was a terrific story. the author had a great military career getting to serve the commander in chief times four.

Great book on a subject that is very interesting.

Proves you can write a very interesting book about a subject that is usually censored for Top Secret reasons. Frenchman was able to bring in the reader in and tell the story about a world that is closed off to most without exposing any secrets about the operations. Well done. He needs to tell Col. Tillman to write his version now.

Great Book

Great insight into Marine One and what it is like to be in that elite unit.

Helicopters? Who knew I would love this book!

What a wonderful book, on a subject I had never particularly thought much about. Except that for when I was to take my first helicopter flight and was scared witless, I kept telling myself that if Nancy Reagan could fly in one, so could I!

I could envision a young boy being obsessed with flying...airplanes...and it was airplanes that L'Heureux was obsessed with. So much so that he joined the Marines in order to learn to fly. Learn to fly he did, but when push came to shove, in other words, when he had to decide where he wanted to serve, he chose helicopters. Sometimes that is how life turns out. We make unforeseen choices and our life is set on a trajectory not thought of ever before.

This was a great look inside the workings of the Marines, and inside the presidency of George W. Bush, 43.

Awesome book brings back memories

Great book I was attached to HMX-1 after Colonal L'Heureux's first tour and left before his return. It is a great inside of how much goes into a presidential lift. I was a phrog chrewchief that was cleared and turned in to a VH-3D crewchief. It brings back a lot of great memories with the great people who made that big green machine turn. As he explains how he felt around President Bush is how us young enlisted Marines felt when our CO would take time out of his busy day and tell us what a great job we were doing. Will recommend to all my friends and family. Thank You sir for writing this book.

Refresh your 🇺🇸 Patriotism; offer a respectful "Ooh Rah"!

👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼 - From military logic accounts, to touching and humorous personal reflections (Peloton One); a chronicled perspective beyond panoramic views. Refresh your 🇺🇸 Patriotism; offer a respectful "Ooh Rah"!

Exciting listen

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes, good perspective from the inside source. Learned a lot about the helicopter and the people that transport the president

What did you like best about this story?

Hearing about the different helicopter types used and mission specific details (as much as could be told).

Which scene was your favorite?

Cross country mission, details during missions that wer given

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Marine 1: Behind the Glass

A great book

A wonderful book that I found to be a developmental and maturative for a young man coming of age such as myself. I found great relation with the author and I further highly recommend this book.

Inside the velvet rope

I thought this was a very in-depth look at something that we tend to take for granted which is the transportation of the president of the United States . Even though we might have seen the helicopters before we never get a chance to think about the men that are assigned to them ,very good ,he had a very illustrious career.

Never seemed to go anywhere?

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

Not sure if time well spent in the end but saw it through...it just didn't seem to go deep enough about the events and times.

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

some of the technical stuff was OK , too much about Bush jnr.....

Did David Drummond do a good job differentiating all the characters? How?

yes, though accent became tiring after awhile.

Was Inside Marine One worth the listening time?

not sure if would read it again...