What are you currently reading?

[SFC]

Tank Commanders by Georges Forty

[Gator]

Last 3 months or so and currently reading "Beneath a Scarlet Sky".

[Thor996]

With The Black Cat USS LCI Flotilla 13, by Robert F. Heath

 

Got this book because I have a few letters I purchased of ebay a few years ago from a fellow who served with this group. This is a really interesting read. A lot of the book is from the diary of Heath as he experienced the war day by day..In his own words.

 

[patches]

 

I, ah, was re-reading Caesar's Commentaries last night. In battle Caesar wore a red robe to distinguish him from his men. I, ah, was struck by that fact, because......

 

 

[Bluehawk]

"Price of Fame" by: Sylvia Jukes Morris

A biography of Clare Booth Luce (1903 - 1987) who had been a member of the House of Representatives (R-CT) and Ambassador to Italy and Brazil, very active in American military affairs throughout the world and ferocious anti-communist most of her public life.

[JasonT]

Just started "Five Years to Freedom: The True Story of a Vietnam POW" by James Rowe. The Vietnam War isn't one of my regular interests, but I've heard nothing but great reviews about this book and am looking forward to reading it.

 

 

 

[hirsca]

Two of my favorite subjects: Militaria and wine.

 

Thanks, Al

[sundance]

I'm just getting into "The Splendid and the Vile" by Eric Larson about Churchill, his family, Dunkirk, the Battle of Britain and the Blitz.

[Thor996]

Kaiten : Japan's Secret Manned Suicide Submarine and the First American Ship It Sank in WWII

by Michael Mair and Joy Waldron

 

[jmpmstr]

Doc, A Combat Medic's Story.

Written by a local guy about his experiences as a medic in VN....a gift from a coworker that lives next door to the author. I'm amazed how much detail this guy remembers about so many things....really gripping and remeniscent...

 

 

[huntssurplus]

"Masters of the Air" By Donald L.Miller... fun read so far, I'm always excited when I sit down to read it. Hopefully the miseries comes out soon, I heard it moved to Apple TV.

 

Hunt

[Bluehawk]

My amazing wife, without asking or telling, had the following very important reference book sent to me.

"The American Jew as Patriot, Soldier and Citizen"
By: Simon Wolf
1895
The Levytype Company, publishers
576 pages

I had read of the existence of this book in other ones having to do with Jews serving during the Civil War, but never imagined I'd ever see, or own, a copy.

Essentially, the great majority of the book consists of alphabetical listings, muster rolls in effect, of Jews who have served in uniform with and for America, by first and last name, rank, company and regiment from the Continental Army, Regular Army and Navy, War of 1812, Mexican War, Union and Confederate Army and Navy, and some in the Armies of Europe up through the late 19th century.

Also included are a number of narrative letters, orders, articles and essays relevant to the topic and periods.

Extraordinary and rare to find in most private libraries. This copy had been held by the University of Southern California until deaccessioned.





 

[Bluehawk]

Excellent eye-witness account of the Allied invasion of fortress Europe in WWII, "Eclipse" by: Alan Moorehead who was a correspondent embedded with the military from Sicily on through entry into Germany. One of sixteen such accounts he became well known for.

[Stony]

The three series of books by James F. Dwyer about Tarawa. 

[Charlie Flick]

I just finished Eugene B. Sledge's China Marine.  Most will be familiar with Sledge's famous With The Old Breed, his account of service with the First Marine Division at Peleliu and Okinawa that is widely regarded as one of the best personal accounts of WW2 combat.  His company sustained extremely high casualties which in later years caused Sledge to wonder how he had escaped without a scratch when so many others had been killed or grievously wounded.

 

China Marine is his story of what happened to him and the others in the First Marine Division at the end of the War.  Rather than an immediate return to the USA, or even occupation duty in Japan, the Division was sent to Northern China to accept the surrender and demobilization of the large number of Japanese troops there.  A collateral mission was to try to keep a lid on the ongoing Chinese civil war that Chiang Kai Shek and the Nationalists were in the process of losing to Mao and the Communists.  

 

Sledge writes movingly of his experiences when assigned to Peiping and how his young eyes were opened to an exotic and ancient civilization undergoing huge change.  It was dangerous duty as the Communists had no use for another foreign army in China and took actions designed to oust all foreigners, and particularly Americans, from China.  Sledge writes bitterly of his anger to the rear echelon types who seemed to have gotten earlier priority to return home while combat veterans were still waiting for orders and risking their lives in a conflict that had little meaning to them.  When he finally gets home in 1946 his alienation from civilians is palpable and troubled him until he found his purpose in pursuing an advanced education and new career.

 

For those who want to know 'the rest of the story' about Sledge, the First Division and how the end of the War came to them and their eventual return home, this small volume tells the story well. It is not a personal account of fierce combat as was The Old Breed.  Nonetheless, readers will find it a useful addition to the huge body of books on the Pacific War.  Recommended.