Beyond Valor: World War II's Ranger and Airborne Veterans Reveal the Heart of Combat
- ISBN-10
- 0684873842
- ISBN-13
- 9780684873848
- Series
- Beyond Valor
- Category
- History / Wars & Conflicts / World War II / General
- Pages
- 366
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2001
- Publisher
- Free Press
- Author
- Patrick K. O'Donnell
Description
Previous books have promised to describe the combat experience of the World War II GI, but there has never been a book like Patrick O'Donnell's Beyond Valor. Here is the first combat history of the war in Europe in the words of the men themselves, and perhaps the most honest and brutal account of combat possible on the printed page. For more than fifty years the individual stories that make up this narrative -- shockingly frank reflections of sacrifice and courage -- have been bottled up, buried, or circulated privately. Now, nearing the ends of their lives, our WWII soldiers have at last unburdened themselves. Beyond Valor recaptures their hidden history. A pioneering oral historian, Patrick O'Donnell used his award-winning website, The Drop Zone, to solicit oral- and "e-histories" from individual soldiers. Gradually, working from within the community, O'Donnell convinced some of the war's most battle-hardened soldiers to tell their stories. The result is WWII seen through the eyes of the men who saw the most intense of its action. O'Donnell focuses on the elite units of the war -- the Rangers, Airborne, and 1st Special Service Force -- troops that spearheaded the most dangerous operations and often made the difference between victory and defeat. From more than 650 interviews O'Donnell has chosen oral- and e-histories that form a seamless story line, a pointillistic history of the war in Europe from the first parachute drops in North Africa through the final battles in Germany and the long trip home. It is the story of the war not discussed in polite company. O'Donnell presents the wreckage of entire battalions nearly annihilated, invisible personal scars, and haunting revelations of wartime atrocities. But more important are the men who recount lives risked without hesitation for comrades and cause, and those who did not return: the friends who died in their arms. Their stories remind all of us that victory came only at the highest price. Remembering the infamous cliffs at Pointe-du-Hoc, bloody Omaha Beach, the bitter fighting at the Battle of the Bulge, and Hill 400 in the Hürtgen Forest, the soldiers reveal war as seen, heard, and smelled by the GIs on the front line. Also included is the unique story of the 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion, and the trailblazing African-American "Experimental" Test Platoon that had to fight its own battle behind the lines. Beyond Valor captures the truths that exist among soldiers. It is one of the most inspiring accounts of the war ever produced.
Get the book
Other editions
-
- 2020-08-18
- 240 pages
- Ebook
- Thomas Nelson
Similar books
-
1939: Countdown to War
By Richard Overy, R. J. OveryIn this dramatic account of the last days of peace in 1939, Richard Overy re-creates hour by hour the unfolding story in the capitals of Europe as politicians and the public braced themselves for a war that they feared might spell the end ...
-
The Basis and Making of British Grand Strategy, 1940-1943: Was There a Plan?
By Brian Padair FarrellCAB70 / 5 , DC ( S ) ( 42 ) 89 , 5/10 , DC ( S ) ( 42 ) 6 , MAP Report , 26/1 , DC ( S ) ( 42 ) 98 , MAP Report , 16/11/42 ; CAB65 / 28 , War Cabinet minutes ... LHCMA , Brooke Papers , 3 / A / V , 18/5/42 retrospective ; Butler , vol.
-
Concise Historical Atlas of World War Two: The Geography of Conflict
By Ronald StoryThe collection will cover both conventional and non-conventional areas.
-
Hell's Highway: U.S. 101st Airborne -1944
By Tim SaundersCaptain Phillips was leading us. The platoons were well deployed. We pushed our way through whatever Germans were in front of us to a drawbridge at the canal and anchored ourselves in position.' Radio operator Private Haller, ...
-
World War II on the Air: Edward R. Murrow and the Broadcasts that Riveted a Nation
By Alex Lubertozzi, Mark BernsteinThe journalists and the reports that brought World War II to life share accounts of the London Blitz, Eric Sevareid's parachuting over Burma from a crippled aircraft, Howard K. Smith's narrow escape from Nazi Germany on December 6, 1941, ...
-
Film Propaganda in Britain and Nazi Germany: World War II Cinema
By Jo FoxAlso reproduced in K. Jackson ( ed . ) , The Humphrey Jennings Film Reader ( Carcanet , Manchester , 1993 ) , p . 7 . 137. Ibid . , 20 October 1940. K. Jackson ( ed . ) , The Humphrey Jennings Film Reader , p . 8 . 138.
-
Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929-1945
By David M. KennedyWho touches these books touches a profession.
-
The Curtain: Witness and Memory in Wartime Holland
By Henry G. SchogtSeven stories reveal how two families - one Jewish, one non-Jewish - fared in the Netherlands during the German occupation of World War II. Each story highlights a specific aspect of life; and emphasizes the difference between the options ...
-
1941: The America That Went to War
By William M. ChristieBurman, Red, 172 Burma-Shave, 191 Burns, Bob, 202,301 Burns, George, 203 Bush, Douglas, 70 Butts, Wally, 167 Byrd, Harry F., 12ff., 17 Caldwell, Harmon, 67 Calloway, Cab, 44 Campanella, Roy, 165 Cantor, Eddie, 52 Carle, Frankie, ...
-
绞杀世界：二战各国未实施的绝密军事计划
By 迈克尔·克里根“毫无疑问的是,”海军中将路易斯·蒙巴顿勋爵注意到,“敌人已经完全认识到了海峡群岛的价值,认识到一旦我们的军队重新占领它们所带来的潜在威胁。”由蒙巴顿起草的“星座行动”是针对海峡群岛各岛屿而进行的一系列独立行动的统称。“天鹰行动”“六角琴行动” ...