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cutiger83
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  • 2 weeks later...

Currently reading The Naval Battle of Guadalcanal - Night Action, 13 November 1942, by James W. Grace. So far, pretty good book.

This particular battle has a special significance for me, my father-in-law was aboard the USS Monssen during this battle, a destroyer sunk during this engagement. He was an Engineering officer, an Ensign at that time, and was injured during this battle, later awarded the Purple Heart.

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I am currently reading the 2nd volume of a 5 volume set, "We Were Crewdogs" The B-52 Collection

 

from the back, "Their stories told in their words in their styles. Here is a collection of personal insights into what it takes to be B-52 Crewdogs, in times of war and in times of peace, and why they take pride in telling the world - You Gotta be tough to fly the Heavies!"

 

Great insight to what my father went through, back in the good old bad old days.

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Just finished reading Richard Moe's book; The Last Full Measure: The Life and Death of the1st Minnesota Volunteer Regiment. I read the book cover to cover in one night. One of the best books I have read in a long time. Moe pieces the historical record but more importantly he weaves the expieriences of the enlisted soldier within his book. From mustering in through the battle of Bull Run onto their heroic actions at Gettysburg and final mustering out, moe gives the reader the raw uncensored account of what it meant for these guys to live and die to preserve the Union. His main thesis is that the men who swore allegiance to the Union were not motivated by slavery but overwhelming feelings of preserving the Union and also the sense of excitement that the possibilities of war brought. His work argues also that not much has changed in the Army since the 1st Minnesota marched to war and the newest group of veterans, poor food, bad leadership and the well known "hurry up and wait". As a veteran myself I can relate to my fellow Minnesotan vets from another era. To sum it up I give this book a glowing praise of 10/10, I prefer to read Vietnam War history but this book has opened my eyes to the trials that faced the common Union soldier from Minnesota. It has also fostered a renewed goal of going back to Gettysburg and seeing where the 1st Minnesota lost 83% of the men on Gettysburg buying vital minutes for the union to repulse the South. Than the 47 survivors were integral in stopping Pickett's charge later. President Abraham Lincoln was right when he said "that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure"

 

Overall this book is a staple of any persons library, due to the personal level Moe brings to the table, I highly recommend this book in a heart beat.

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I am currently reading The Coldest War by James Brady. I have to embarrassedly say this if my first book on the Korean conflict. I have found it a very good read so far (currently about half way through). It is an excellent account of Brady's service as a brand new USMC Lt. It has definitely stoked my interest in reading more about the Korean War!

 

I was also surprised to find a reference to who I believe to be my wife's Uncle while reading! It wasn't very flattering and I still have to verify my suspicion with another of her Uncles...but I believe the odds of it being him are at about 70%. The soldier is mentioned by rank and a not so common last name, and both fit. This Uncle passed away last year and was one of the Chosen Frozen...

 

In any event, if you have not read this book I recommend it!

 

Kevin

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wow alot of books some i have some i have read and lot i want check out

was glad to one person was reading the Bible

right now im goin through A General's Life Autobiography of Omar Bradley by Omar Bradley and Clay Blair good book learning a lot

If The Allies Had Fallen sixty Alternate Scenarios of WW2 Dennis Showalter and Harold Deutsch good book

Spec Ops Case Studies in Special Warfare Theory and Practice Willam H. McRaven also good

new issue of Jeep magazine

and about 10 political ads that come in the mail everyday be glad when thats over

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  • 2 weeks later...

I am currently reading The Coldest War by James Brady. I have found it a very good read so far (currently about half way through). It is an excellent account of Brady's service as a brand new USMC Lt. It has definitely stoked my interest in reading more about the Korean War!

 

In any event, if you have not read this book I recommend it!

 

Kevin

 

I would concur with your assessment. A great read. I got to this biography by reading his novels of the US Marines.

 

The Marine

The Marines of Autumn

Warning of War

 

My favourite was The Marines of Autumn which is set during the withdrawal from the Chosin Resorvoir.

 

Brady is also the author of Why Marines Fight.

 

He passed away in 2009. Semper Fi.

 

Cheers,

Dan.

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  • 2 weeks later...
history-buff1944

The Malmedy Massacre by: John M. Bauserman. This is THE BEST book ive ever read about the famed massacre. Highly recommended.

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Wearing the Green Beret (2011) by Jake Olafsen.

 

Olafsen is a Canadian from British Columbia who joined the Royal Marines in 2005 and completed his service in 2010. He did two tours in Afghanistan during that time.

 

Divided into two parts, the first part covers his 30 weeks of commando training while the second covers his combat tours in Kandahar.

 

A good read for those interested.

 

Cheers,

Dan.

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  • 3 weeks later...

DOG TAGS A History of the American Military Identification Tag...1861 - 2002 by Paul F. Braddock

I am learning a lot from this book about Dog Tags that I had no idea about!

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Just picked up 2 new books:

For reference, I picked up Helmets of the ETO. Anyone interested in M1 helmets should definitely own this book!!

For reading, I picked up The Liberator by Alex Kershaw. I am only about 10 pages in, and it is already one of the best books on my pile!!

 

 

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Description from the Amazon website:

 

The true story of the bloodiest and most dramatic march to victory of the Second World War: the battlefield odyssey of a maverick U.S. Army officer and his infantry unit as they fought for over five hundred days to liberate Europe - from the invasion of Italy to the gates of Dachau.

 

From July 10, 1943, the date of the Allied landing in Sicily, to May 8, 1945, when victory in Europe was declared – the entire time it took to liberate Europe – no regiment saw more action, and no single platoon, company, or battalion endured worse, than the ones commanded by Felix Sparks, who had entered the war as a greenhorn second lieutenant of the 157th “Eager for Duty” Infantry Regiment of the 45th “Thunderbird” Division. Sparks and his fellow Thunderbirds fought longest and hardest to defeat Hitler, often against his most fanatical troops, when the odds on the battlefield were even and the fortunes of the Allies hung in the balance – and when the difference between defeat and victory was a matter of character, not tactics or armor.

 

Drawing on extensive interviews with Sparks and dozens of his men, as well as over five years of research in Europe and in archives across the US, historian Alex Kershaw masterfully recounts one of the most inspiring and heroic journeys in military history. Over the course of four amphibious invasions, Sparks rose from captain to colonel as he battled from the beaches of Sicily through the mountains of Italy and France, ultimately enduring bitter and desperate winter combat against the diehard SS on the Fatherland’s borders. Though he lost all of his company to save the Allied beach-head at Anzio and an entire battalion in the dark forests of the Vosges, Sparks miraculously survived the long bloody march across Europe and was selected to lead a final charge to Bavaria to hunt down Adolf Hitler.

 

In the dying days of the Third Reich, Sparks and his men crossed the last great barrier in the West, the Rhine, only to experience some of the most intense street fighting and close combat suffered by Americans in WWII. When they finally arrived at the gates of Dachau, Hitler’s first and most notorious concentration camp, the Thunderbirds confronted scenes that robbed the mind of reason. With victory within grasp, Sparks confronted the ultimate test of his humanity: after all he had faced, could he resist the urge to wreak vengeance on the men who had caused untold suffering and misery?

 

Written with the narrative drive and vivid immediacy of Kershaw’s previous bestselling books about American infantrymen in WWII, The Liberator is a story for the ages, an intensely human and dramatic account of one of history’s greatest warriors and his unheralded role in America’s finest achievement – the defeat of Nazi Germany.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Manchu Warrior

I was at an auction a few weeks ago and someone found this book in a box lot that they purchased and they gave it to me. The book is titled Four Years Under Marse Robert by Major Robert Stiles. Major Stiles was from New England and went South when Virginia seceded from the Union to join The Army of Northern Virginia. What I thought would be a book about Lee actually has little to say about him and it is just the first hand account of a CSA artillery officer. The book was published in 1904 and I don't know if his attitude had changed since the war had ended. Because he seemed to have a great amount of respect and admiration for both his own troops and the Union Army as well. It really is an interesting read.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Code-Name: Bright Light (1998) by George J Veith.

 

"The untold story of US POW efforts during the Vietnam War"

 

So far I'm 100 pages into this 350-page book. It's not a quick read due to the detail that Veith goes into, but extremely well researched and very interesting.

 

Cheers,

Dan.

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Hi,

 

might sound funny but I'm reading 'Air Navigation', H.O. Pub.No.216 by U.S.Navy Hydrographic Office 1963 (it's 717 pages, so it's more of a long term project :)).

 

I collect aircraft and nav instruments and want to understand how they were used, lots of it goes over my head but the general use and workings are all I need, don't need to fly an LC-130 to the Antarctic but it's nice to see how they did it.

 

I'm re-reading 'Report from #24' by Gunnar Sonsteby, he was a leading resistance saboteur in Norway and was awarded Norway's highest award for bravery three times........... a good read with lots of action. (I met him in Oslo in 1994, he went out to his car to get the book for me, he signed it and I stuck a photo of us together next to his signature).

 

cheers,

 

-John

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  • 3 months later...

Just started "Voices of the Pacific" by Adam Makos. This has just been released. It is great so far....Kat

 

 

Ditto...just picked my copy up today and read a bunch of it in the parking lot. Marcus Brotherton (the co-auth) is a friend of mine and contributed to my first book...so I knew about this a few years ago and that it could only be fantastic!

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I'm currently reading a monograph entitled Task Force Smith, The Lesson Never Learned (2000) by Major John Garrett about the first US Army ground unit sent to Korea in July 1950. This is one of three monographs or dissertations I've read regarding the subject of Eighth Army unpreparedness in 1950, all three of which re-examine the reasons for failure and critique or even debunk the accepted wisdom of such works as Fehrenbach's This Kind of War.

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