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Summary: This book honors my father
Review: My father, a medic during WWII, died two months ago. This book helped me through the grief process more than any other book I have read about death and dying. I visited dad nearly every day during his last three months when mom converted their living room into a hospice room. I thought Bob Greene was describing my dad every time he discussed his father's decline and gradual withdrawal from life. Like Bob Greene's mother, we had difficulty getting my mother to leave dad's bedside. We also hired daily help in order to assist dad who so very much wanted to die at home. Each helper showed so much respect for my dad even when he was incoherent. During the time dad was lucid, he spoke more of WWII than at any other time of his life. It was during those last three months that I realized how the war was his right of passage and how much of his strength to accept whatever life brought was a result of all he saw during the war. I think it's his resolve and strength that I miss the most. Thank you, Bob Greene, for helping me further understand how the war shaped my dad and how the stages he experienced dying are so universal.
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Summary: LUSCIOUS!
Review: So many people have written so many positive reviews of this book that there is little that I can add to the discussion. ...except to suggest... (1) Don't bother to uncap your highlighter. This book is so poignant that its significant passages will sear themselves into your memory, and (2) Leave your favorite bookmark on your desk. This book is so engrossing that you will read it all in one 3 or 4 hour sitting: you won't be able to put it down. This is not a biography, nor is it a war story. It is something much richer. Through the characters of Paul Tibbets, other WWII celebrated heroes, and his father (an ordinary G.I.), Bob Greene explores one generation's commitment to duty, honor, country, and stoic acceptance of hard work as fundamental values. Unfortunately, in the final analysis, Mr. Greene is forced to contrast the WWII generation's values with those of our own time, which do not compare well. Read this book. Shed a few tears. Know how much you owe to those who served before us. Think about the values that make a strong society.
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Summary: Simply amazing!
Review: That is all I can find to say about this book. The feelings drip off of the pages, and the History is amazing. Bob Greene's conversations with General Tibbett's, and his observations about life then and now make for a wonderful experience. If you have ever wondered about the dropping of the bomb on Hiroshima, and the effect it had on the crew, as well as a generation of men, here it is in plain english. General Tibbett's is a true American hero, and it becomes plain after reading this book that he is the best kind of hero. The kind that doesn't hold an attitude about his experience. Simply amazing.
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Summary: "Who knew about who doesn't matter." General Tibbets
Review: That one comment has been a common thread through all of the books I have read regarding the men and women involved in World War II. The General was chastising the Author for suggesting that his Father was less important as a Major in the war than General Tibbets. This was not the first lesson that would be taught, and I thought it was great the Author included so many instances when the General took him to task. It was always instructive and formed a series of reference points for the Author that taught him more than he ever expected to learn about his own Father. The Enola Gay, her crew, and the bomb she dropped remain for some/many an issue left unresolved. Fifty years allows for a great deal of second-guessing and revisionist history. If after reading this book the decision to drop the bomb on Hiroshima is still questionable to you, read "Flags Of Our Fathers". If after you absorb the lives that Iwo Jima, a tiny island consumed I do not believe there is a credible argument that the dropping of the first Atom Bomb was anything other than correct. Not conditionally correct, but absolutely correct for the United States and Japan. There is a conversation in the book between General Tibbets and Shoji Tabuchi. Mr. Tabuchi was carried by his Mother on her back, while she pushed his Brother in a carriage away from their home that was near Hiroshima after the bombing. Mr. Tabuchi's Father said this about the Bombing, "had the war continued all would have died, the end of the war spared the lives of men women and children all over Japan". Why is it The Smithsonian Air And Space Museum had so much trouble a few years ago when presenting what had happened during World War II. I went back and checked some of the comments they proposed to display with the plane. I came to the conclusion those involved were either pathetically ignorant, historical revisionists, or simply dullards. General Tibbets responded to the Author as follows when asked about those who make disparaging comments about him, his crew, or the mission, "Those people never had their balls on that cold, hard anvil," he said. "They can say anything they want." I think that makes the point clear enough even for a museum director. You will meet 2 men who were part of the crew on The Enola Gay, Major Dutch Van Kirk who was the Navigator and, Colonel Tom Ferebee the Bombardier. You will read of the General's meeting with Mitsuo Fuchida the man who led the air attack on Pearl Harbor. He was a guest at the General's home. "Talk about it? That would be like talking about the air we breathed." This was the General's response when asked why he and his generation did not talk about patriotism and their affection for their Country. He continued, "We grew up knowing that it was expected of us-to love this Country and to treat it with loyalty and respect." The General did a great service for the Author Mr. Bob Greene. The Author in turn shares his experience, which we all can benefit from. We in this instance means those of us who were not there, we who have never fired a shot in anger, been shot at, or placed our lives at risk, or into the hands of another. We, the group that benefited from those that have been called "The Greatest Generation" by Tom Brokaw. My thanks go to all the men and women who have ever served this Country, there are 2 men in particular I wish to thank, my Father who at 17 joined the Navy in 1943 and served as a Petty Officer First Class, and my Father in law, Wilfred Ecklin who left the Air Force after a career as a pilot and with the rank of Major, he is now deceased. So what are you and your Family doing this Monday May 29, 2000?
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Summary: A book worth more than a five star rating!
Review: The best book I have ever read! Everyone in America should read it. It will help you gain an understanding of the sacrafices that the WWII generation made for this country. All of the people involved in the war effort are true heros and, without a doubt, each and every person in America owes the deepest debt of gratitude to those men and women. I have recommended it to everyone I know. It was deeply moving and heartwarming. I can't imagine anyone reading it and thinking of it as less than magnificent!
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Summary: A Hero Who Modestly Rejects the Hero's Mantle
Review: This book clearly deserves more than five stars! "Doolittle's Raiders -- Those Were Real Heroes" This quote came from Paul Tibbets, the man who piloted the Enola Gay (named after his mother) to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima in August 1945. He was referring to the crews that bombed Japan shortly after the start of the U.S. engagement in World War II, in a stirring symbolic strike at our Pacific enemy of those years. They had no way to come back to American bases with their planes, and had to fly onto the Asian mainland and hope to find their way back to the U.S. on their own. Many did not survive the mission. What many do not know is that Tibbets also headed the unit that prepared to drop the atomic bombs. He ordered himself to pilot the first flight, out of his sense of responsibility for getting the job done right. Many who have not read the book will think this book is a biography of Tibbets, who has remained out of the limelight since World War II. That thought is partially correct. But the book is much more than that, even though that would have been a lot. The author became interested in Tibbets because the author's father was so obviously in awe of Tibbets. The father would mention seeing Tibbets in their common hometown of Columbus, Ohio, but never approached him. Inspired by his father's interest, the author finally meets Tibbets shortly before the author's father dies. Then begins one of those wonderful human experiences that we each should have, and books like this allow us to experience vicariously. Although Tibbets never met the father, he instantly understood him. In many informal talks and visits, the author came to understand for the first time both Tibbets and his own father who had left a tape recorded oral history. There is a wonderful epiphany near the end of the book when the author finally understands why Tibbets meant so much to his father. I won't spoil it for you, but it's worth reading the whole book to get to this one story. This book will be very appealing to anyone who read and liked The Greatest Generation. By focusing on the lives of just a few men (Tibbets, two of Tibbets' crew mates, and Greene's father) you get a richness and wholeness to the lives that makes it all come together much better than can happen with briefer stories. In a sense, the two books are companion pieces. In fact, I recommend that most people read Duty first, and then read The Greatest Generation. If you have already read The Greatest Generation, you should reread it after you have read Duty. You'll have many new insights as a result. My next suggestion is that you then seek out someone who fought in World War II (a relative would be great if you have one) and talk to them about their experiences and what you thought you learned from these two books. You should be able to lift a generational curtain in the process, and make some wonderful human contact that would not have otherwise have been possible. In this way, you can pay real tribute to all those who made our modern world possible. To me, I beg to differ with Paul Tibbets' quote. I think that almost everyone was a hero at one level or another. The differences are not so important. What they did and why they did it are. How can you be a modest hero? That the important question this book will leave you with.
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Summary: Thought-provoking in Triplicate!
Review: This book deals on three levels simultaneously...historical record, biographically/psychologically, and on the level of the very personal relationship between Greene and his father. The paths mingle easily and provokingly. A good read to challenge the commitments to the involvements in your life, as well as understand the thought processes of another generation.
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Summary: As The Story Should Be Told
Review: This book describes the attitudes of the people of the United States and their sense of duty during WWII. The book describes some of the hardships of wartime and of fighting a war that was mostly in the trenches. I was a lad during WWII and I remember the emotions of the people of the United States. My father served in the Marines in the Pacific. This book has captured some of those emotions and tells the story of why the dropping of the atomic bomb was a necessary evil. WWII was not fought with the high tech equipment of today but fought with manpower in the trenches. A well told story of WWII and the people who fought the war.
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Summary: Duty : A Father, His Son, and the Man Who Won the War
Review: this book give great insight in to the generation that won the war. it's a book you just can't put down
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Summary: A WONDERFUL MEMOIR AND TRIBUTE
Review: This is a good work. As one disgruntled reviewer pointed out, this is not a history book, but rather a memoir and tribute from a son to his father and to one of the many heros of WWII. Having been raised by a father from that era, it is quite apparent to me that my relationship with my father was my no means isolated, but somewhat the norm. This work struck pretty close to home. Having spent over twenty years in the military myself, I can understand some of their thoughts, but even that cannot bridge the entire gap. Those guys looked at life differently than my generation. The author has approached the subject with great sensitivity and through his conversations with these men, I feel, has been able to understand not only them, but himself. I highly recommend this one to any father and any son. Well done Mr Greene.
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