"This book was written to provide and preserve an oral history of the eighty-four men and women who were interviewed...sharing their memories of World War II. The stories include seventy-six veterans and eight women who served as USO volunteers, Red Cross service workers, a Holocaust survivor, and women who worked on the home front...All of the veterans and the women who served in various support roles have a connection to Indiana"--from the Preface.
DUTY, HONOR, COUNTRY The eighty-four men and women who tell their stories exemplify these words. From the home front to the battlefront and from behind the lines, their words speak of loss, pain, fear, loneliness, selflessness, faith and hope. As one veteran said, “World War II caused me to understand that I served my country for a purpose greater than myself.” Many of these soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines served in nearly every major battle in Europe and the Pacific including: Pearl Harbor, the invasion of Normandy, the Battle of the Bulge, Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima and Okinawa. Their sacrifice for our country is a debt which cannot be repaid. They represent the best of “The Greatest Generation.” "This book is a fitting tribute to those Hoosiers who gave their all for the cause of freedom during World War II. The personal stories of those who served offer a window into a time that should be remembered." -Ray Boomhower, Indiana historian and author “Hodgin and Hardwick have produced an interesting and informative compendium of World War II stories of veterans that should instill a sense of pride in students and adults of all ages. The book has a readable style of a period in our history that we would do well not to forget.” John Shively, M.D., Author and WW II historian “A must read for both historians and those desiring to learn more about one of the most decisive periods in our nation’s history. The authors have not only captured the veterans’ stories but also the sights and sounds of what many were thinking when facing death, hardships and struggling to survive.” J. Stewart Goodwin, Brig. Gen., USAF (Ret), Executive Director, Indiana War Memorials “This book is an absorbing collection of stories from the men and women of the “Greatest Generation.” Their stories illustrate some of the pain and incredible atrocities they witnessed, and at the same time, the friendships and joys they experienced. A must read for every person who wants to know what it was really like during WW II.” Charles “Tom” Applegate, Director, Indiana Department of Veterans Affairs
"It's hard to imagine Derek Jeter or Tiger Woods heading to Iraq to join the U.S. armed forces. But in World War II no American man between the ages of twenty and forty-five was too big to serve--except for the basketball players who exceeded the Army's 6'6" limits for recruits, a situation illustrated in this excellent book. Part log, part pictorial, and total history lesson, this book could be sent to school with your kids and used for social studies class. Riveting and moving." --Sports Illustrated "Bloomfield's extensively researched book . . . is a must-have for any sports-history fan. It's encyclopedic in scope and richly illustrated with fascinating photos." -- Army Times "This survey tells, with a refreshing lack of sentimentality, the tales of sportsmen who found themselves in a far deadlier kind of combat. Bloomfield not only shows us a little-known side of World War II but also surveys a fascinating moment in American sports history." --Booklist From the sandlots, asphalt, and cinder tracks of 1930s America, to its country battlefields and stadium gridirons, the spirit of America's youthful athletes was abruptly transformed from doing their best in sports to showing the mettle in life-and-death warfare. Painstakingly researched and profusely illustrated, Duty, Honor, Victory tells the stories of the well-known athletes whose on-field exploits brought another type of fame, but whose battlefield duty has been long overlooked. Here is football's Chuck Bednarik flying bombing missions over Germany; baseball's Bob Feller commanding an anti-aircraft gun crew aboard the USS Alabama; Warren Spahn wounded and nearly killed when the bridge at Remagen collapses; and Yogi Berra on a rocket boat in Normandy. Duty, Honor, Victory addresses all sports, from tennis and golf, to baseball, football, and basketball. Included here are stories of well-known professionals, lesser known college players, as well as black athletes who fought for our country during World War II. From the origins of Nazi Germany and imperial Japan in the 1930s through their defeats in 1945--extending into 1946 and the integration of major league baseball--this book shows every aspect of America's athletes in World War II.
Honor and Duty is a tribute Chinese Americans who served in the U.S. Armed Forces during WWII. Biographical information, detailed service record, and photographs provide vivid evidence of their service to the United States.
Nearly 27,000 men and women from Wisconsin have made the Ultimate Sacrifice in the nation's wars, from the Civil War to the two World Wars to Korea to Vietnam to Iraq and Afghanistan. They are represented in "Duty, Honor, Country and Wisconsin" by several dozen men and women ranging from Oak Creek to Mayville and Beaver Dam to Menomonie to Sauk City / Prairie du Sac; and from Marshfield to Laona to Ettrick to Waupun; and from Dousman to Plover to Milwaukee. Author Tom Mueller has been reporting on this topic for three decades, and this is his fourth book. It includes more than two dozen who were lost in World War II, and two chapters about the 37 Wisconsin MIAs in Vietnam - the most extensive coverage of them as a group in decades, if not ever. Plus the stories of seven Civil War veterans who became Wisconsin governor, and some surprising details about Badger State men in World War I. And a review of the women who have made the Ultimate Sacrifice and how that has sharply increased in the last decade. The book also has interviews with more than three dozen veterans of wars ranging from World War II to Afghanistan.
After graduating from West Point in 1892, Charles Pelot Summerall (1867–1955) launched a distinguished military career, fighting Filipino insurgents in 1899 and Boxers in China in 1900. His remarkable service included brigade, division, and corps commands in World War I; duty as chief of staff of the U.S. Army from 1926 to 1930; and presidency of the Citadel for twenty years, where he was instrumental in establishing the school’s national reputation. Previously available only in the Citadel’s archives, Summerall’s memoir offers an eyewitness account of a formative period in U.S. Army history. Edited and annotated by Timothy K. Nenninger, the memoir documents critical moments in American military history and details Summerall’s personal life, from his impoverished childhood in Florida to his retirement from the Citadel in 1953. From the perspective of both a soldier and a general, Summerall describes how the very nature of war changed irrevocably during his lifetime.
The present volume, first published in 1962, consists of two distinguished speeches given by the General of the U.S. Army, Douglas MacArthur. The first address took place on April 19, 1951 and was held before a joint meeting of the two houses of United States Congress—the House of Representatives and the Senate—and took place in the Hall of the House of Representatives. This meeting followed on just one week from MacArthur’s removal from command by President Harry S. Truman. The second address was held on May 12, 1921 and was given to The Members of the Association of Graduates, U.S.M.A., The Corps of Cadets, and Distinguished Guests. It was given on the occasion of MacArthur’s acceptance of the Sylvanus Thayer Award for outstanding service to the nation, which had gone to Eisenhower the year before. The event was held at the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York.
A profile of the Bush political clan patriarch—who he was and what he stood for, the examples he set, the events he shared, and the lives he touched. Prescott Bush is the only person in US history to be father of a US President, grandfather of a US President, and grandfather of a state governor. Duty, Honor, Country is more than a biography of the U.S. Senator from Connecticut, although it is that. It looks at the principles that Prescott Bush passed on like family heirlooms to his five children, including George H.W. Bush, the forty-first President of the United States: discipline, duty, ethics, commitment, courage, honor, honesty, loyalty, and responsibility. And it looks at the ways the Bush family legacy has made Prescott Bush, former President George Bush, George W. Bush, and Jeb Bush give themselves to public service. “My father believed in the concept of noblesse oblige,” said former President George Bush. “You made your money and you had a duty to serve the community or your country.” Written with the encouragement and enthusiasm of former President Bush, the book is a readable story of noblesse oblige in action, from the time Prescott Bush served in town government in Greenwich, Connecticut, to his career as a US Senator from Connecticut, to his role in passing far-reaching legislation in the Eisenhower years. It also deals honestly with Prescott Bush’s alleged business relationships with Nazi industrialists and other accusations. Half of the book also shows how the commitment to public service was lived out in the lives of Prescott’s children and grandchildren, focusing on his son George H.W. Bush and his grandsons George W. Bush and Jeb Bush.
Bestselling author Joe Drape reveals the unique pressures and expectations that make a year of Army football so much more than just a tally of wins and losses. The football team at the U.S. Military Academy is not like other college football teams. At other schools, athletes are catered to and coddled at every turn. At West Point, they carry the same arduous load as their fellow cadets, shouldering an Ivy League–caliber education and year-round military training. After graduation they are not going to the NFL but to danger zones halfway around the world. These young men are not just football players, they are soldiers first. New York Times sportswriter Joe Drape takes us inside the world of Army football, as the Black Knights and their third-year coach, Rich Ellerson, seek to turn around a program that had recently fallen on hard times, with the goal to beat Navy and "sing last" at the Army-Navy game in December. The 2011 season would prove a true test of the players' mettle and perseverance. Drawing on his extensive and unfettered access to the players and the coaching staff, Drape introduces us to this special group of young men and their achievements on and off the field. Anchoring the narrative and the team are five key players: quarterback Trent Steelman, the most gifted athlete; linebacker Steve Erzinger, who once questioned his place at West Point but has become a true leader; Andrew Rodriguez, the son of a general and the top scholar-athlete; Max Jenkins, the backup quarterback and the second-in-command of the Corps of Cadets; and Larry Dixon, a talented first-year running back. Together with Coach Ellerson, his staff, and West Point's officers and instructors, they and their teammates embrace the demands made on them and learn crucial lessons that will resonate throughout their lives—and ours.
