Forgotten Heroes of World War II: Personal Accounts of Ordinary Soldiers

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Summary: The Ordinary Soldier In An Unforgettable Way
Review: A quick search of books about World War II on Amazon.com lists 11,982 titles. ''Forgotten Heroes of World War II - Personal Accounts of Ordinary Soldiers'' by Thomas E. Simmons is the one book you should not miss.

As someone who never served in the military - or in war, to me, these personal accounts by a dozen 'ordinary soldiers' many times make the ordinary seem surreal.

Simmons captures the mundane routines and retells the edge-of-your-seat dramatic tension that makes you stop reading, look up and say to yourself, 'I'm glad I'm only reading this.'

Sometimes these scenes trigger your willing suspension of disbelief and you simply credit Simmons with craftily bringing the ordinary soldier into the big picture with a well-told scene-painting or technical description (such as a battleship refueling a destroyer in rough seas), or by weaving facts of
the outside war into the events at hand.

Each story is more engrossing than the last, pulling you in deeper and deeper to these nearly lost accounts of 'ordinary soldiers'

Bruce Creekmur at Pearl Harbor - tapping to locate survivors of USS Oklahoma, a ''turned turtle.'' He first cut a small hole into the hull and pumped in fresh air ... hauled eight men out.

A detail of the ''rainbow colored tears'' makes these men stand out, but it could be the editor's interpretation.

Edward Anderson, who ended up in the Navy as part of an April Fools' joke, commands Tugboat LT-430, the first of several that are shot out from under him in the South Pacific.

Anderson's mission is simple: to rescue shipwrecked seamen and downed Allied pilots, and put coast-watchers on ''certain islands.'' He learned by doing whether or not the islands were occupied.

You have Oswald Smith the merchant marine stranded in one of Stalin's labor camps somewhere above the Arctic Circle. And his perilous return across 900 miles of hostile territory.

The tales are well told of Fred Koval the B-17 pilot, Fred Moyce the D-Day artillery spotter and pilot Mike Kelly towing gliders on D-Day.

Ensign Owen Palmer is aboard the ship that rescues pilot George Bush; then refuels (or tries to) in a typhoon. Even big ships such as destroyers are susceptible to the weather, as 800 perish in the storm.

Harry Bell and Knox White live through different sagas at the Battle of the Bulge. Bell survives a Nazi prison camp at Bad Orb returning to humanity at 90 pounds. White's recon unit helped defend Saint-Vith which delayed the Germans' attack on Bastogne.

Bomber pilot Amos Pollard's shot up plane survives to fight another day saved by the timely appearance of the RedTails - Tuskeegee Airmen, ''We gonna take care of Fritz.'' And they do.

Marines ''Dee'' Hamilton and Joseph Urby fight their way across the South Pacific islands.

And for effect, and a different view of the fighting, Simmons includes excerpts from the diary of a Jap medic Tarao Kawaguch who picks up a gun for defense.

These soldiers' tales - and all the services (even the Merchant Marines) are covered - easily absorb the reader into the action. You sense a closeness with the teller of the tale, as he's revealing unspoken memories to you alone.

Simmons brings you close up to this war. Maybe closer than you've ever wanted to be, but you remember ''Forgotten Heroes,'' long after you've put away the book.

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Summary: Fourteen intensely personal perspectives
Review: Compiled and edited by Thomas E. Simmons, Forgotten Heroes Of World War II: Personal Accounts Of Ordinary Soldiers offers contemporary readers with fourteen intensely personal perspectives of individual rank-and-file soldiers, aviators, and seamen who were quite ordinary people thrown into the extraordinary and often horrific demands of World War II combat. Of special interest is "The Diary Of Tarao Kawaguchi" which relates the perspective of a Japanese soldier stationed in Saipan during 1944. Also of interest is concluding chapter "The Home Front". Their strength and valor are commemorated in this moving, compelling, informative, and highly recommended contribution to the growing library of World War II military histories.