Rating: 
Summary: The Marines of Autumn
Review: James Brady, author and well-known columnist, has brought to the public another fine example of why the Korean Conflict will become a remembered rather than a forgotten period in American History. The book starts with the recall of Captain Verity, a WWII veteran of Guadalcanal, Okinawa and North China and moves easily with first-hand knowledge throughout. Captain Verity leads a radio intercept team charged with the mission to determine if and when the Chinese "volunteers" cross the Yalu in support of the North Korean Peoples Army. It continues with what seems a romp in the park such as in the opening pages of Brown's "Walk in the Sun". And on to the advance north to the Chosin, the intervention of the Chinese, and abrupt reversal of that advance and concludes with the long, coming out fighting, "march-to-the-sea". The author does not pull his punches with the likes of Syngman Rhee, General MacArthur or the powers that recalled Captain Verity and many other Marines who had joined the reserves when told said joining would hasten their return to civilian life at the end of WWII. The ending contains a shocker remindful of the collapse of the bridge on which Gandalf and a demon fought casting them into oblivion in Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings". "The Marines of Autumn" more importantly speaks of two points generally overlooked or purposely put aside by the general citizenship. It is easy to teach "how-to-kill" but to maintain survival skills is extremely difficult. Survival requires a constant high state of preparedness. The pro-Marine/anti-army nature of the novel is brought out in many ways, at times in satirical comment, but mostly as statements of fact. Beyond the inter-service rivalry is the unspoken fact that the Marines had maintained a higher level of training and preparedness than their sister service. Those of the sister services stationed in the Far East were allowed to attune their duty to one merry camp of rest and relaxation rather than as a forward echelon of readiness. It was a wonderful relaxing tour of duty. This low level of readiness provided the North Koreans and the Chinese with many easy victories costly to the Army not only in materials lost but in extremely high killed, wounded and missing-in-action casualty numbers. The human form in different uniforms were pretty much the same. Mr. Brady asks that the United States government and its peoples insist on a first rate state-of-the-art level of training and preparedness of our armed forces and be willing to pay for it. Mr. Brady speaks of the horrors of war as did Steven Speilberg in "Saving Private Ryan". War IS NOT a stroll in the park. In "The Marines of Autumn" Mr. Brady brings out many fine examples of courage, self-sacrifice, heroics and the closeness that only those who have experienced combat understand. He also puts the spotlight on the privation, terror, filth, man's inhumanity-to-man and other primal levels of existance that only war brings. There are examples in the novel where the dead become a matter of inconvenience and a burden but there are also many examples where the dead, dying and wounded are tended with great concern, compassion and care such as Colonel Puller's relentless pursuit to bury a large number of Marines rather than leave them to the animals of prey. Also the action of Verity's two men bending many regulations to get the Captain off the beach and into caring hands for his return to the States is another example of this personal concern. Mr. Brady knows of what he writes. Though he was not in Korea at the time of "The Marines of Autumn", he was there as a platoon leader, a company executive officer and later as the battlaion S-2 (intelligence) officer. His arrival on the scene was early enough to speak with and be told many first hand stories by those who fought and lived "The Marines of Autumn". In his memoir, "The Coldest War",he relates his personal experiences and tells of combat at it's worst and occasionally best. "The Marines of Autumn" is a moving and gripping novel that is a must read for all persons, in and out of uniform, who desire to dance with their children on the bridges of Paris in peace in our lifetime.
Rating: 
Summary: Non-Fiction accounts are better, but a Pretty Good Book
Review: First off, I am not a Korean War veteran and my review does not claim to have the first hand knowledge of what the "Chosin Frozen" went through. I would also like to say, right off the bat that what these brave Marines went through and what our brave veterans in Korea did should never be forgotten. It is a shame that the Korean War is the so called "Forgotten War." But let me say something that is pathetic but true. I am a history teacher, and let me unfortunately tell you many of my students barely know the Civil War, WWI, WWII, or any other war let alone the Korean War. The lack of knowledge of our history in this country is pathetic. Now to the book. Its a good book. Well written and easy to read. It provides a good background of what happened in both the big and little picture. However, I felt the book was not great. In fact, I have found the Oral history of the Chosin by Wilson was a more exciting read. Not to take anything away from Brady's book, it was a good read but again not great. I hope this book is a big best seller. I hope many people that were unaware of what happened during the Korean War and the Chosin Resevoir learn from this book and want to find out more. But again, the book is not a classic. Its a good read, but believe it or not some of the non-fiction about the Korean War is better reading.
Rating: 
Summary: A great title, but....
Review: Having read Brady's earlier non-fiction account of his combat tour in Korea, "The Coldest War," I was eager to read his novel of the war. Within the first couple of pages, I knew there might be problems. The height of the Taebek mountains was listed as 25,000 meters! (Does no one ever check manuscripts for errors like that?)What followed that brief prologue to set the stage for the fighting withdrawal of the Marines from the Chosin was very disappointing. I should have gotten a hint when Brady said that he had not taken part in the Chosin campaign but had gotten to Korea afterward. To his credit, Brady does not actually have his protagonist handle troops; he is basically an intellectual observer who, when not reminiscing about his deceased wife, simply reports things. He drops in and out of staff meetings, rubbing shoulders with the real personalities of the campaign, much as Pug Henry did in Wouk's "Winds of War." This leaves the feeling that Captain Tom Verity is a part of things... but not really. The descriptions of war in the cold are indeed harrowing and it makes me gladder than ever that my war was one of Asian heat. I am sure that words never adequately convey what it was like to deal with the numbing cold and with combat as well. And that is a problem with this book -- it is dull. Character development is not extensive, but perhaps it doesn't need to be. The Chosin withdrawal is really the story and Verity and the others seem almost tangential to it. As for characters, that of the daughter is almost completely unbelivable, acting and speaking far above her stated age. In short, Brady's non-fiction book, recently re-issued, is what you should read. For better novels on the Chosin, Ernest Frankel's "Band of Brothers" written in the late '50's, or Simmons' recent "Dog Company Six" have the advantage of being penned by authors who actually took part in the campaign. The best thing about this novel was its title. The Chosin campaign was an epic of brave endurance for the Marines. This novel hardly deserves the label of "epic" in recounting it.
Rating:
Summary: The Marines of Autumn
Review: I refer specifically to the Parade article by the author (James Brady) - "Is Korea really the forgotton war? Not if you ask the foot soldiers who fought there, Marines and Army both. I would like to remind Mr. Brady that the Navy was there too. For over three years I steered those landing ships that carried the foot soldiers, their tanks and equipment, at virtually every invasion and evacuation during the war, plus serving as a mini hospital ship for helicopters to bring wounded back from the front lines and to ferry communist prisoners to the Koji Island POW Camp. For the information of all the LST (Landing Ship Tank) was the work horse of the Navy in Korea and I proudly served on one for the entire "forgotten war". Mostly I have tried to forget it during the past 50 years, but articles and books like these tend to bring it all to the surface. For ALL of us who served there it will never be the forgotten war. Wally Carroll, Everett, Washington.
Rating:
Summary: Good story of Marine fortitude
Review: You come to love and maybe even identify with Captain Tom Verity quickly in this novel. Good character development. Excellent weaving of past events in his life with the war in Korea. The build-up in the book toward the Chinese attack is tremendous. My only criticism: not much of the book is actual combat. General MacArthur doesn't come out looking too good in this one.
Rating:
Summary: Choisn Vet Responds
Review: I found the book to be factual, but then Brady takes either great liberties or did not do his homework before writing the book. Examples: Puller was not promoted to Brig. General until a couple of months after Chosin. In fact, he portrays Puller as still being the CO of the 1st Marines during that period. To my knowledge no Marine General ever commanded a Regiment. That is a slot for full Colonel. Except in the case of Lt. Colonel Murray who commanded the 5th. The only one star General serving with us was Brig. General Craig and he was sent home during that period to attend the death of his father. Marines that fought with the 5th Marines are going to be quite upset to read that Puller and the 1st Marines were rear guard during the withdrawal to Koto-ri. Pullers conversation with Maggie Higgins did not take place at Hagaru-ri. He refers to Lt. Colonel Davis as Colonel Davis. Davis was battalion Co of the 1/7, a slot for Lt. Colonel. There is mention of Tanks at Yudam-ni. I don't think that the plural applies since they only had one tank at Yudam-ni. There are many more breakdowns to historical fact in the novel. I realize that this is a novel, but since it was mostly written as historical fact I found it quite distressing to read the inaccuracies in the novel. I served at Hagaru-ri and made the fight and walk out and have read extensively about the battle. A Chosin Vet
Rating: 
Summary: One Marine rates another
Review: The Marines of Autumn moved me to tears.....noother book in my adult life has done this....Brady's depictions of the Korean campaign miseryreally hit home....his flashbacks to his all topefect wife are also not fanciful but realisticof a man in combat so recalls everything in his former life as being pefection....when in retrospect and the misery of presentcircumstances brought into play.Brady knows humans, be they chinese soldiers or Marines or just the suffering of people in that clime....the troops on both sides did not ask to be there but suffered and performed for the "leaders"....Kudos to Brady for his insight.former
Rating:
Summary: not even close
Review: Emblazoned across the top of this book is the following quote from Kurt Vonnegut: "The Korean War now has its own Illiad..." Even accounting for the normal hyperbole designed to stimulate impulse buying, this book does not come close to living up to that lofty billing. The book is interesting . . . particularly the descriptions of the unrelenting Chinese assaults, the harrowing retreat to the sea and the human depravities borne by 24-degree below zero temperatures. If that was all there were, this book would rate five stars. Instead, there were too many flashbacks to the protagonist's too-perfect deceased wife, too many redundancies and too much Maggie Higgins. I also found the author's continual penchant for venting his spleen about Gen. MacArthur a bit disconcerting.
Rating: 
Summary: More Praise for THE MARINES OF AUTUMN
Review: "Both novel and memoir [The Coldest War] are graphic reminders of what has been called the Forgotten War. But not by Brady." - Time Magazine
Rating:
Summary: As long as he stayed with Korea...it worked.
Review: I found James Brady's book to be a good one, but only when he stayed with Korea and the situation of the Marines on the ground. That worked very well; one could feel the cold, the apprehension, hear the bugles if you will. But when he was building these characters I think he spent too much time cutting them out of a copy of Harper's from the late 40's. This works in an Anton Myrer piece of fiction, but comes off clumsy here. I found it a distraction. Other than that, the book worked for me. I would have liked his lead character to have been more like Joe Owen, author of COLDER THAN HELL. Now on to General Simmons' "Dog Company Six"!
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