5 comments about Dear Captain, et al. : The Agonies and the Ecstasies of War and Memory, a Memoir from World War II.

1. In "Dear Captain, et al." an ex-sergeant tells us the story of his company during the final year of World War II in Northern Europe. This story of war is compelling because it is told by an eyewitness who complements his own remarkable and unflinching memory with documents from official sources, making a narrative which is by turns as intimate as a conversation with an uncle and as far ranging as a lesson from an historian.

   There is no glory in the war described here. The waste, horror, madness, and despair of mankind's most desperate activity is chronicled here with the profound understanding of someone who lived it. Soldiers and civilians, all who were caught up in the past century's bloodiest war, are here portrayed by ex-sergeant Howerton with such uncommon honesty, wisdom and compassion, that the reader is left with both a renewed sense of the true tragedy of war, and a deeper repect for those who were called to sacrifice their lives.

   Author Allan Wilford Howerton provides a searing, honest, and tearful portrayal which honors his comrades. He provides his readers a spell binding reminiscence which cannot be fogotten.




2. Dear Captain, et al. Is a brilliantly written memoir of a young soldier during WWII. Mr. Howerton gives a very factual account of a highly distinguished infantry company during the war. His wonderful writing style allows you to see the war from day to day through his eyes. You will get to know the men of Company K, 335th Infantry Regiment, 84th Infantry Division as if you were there with them. The love story intermingled with the historical content is an excellent touch. I would highly recommend this book to everyone.



3. Dear Captain, et al. Is a brilliantly written memoir of a young soldier during WWII. Mr. Howerton gives a very factual account of a highly distinguished infantry company during the war. His wonderful writing style allows you to see the war from day to day through his eyes. You will get to know the men of Company K, 335th Infantry Regiment, 84th Infantry Division as if you were there with them. The love story intermingled with the historical content is an excellent touch. I would highly recommend this book to everyone.



4. I have been conducting research on my grandfather's service in Germany during World War Two and this book describes the firsthand emotions of combat, then looks back in hindsight with notes that further explain how soldiers deal with the day-to-day of battle and life.
   
   I would highly recommend this book.



5. An absolute great work. Whether you're an historian or someone just wanting to read a good story this book has it. Mr. Howerton will take you with him, from the beginning at Camp Claiborne Louisiana where you will meet the infamous drill Sergeant Julius G. Phagan. He'll make a soldier out of your h'ass or else. You'll traverse the states by rail arriving at Camp Kilmer and then board the troop ship Stirling Castle. Once in Europe the 355th wastes little time before being thrown into action at the Seigfried line and their first major battle at Lindern Germany. The 84th infantry division played a major role in the European theater of WW2 and K Company of the 335th was in the thick of it. I highly recommend this book

3 comments about The Last Parade: An American War Story.

1. This book provides valuable insight to the daily life of a U.S. Marine during the Korean Conflict. Focusing on the personal struggle between duty and moral conscience as told first hand by author, this is a story that will hold your attention to the unexpected end. Definitely a good selection for anyone interested in the Korean Conflict.



2. This novel is one of the very best I have ever read on military service. The author, a U.S. Marine, enlisted for the same reason many young men do. He believed in the values of honor, traditions, history, and duty which are bestowed upon all members of the U.S. Marine Corps.

   Believing he is being deployed to Korea to liberate the South Korean people he quickly learns that few values exist in combat. Even in the Marine Corps where he has been taught that values are supreme.

   In Korea, he experiences the very worst in terms of human behavior among those men whom he was taught were exemplory in character. This novel is a testimony to the brutality and cruelty of all warriors in battle. No matter if they are Chinese Communists or U.S. Marines. Atrocities are detailed which are often committed in hostile environments but are almost never talked about or written in a novel.

   A real eye openner to American readers. Enjoy.




3. I read this book in one of Sam's earliest manuscripts which he had sent to my father to read. He is a born storyteller. If you want to learn more about the Korean War and the effects it had on many unsung heroes, this book is a must read. I had grown up on some of the horror stories of this war from listening to my father. But this is one story he was never able to tell me. It haunted him for decades. He had finally made peace with it in the years before he passed away. This book helped me to understand my father and his demons. He loved the Corps and this was a very bitter experience for him. Thank you Sam for writing this book.

No comments about Bugler & Officer of the Rifles-with the 95th Rifles during the Peninsular & Waterloo campaigns of the Napoleonic Wars.

No comments about Coal Bloom.

5 comments about Alone on Guadalcanal: A Coastwatcher's Story (Bluejacket Books).

1. For people interested in the Pacific WWII. This is the only book that provides the complete story of Coastwatchers and how they helped win the war on Guadalcanal. Never before been told and written by a near-mythic Coastwatcher Martin Clemens A compelling true adventure story. Of particular interest to Marines who were there but didn't have the slightest idea of what was going on in the background. For First Marine Division Marines this is a MUST read. I was there with Martin Clemens.



2. A wonderful book and a finely documented living history. Refreshing account based on Mr. Clemens actual diary notations. I have read almost every book on Guadalcanal and this one is definitely different. It reflects lulls between events and actually provides new information. The history and events in his story builds some natural suspense and his work is highly accurate! Not many books are written in a manner that makes you actually feel like you were there. Particularly good is the detailed writing of periperhal events surrounding well know events and battles. This work fills in many blanks will add another dimension to existing knowledge bases of historians and those interested in early pacific war. Also, not just a WWII campaign story but an excellent example of what can be accomplished when the odds are against you!



3. This is the story of a British civil officer who had just arrived in the Solomons when war broke out. It is his story, what he saw, what he thought, during the time from before the war started until the U.S. army had solid control of Guadalcanal.
   
   Where it is weak is that there is no context for the story. If you don't know about the Solomon's campaign, you will be totally lost. And there is no context for what he sees so again, you don't know how key some of the battles he was in were.
   
   I think this is a good book for people who have a strong knowledge of the Solomin's campaign. And in that case it will give you a unique viewpoint of the war. But don't read it unless you do have that knowledge.



4. As an ex-patriot Australian now living in the U.S., I'm ashamed to admit I knew almost nothing about Guadalcanal, other than its reputation for being a bad place to be during WW2, until reading this outstanding book. My ignorance of the incredible risks Clemens and the Allied Forces took at that time is particularly surprising given that I knew the author as the father of a close friend when I was growing up in the late 1960s. I sat across the dining table from him during many Sunday dinners and heard nothing of his adventures in the Solomon Islands. Perhaps the author's reluctance to bore those around him with war stories, and my youthful lack of curiosity, deprived me of hearing the story first-hand. I'm truly grateful that he has shared this exciting and harrowing story with the world. Having read his account, I'm inspired to read other perspectives of the events that took place at that time. This book has reinforced my appreciation for those Allied soldiers who bravely fought off this persistent invader on our very doorstep while Australian civilians quietly went about their business at home.



5. I have read Walter Lord's book "Lonely Vigil" about the Pacific Island Coastwatchers several times and greatly enjoyed it. This, however, is a full book about just one of these Coastwatchers, and goes into quite a bit more detail about the daily routine and happenings during that time. He was most likely the most experienced and senior Coastwatcher, and his interaction with U.S. forces was extremely helpful.

2 comments about I Volunteered: Canadian Vietnam Vets Remember.

1. This compelling book brings to light the stories and struggles of some of the 50,000 young Canadians who were recruited to fight in the Vietnam War. The U.S. deliberately recruited them, setting up offices in Plattsburgh and Bellingham near the Canadian border. But the Canadian government doesn't recognize these men as soldiers and hasn't provided any of the support services they should've been getting to cope with what they experienced. Consequently, many have suffered in silence. For some, the pain was too great.

   Despite the subject matter, this book is hard to put down. It reads like a long magazine article rather than a book. It also changed the way I perceive the men who fought in the Vietnam War. It seems that many bought into the U.S. and Hollywood propaganda about wars and being a soldier. When you're 18 years old, that can be pretty powerful.




2. Arial's best chapter is the one detailing all the petty, pubescent, "mine is bigger than yours" chicanery that dogged the creation of the North Wall. This is, sadly, an accurate description of a disgusting mentality that plagues Veterans' groups across North America. No government need fear or listen to these characters, who are too busy fighting amongst themselves to make any kind of difference.

   Arial also brings to light true heroes like Mike "Iceman" Gillholley, and Ed "Edwardo" Johnson. However, there are some errors.

   She writes about the 173rd "Division", the "American" Division, and a Marine "Lieutenant-Corporal." (Should be the 173rd Airborne BRIGADE, the AMERICAL Division and Marine LANCE-Corporal respectively.)

   More seriously, she labels as a "benevolent wannabe" a Central America War survivor who has done more than the average Vietnam Vet to advance the Cause in Canada, while inadvertedly promoting one jabroni whose records are completely devoid of any combat action decorations.

   Arial did good to write about Veterans when she could have well written about immensely more profitable subjects. However, her investigative techniques need work before she reaches the level of Yves Lavigne and Jug Burkett.

5 comments about The Downing Street Years.

1. Athena was the ancient Greek Goddess of war, wisdom, and strategy and is a common Jungian archetype. Lady Thatcher was a living breathing embodiment of Athena and well deserved her iron lady nickname. Britain must be doing something right because they had Churchill and Thatcher as Prime Ministers in the same century just three decades apart. Churchill was the bulldog who refused to say uncle to Germany. Thatcher was a conviction politician (an even rarer breed in 2005) ... who gave the defiance to communism. The Downing Street Years are her personal testamony of her courage to bring Britain out of near bankruptcy, her strength to crush the socialist unions, and the stealth to hold to her vision. In a world where too many leaders spend 90 percent of their time worrying what other people think, Thatcher had a steely spine and never bent to win some fluffy popularity contest. The prequel "The Path to Power" is an equally fascinating personal memoir of a life designed out of unbelievable confidence.
   
   Thatcher entered Oxford at 17 on full scholarship despite opposition from her Headmaster. Teenage Maggie challenged the latin exam, crammed three years of study into four months, and aced her scholarship to read analytical chemistry at university. If you want your daughter to manifest her leadership, dsetiny, and persevere according to an inner compass, Margaret Thatcher is one of those mentors whose actions truly are larger than her words.
   
   Having had the privilege to hear Lady Thatcher speak in person during Unviersity, her ability to move the room, only sharpened after her exited 10 Downing Street for the final time. Ronald Reagan and Thatcher's warm friendship sealed the melting of the iron curtain. It took iron to melt iron. Lady Thatcher is one special leadership, intellectually powerful and able to translate and apply her brilliance for enduring political currency. Her legacy is unlike any other female leader in today's climate. Only Senator Clinton might share a similar legacy whilst not quite sharing Thatcher's policies. If Thatcher was two decades younger I would lobby her to cross the pond and take over the leadership of this (Canada) other Commonwealth country. After four decades of socialism ... we need it!



2. I can't help but like Margaret Thatcher, even though much of what she stood for abrades my own values and sense of what is right and wrong. If for nothing else than her iron-hard, Churchillian stance against the IRA in the 1980's---thus in the face of no British pullout from Northern Ireland sparing the Republic in the south from dealing with the fighting in Ulster---she rates all right in my eyes. She rose to power in her own party in a time when even in matriarchal Great Britain women were not supposed to be able to make it to the top. She also orchestrated the defeat of the entrenched if unpopular Labour Party in the 1970's by taking the minds and souls of her countrymen back to more glorious times of Empire. If there is any doubt that so many parallels can be drawn between her and her contemporary US counterpart Ronald Reagan, then consider how expertly she used one-liners and power slogans in her own campaigns and political battles. ("Labour Is Not Working" a popular banner of the late-70's is probably the best and most clever tool her party employed.)
   
   In this memoir of the Downing Street years, Thatcher does only one thing wrong in my view and that's how she drifts too often into self-congratulation. I mean, that's the only way I can say it. Instead of sticking to facts and letting society and history be her jury, she appears perfectly content to do it herself. If "humility is truth" maybe in a way her take on herself is a virtue, I don't know, but to me, it came off as a slight faux pas.
   
   The Prime Minister a reader meets in these topic-by-topic discussions of events germane to her lengthy time in office (she outlasted two US Presidents and nearly a third) is a capable, tough, self-confident personage who was probably the best and most fitting person to lead her nation at that moment.



3. 
   "The Downing Street Years" is an interesting, informative, enlightening and fascinating account of Margaret Thatcher as the Prime Minister of Great Britain for 11 years. Lady Thatcher was clearly a brilliant politician with a sharp intellect who has left an enduring legacy and indelible mark in British and world politics. Readers can get an insight on how she made certain decisions.
   
   My political views are very different from hers but I greatly admire her achievements for Britain. She had the courage, perseverance and decisiveness to stand up for her beliefs and not just to please some people. Her rise to power in a male dominated society and Conservative Party is nothing short of remarkable. Things to her were in clear black or white, no grey areas, which generated either intense loyalty or deep seated dislike of the lady. She was truly an "Iron Lady".
   
   In her memoirs, the reader will learn how she dealt with various significant events during her tenure in office such as the Falklands War, the USSR, the Miners Strike, and the privatization of nationalized industries, her encounters and opinions on various world leaders as well as how she won three elections (1979, 1983 and 1987). Her close friendship with Ronald Reagan played a significant role in the collapse of the USSR. She also reveals the challenges she often encountered in politics including betrayals and dealing with government officials steeped in bureaucracy.
   
   This is excellent reading for executives and politicians of all political persuasions.



4. Hillary Clinton has mentioned that she went blond after reading Thatcher's autobiography.
   Why did Thatcher go blond?
   
   Thatcher's books don't list blond, bleach or hair in the index.
   I wish more books were in digital form.
   thanks.



5. Mrs. Thatcher's memoirs of her decade-plus as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom are a very illuminating look at the 1980s, which were perhaps the most critical decade for Britain - and the rest of the Western world - since the Second World War. This is a massive, 800-plus page tome. But if you're interested in recent British history, or in the 1980s or the late Cold War, this book will reward your time and effort. Mrs. Thatcher may have been controversial - loved by many and hated by nearly as many - but one thing you can't accuse her of is failure to lead.
   
   All of the important events of her tenure as PM are covered. Some of it is tedious - such as minute details about tax policies, for example. (Though these do, however, illustrate Mrs. Thatcher's impressive ability to understand the complexities of important issues.) But the wonderful thing about this book is that it's organized simultaneously chronologically and topically, which means you can skip over parts you're not interested in and go ahead to something else. (I admit I did this more than once.)
   
   I particularly liked the parts dealing with the Falkland Islands War and those dealing with the Cold War. In the case of the former, I've read several military accounts of the conflict, but Mrs. Thatcher's detailed chronicling of the diplomatic aspects added greatly to my understanding of it. It was amazing how much the US, in the form of Secretary of State Al Haig, meddled in it to try to achieve "compromise," despite the fact that Argentina was clearly the aggressor.
   
   The parts on the last phases of the Cold War were the strongest parts of the book. It's neat to get an insider's account of all the personalities and the diplomatic wrangling. Mrs. Thatcher was the Churchill of her time - she was instrumental in using real leadership skills to help hold together an alliance against aggressive dictatorships. The combination of her leadership with that of Ronald Reagan, Pope John Paul II, and Mikhail Gorbachev - the first Soviet leader who seemed to genuinely have good intentions, despite his continuing belief in communism - was a major factor in bringing about the end of the Cold War. I believe that as time goes by, Mrs. Thatcher will only be more vindicated, both for her contributions to the West's Cold War victory, and for starting the process of revitalizing Britain. (A former professor of mine who specialized in modern Britain and was - of course - a dedicated left-winger always gave Mrs. Thatcher a lot of credit for making some tough decisions that had positive long-term effects on the British economy; in fact, my professor even said that the prosperity Britain enjoyed in the `90s probably had more to do with Thatcher than with Blair. Coming from a leftist, that's saying something!)
   
   Yes, this book is biased and one-sided; Mrs. Thatcher, atypically for a European leader, speaks (and writes) in a very straightforward, tell-it-like-it-is, here's-what-I-think-and-why-I'm-right fashion. (She almost seems like an American, with a habit like that!) But remember, these are memoirs. Memoirs, especially by former political leaders, are ALWAYS biased; they're not meant to be objective. Instead, they're meant to be one person's account, one person's case. If you keep that in mind, this is a very good book - huge and dense, perhaps, but worth the effort if the subject matter interests you.

No comments about CAMPAIGNING IN ZULULAND - EXPERIENCES ON CAMPAIGN DURING THE ZULU WAR OF 1879 WITH THE 94TH REGIMENT.

1 comments about Another Side of World War II: A Coast Guard Lieutenant in the South Pacific.

1. Another Side Of World War II: A Coast Guard Lieutenant In The South Pacific by Juliana Fern Patten is the engaging personal story of one man's experiences of World War II in the South Pacific Theatre. Compiled from letters, logs, and photographs of the time, Another Side Of World War II provides readers with an intimate and vivid detailing of events from the perspective of someone deeply involved with the progression of the war. A welcome contribution to the growing library of World War II military memoirs an and biographies, Another Side Of World War II is very highly recommended to all readers with an interest in first-hand accounts, as well as those in search of a better understanding of World War II and America's participation in the South Pacific combat zones.

No comments about Winds of Destruction: The Autobiography of a Rhodesian Combat Pilot.