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cutiger83
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Halfway through The Pacific now. I'm not sure if it's because the 1st Marine Division action received the attention in the miniseries (which is incredible of course), but I'm finding Shifty Shofner and Vernon Micheel's stories fascinating. Shofner's escape literally had my heart pounding.

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Currently reading:

Eileen F. Lebow, A Grandstand Seat: The American Balloon Service in World War I. Westport, CT: Praeger, 1998. 205pp.

A good coverage of the topic, with a few minor errors I've notice. But really a good work on something little known. I managed to buy the only copy I could find on-line for under $100. It's in fine condition, too, so I'm happy with it, although it surely must be overpriced.

Pete

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Currently reading:

Eileen F. Lebow, A Grandstand Seat: The American Balloon Service in World War I. Westport, CT: Praeger, 1998. 205pp.

A good coverage of the topic, with a few minor errors I've notice. But really a good work on something little known. I managed to buy the only copy I could find on-line for under $100. It's in fine condition, too, so I'm happy with it, although it surely must be overpriced.

Pete

Pete, that sounds like one I need to add to my reading list!

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I don't only collect the assorted unit histories published after the war, I also read them. Currently reading The Golden Cross, A History of the 33rd Infantry Division in WW2 by 33rd Infantry Division Historical Committee. The recount of the struggle on Bench Top Hill by the company that only brought a canteen of water per man only to find a dry creek bed and then spend 36 hours in the tropical heat with no water was brutal. And the photo of a half million dollar of silver pesos uncovered by an arty strike was intriguing, but I found no detail about it in the text.

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I am about 3/4 through "Devotion ", a book on Corsair ops in the Korean War.

It is very well written and very gritty.

I thought it would only be about the two Corsair pilots central to the story, but actually covers a great deal about Marine ops on the ground as well.

 

John

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Pete, that sounds like one I need to add to my reading list!

 

Beast,

It's pretty good, a lot of info on balloons and how they operated during the war. Be prepared to spend some money for it, unless you have better luck than I did in searching!

Pete

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  • 2 weeks later...

Halfway through The Pacific now. I'm not sure if it's because the 1st Marine Division action received the attention in the miniseries (which is incredible of course), but I'm finding Shifty Shofner and Vernon Micheel's stories fascinating. Shofner's escape literally had my heart pounding.

 

Loved that book! Shofner's story is amazing, so I ended up buying "Escape from Davao" to learn more about it (but I haven't read that one yet).

 

I also really liked the stuff on Basilone. It brought him to life for me more than some of the other books I have read about him.

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Capt. Eddie Rickenbacker's Fighting the Flying Circus, 1997 Lakeside Classics edition. Nice edition, great story (although ghost written by Laurence Driggs).

Those Lakeside Classics are quite nice; I bought two WWI related titles at a huge used book sale a couple days ago.

Pete

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The Last Lion a 3 volume biography of Winston Spencer Churchill by William Manchester. His career spanned from riding as a young officer in one of the last cavalry charges of the Victorian Era to the head of state in the nuclear era.

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RustyCanteen

 

Loved that book! Shofner's story is amazing, so I ended up buying "Escape from Davao" to learn more about it (but I haven't read that one yet).

 

I also really liked the stuff on Basilone. It brought him to life for me more than some of the other books I have read about him.

 

 

'Escape from Davao' was an excellent read, but I had prior interest thanks to 'Bataan Death March: A survivor's account' by William Dyess.

 

RC

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Just finished: "Masters of the Air" by Donald Miller

Currently reading: "The Day of Battle" by Rick Atkinson which so far, is probably one of the best written WWII books that I've ever read.

Next on the list: "An Army at Dawn" by Rick Atkinson

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willysmb44

It's fiction but I'm reading the novel version of "The Eagle has Landed," which is a very good book. The author had zero clue about the US Army in WW2, but the plot does explain stuff the movie never did. Lots of side plots with Devlin getting the Bedford truck and the Jeep, as well as a member of the SS's "British Free Corps" being forced upon Steiner's men (and Steiner's father being tortured by the SS which is how they got Steiner to agree to go at all).

I'm halfway through it and it really expands the plot of what was always one of my favorite WW2 fictional movies.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I just bought this book in from a little bookstore in the French Quarter in New Orleans. It's about the Yale undergrads who, basically, started US Navy aviation in 1916-1917. I'm only part way through this, but it is a fascinating glimpse into this topic. Also, it shows how different colleges, college students, and college faculty and administration are from today. In some ways, that is very sad.

Pete

 

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Currently reading: "The Day of Battle" by Rick Atkinson which so far, is probably one of the best written WWII books that I've ever read.

 

Next on the list: "An Army at Dawn" by Rick Atkinson

 

Yes I've finished both and I would say that "An Army at Dawn" is his best.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
Squad leader

I am currently reading the French translation of Battle Cry of Freedom by James McFerson. One the best book I have ever read on the American Civil War.

 

Dan.

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I am currently reading the French translation of Battle Cry of Freedom by James McFerson. One the best book I have ever read on the American Civil War.

 

Dan.

Dan,

 

I'm currently reading "Battle Cry of Freedom" also. McPherson is an amazing author!

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Just read the Last Battle by Stephen Harding. I thought it was well written but for some reason was a little anticlimactic at the end. Maybe I was just expecting something else.

 

Currently reading Ghost Soldiers by Hampton Sides. About a quarter of the way through and it's a great book, especially for anyone interested in POW's and the Philippines during ww2.

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BlueBookGuy

Among many history-related (or military collecting) books, just finished re-reading once again David Sinclair's Wannabe: how Spice Girls reinvented Pop fame.

A fascinating in-depth look into the unique life an times of the female group that in a mix of good and bad, at least made all agreeing about the world's biggest music/costume phenomenon (often going into hysteria by many people) since the Beatles.

 

Personally seen the band twice live (Italy in March 1998 and at Wembley Stadium in September 1998), and more recently three times Melanie Chisholm as a solo singer.

Fantastic band and fantastic Melanie.

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Recently finished Widowmaker by Drew Martenson. If you want a book about Vietnam that cuts through the b.s. then this is a good one.

 

Right now I'm reading Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania by Erik Larson. I enjoy the parts dealing with the early German u-boat. A while back I also read In the Garden of Beasts and Devil in the White City by the same author. I really like his writing style.

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Reading "The Deserters: A Hidden History of World War II" by Charles Glass, an area of WW2 history that has not been publicized much, if at all. Very interesting!

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I just finished reading SOOCHOW the Marine, by Reginald Owen and Paul Lees. I recently had the pleasure of meeting a nephew of Paul Lees and he shared with me some of his fond memories about his uncle . It was my discussion with the nephew that motivated me to hunt down a hard to find copy of SOOCHOW the Marine. I am more than halfway through Marine - The Life of Chesty Puller by Burke Davis. Puller was an exceptional leader. Its a shame that the Marine Corps brushed him aside after WWII and Korea.

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