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Let's Go! The History of the 29th Infantry Division


Bugme
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I was recently asked to review this book from Shiffer Publishing. It was written by one of our own forum members, Alexander Barnes(CW4AFB). I can honestly say, this book absolutely blew me away! You can read my review below:

Alexander Barnes along with Tim Williams and Chris Calkins have provided us with a comprehensive & easy to follow history of the 29th Infantry division in their new release: “Let’s Go! The History of the 29th Infantry Division” from Schiffer Publishing. This large attractive coffee table book follows the 29th from its inception as an Army Division in 1917 up until 2001. The “Blue & Gray” Division is best known for the carnage that was inflicted upon them on June 6th 1944 at a place called Omaha Beach. However, the history of the 29th is much more comprehensive and fascinating than just a few hours of horror on a German occupied beachhead.

The authors have used an incredible abundance of previously unpublished period photos as well as high resolution colored images of historical 29th artifacts on nearly every page as they weave the story of this division between them. From its formation at Camp McClellan in the early days of the United States involvement in the “Great War” that was taking place in Europe, the writers show us the tale of America’s Doughboys of the 29th as they went off to fight in what we now call WWI. Chapter after chapter of this book follows these brave sons of America through their fighting, their return home and then back into the fighting of WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Desert Storm, Sinai and Bosnia. Even the peacetime years and cold war are covered in great detail as the 29th Infantry Division hopped on the rollercoaster of history.

This book has included a multitude of short biographies of the Generals, leaders and the average men who wore the blue & gray insignia and moved this storied National Guard division into the annals of history. This book is a must have for any collector or historian of the 29th Infantry Division and is even an incredible companion to those who are just students of U.S. military history from the pre-WWI years up into the new millennium. The 296 history and photo filled glossy pages of this attractive hardcover book are worth more than five times the asking price.

29th Let's Go.jpg

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The back cover gives you a good idea of what is inside the book. The artifacts and photo's in this book are beyond compare!

Amazon currently has it on sale: http://www.amazon.com/Lets-Go-Infantry-Division-1917-2001/dp/0764346369/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1414165508&sr=8-1&keywords=lets%20go!%20history%20of%20the%2029th&tag=viglink20248-20

29th Let's Go - back.jpg

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I own a copy, it's an incredible book, a must have for anyone that collects the 29th Division or is interested in this unit. It has something for everyone, helmets, uniforms, insignia, medals, equipment. All complemented by a lavish number of rare vintage photos and documents. He has chapters dedicated to detailed biographies of division leaders as well as lineages of the units of the 29th which is illustrated with distinctive unit insignia.

 

My favorite chapter is Chapter 14, "Two Shooting Nine Looting Let's Go!" - Vignettes and Unofficial History of the 29th, which provides some interesting and diverse stories about the division not recorded elsewhere. That chapter has the story of the D-Day assault vest illustrated with some wonderful photos of the vest in the US Army Quartermaster Museum collection. And being a desert uniform collector I'm drawn to, Chapter 16, The 21st Century and Global War on Terrorism, which has a photo of a rare 29th Division patched DCU worn by a division member.

 

This is Al's second book so he's an accomplished writer with a style I enjoy, but you may not know that Al's coauthors are also well regarded. Chris Calkins is a well known Civil War historian and Author. And Tim Williams became the the Adjutant General of Virginia a few months after the book was published. Ironically he now has oversight of the 29th Infantry Division that he spent many hours lovingly researching and writing about.

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This is Al's second book so he's an accomplished writer with a style I enjoy, but you may not know that Al's coauthors are also well regarded. Chris Calkins is a well known Civil War historian and Author. And Tim Williams became the the Adjutant General of Virginia a few months after the book was published. Ironically he now has oversight of the 29th Infantry Division that he spent many hours lovingly researching and writing about.

Al writes like someone who has been writing books of this nature for decades. He's got another one that will be coming out soon that promises to be just as good. His co-authors bring a ton of experience to the table and make this an end-all reference book for everything that is 29er!

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Gents--thanks for the kind comments--I know that Chris and Tim and I were constantly amazed as we worked on the book to find so much other history tied to the 29th Division---very early in the process we realized that the legacy of the 29th is much more than just D-Day and Omaha Beach. The dedication to duty bravery of the Blue and Gray during the Meuse-Argonne in WWI and also at St. Lo, Brest and Julich in WWII are certainly worthy of a book just on their own merits. We were also fortunate to find significant stories and artifacts from the 29th's service in Bosnia--another very under-reported piece of history

 

I'm sure the same could be said for the other National Guard Divisions so hopefully somebody out there is doing the same for the 28th or the 32nd or the 37th ...

Al

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