Posted on 09/21/2017 11:24:35 AM PDT by WXRGina
It was a chance encounter at our neighbors' annual summer party in which I was fortunate to meet Thomas E. Simmons. I learned that he's the author of several books, including, "Forgotten Heroes of WWII, Personal Accounts of Ordinary Soldiers, Second Edition." It's a compilation of the stories of fifteen World War II veterans in the European and Pacific theaters, land, sea and air.
This is not a new book. It was first published in 2002, with the second edition out in 2014, and Mr. Simmons told me that all but a few of the men featured have since passed away. I cannot adequately express how deeply moved I was in reading this book and how strongly I recommend it. With each man's story, I cried. It's an excellent, though brutal, book, and one I wish every American would read, especially the young, who aren't being properly taught our history anymore.
Like many, if not most, war veterans, these men didn't want to talk about their horrific experiences, but as Mr. Simmons wrote in his prologue:
At first, without exception, these men refused to talk about the war... All made similar statements: There's really not much to tell. I was just there like everyone else. All I wanted to do was get home. Each was uncomfortable at being singled out to speak of experiences he felt were common to so many others. Each professed, "It was so long ago I don't remember much."
I was gently persistent, beginning with simple questions. In each case a strange thing happened. Speaking quietly, shyly, honestly, and often painfully, vivid experiences began to flood from bottled-up memories that had been locked away decades ago, locked away because they were painful and because those who were not there, including loved ones, could surely never understand. Once memory's gate was opened, each man spoke with clear recall in remarkable detail.
Each chapter is one man's account, and one chapter is of two men on the same islands in the Pacific. One chapter features entries from the diary of a medic in Japan's imperial army on Saipan. The entries are from the last few terrible and desperate weeks of his life as the Allied forces closed in, and as Mr. Simmons notes, they illustrate, "America faced a determined, fierce, and fanatical enemy on the islands of the Pacific."
Mr. Simmons seamlessly interposes each man's firsthand account with his own extensively researched narrative, which provides context and a great deal of educational and incidental information. While this is a history book, it's unlike any history book I've read. In reading the personal stories these men recount, it's as if we're sitting in the living room with our father or grandfather listening as he transports us with vivid descriptions into the center of the awful action. Those of us who've not seen war cannot remotely comprehend the hell on earth these men and boys endured.
While the men featured in this book are mostly from areas on or near the Mississippi Gulf Coast, there are countless untold stories just like them from World War II veterans all across our nation. These are the tales of the common men and boys who were thrust into the last great and terrible war the United States and her allies entered and won with decisive force. The book is a precious reminder of the dreadfully dear cost of our freedom, freedom that far too many today don't regard – or worse, aggressively work to stifle.
At the very least, we owe these men our remembrance, to learn their stories and thank God Almighty for the mercy He granted to our nation in giving us the victory in World War II. In his epilogue of "Forgotten Heroes of WWII," Mr. Simmons writes:
Old men now, the surviving veterans of World War II are dying at a rate of more than three hundred thousand a year. Let us not forget what they did, how hard it was for them daily – the physical discomfort, fear, pain and mortal danger – and that they somehow found the strength and courage to prevail in the face of it all. Every American, regardless of age or station in life, and each generation that follows has an obligation, individually and collectively, to make certain that the leadership of America, however imperfect in this imperfect world, nonetheless maintains our nation's strength, moral character, courage, and determination to remain a free republic founded upon individual liberty. We owe nothing less to that quietly departing generation as we ride the freedom they preserved for us into the twenty-first century.
I urge you to order a copy of this book, and read it. Get gift copies for your friends and family. You'll be glad you did.
Good review, that.
Thank you, Humblegunner. I always wish I would’ve said more (and better), but sometimes less IS more.
Bump, good job, Gina!
:-) I appreciate you, PC.
Made me want to run right out and get it.
Alas, not locally available. I put in a request to my local lying berry that they order it.
My dad passed in 2015 at the age of 90. In WWII he
was a paratrooper with the 11th Airborne Division
and fought the Japanese on Leyte and Luzon. At the
age of 20 he received a head wound during the battle
for Manila and spent the rest of his life with a
titanium plate placed in the top of his skull. It did
not prevent him from earning a college degree, farming,
teaching high school agriculture, working for the
California Dept of Ed, earning a PhD, hunting/fishing,
self building his home, or being a dedicated husband
and dad. But he was no hero except to his family.
My dad thought the word ‘hero’ is way over applied
and I honor that belief.
You could follow the link in the column and order it from Amazon, unless you don't like to order online. They also have a Kindle electronic version of it that you could have on your computer right away.
Most of them hate the idea of being called heroes. Your Dad certainly WAS one, though!
I have read a lot about the WWII era. The complete history of my Father’s battalion etc.
They deserve all the accolades but there is one area which always impresses me.
They got things done. They were both capable and hard working and did things which seem impossible today.
Amazon carries a strong stench of evil about it. I’ll wait.
Serling began his military career in 1943 at Camp Toccoa, Georgia, under General Joseph May "Joe" Swing and Col. Orin D. "Hard Rock" Haugen[15] and served in the 511th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 11th Airborne Division.[6] He eventually reached the rank of Technician Fourth Grade (T/4) .[16]
“My dad thought the word ‘hero’ is way over applied
and I honor that belief.”
I agree with you and your father on that, but Leyte *and* Luzon? Dern.
The same is true of almost every major corporation. I understand your feelings on this, though.
Exactly. What they did almost seems unfathomable to us today.
My dad did not know Rod Serling although they both
served in the same regiment (511th PIR). In the 1980s
both the 11th AB and the 511th PIR formed associations
and organized reunions scheduled in alternating years.
Sterling passed in 1974 so he did not have the
opportunity to attend any organized reunions. A Serling
biographer stated that Rod was on the 511th boxing team.
My dad joined the boxing team in New Guinea but did
not recall Serling although they would have fought in
the same class. More importantly my dad was close
friends with boxing coach Lt Foster Arnett (eventually
president of the International Trial Lawyers Assn)
and Foster did not recall Serling as a boxer, either.
Serling served in Headquarters Co/511th and I have the
individual company by company photos to prove it.
Yah, my dad almost did not make it to the parachute
jump on Tagaytay Ridge, Luzon. After completing the
Leyte operation in Ormoc Bay he was among the volunteers
to return to the mountains of Leyte to recover the
bodies of fallen paratroopers. I think he said that
it was a 2 wk job. By the time he got back he and others
were suffering from yellow jaundice. He learned in the
hospital of the planned jump. Feeling better he escaped
and convinced the H Company CO that he was good to go.
“Feeling better he escaped and convinced the H Company CO that he was good to go.”
Seems like something from the legendary past. How many of us would be as brave?
As a WII historian over the years I have probably read or listened to the accounts of 100 men who left early, snuck out, escaped from hospitals to return to their unit before the next jump, landing, or mission. It’s just what real men did back then.
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