Skip to content

Patton: A Genius for War

So I am about 450 pages into Patton: A Genius for War and there is MUCH more to go.

My initial impression of the text is that it is most exhaustive, in terms of content included, but also of narrative pacing.  I just finished up the section on the inter-war years, and now things are starting to pick up…finally.  I’m not saying that I felt the same impatience that Patton endured for this next chance to prove himself after his experiences in WWI, but that did go on for a bit.

One passage that did pique my interest had to do with Patton’s wedding.  In reading about him over the years, I’ve seen many of the “blood and guts” images (like his portait here from 2008 via the National Portrait Gallery) but never his wedding picture.  Here, Patton is a young man, recently graduated from West Point, with a full life ahead.   See copyrighted image here.

Oh, and he was really rich, and when he married, things got better in terms of the $$$.  Further, he was impatient, brilliant, and destined for something great. At least this is my impression of the book so far.

Book Review Backlog

So it’s that wonderful time of the year. Time to clean things off the back burner, so here are a few lingering book reviews:

Bomber County by Daniel Swift–I kind of loved this book.  Most of the WW2 books I have will get recycled in some way, either by giving them to friends or reselling to local bookstores.  But I’m keeping this one.  I’d give it 10 out of 5 stars, if that is even possible.  This book is a personal journey that uses archive material and poetry to follow the path of the author’s grandfather, who was a bomber pilot and died near the end of the war.  Now don’t get thrown off by the poetry part.  Poetry isn’t always about rhyming couplets and star-crossed youths; it is very often a cultural snapshot of the time  and of great significance to researchers.  The archive materials chart the path of the grandfather; the poems chart the path of the time and place, and this creates a most readable and thoughtful narrative.  5/5 stars. Amazon linkage.

The All Americans in World War II: A Photographic History of the 82nd Airborne Division at War by Phil Nordyke–This book is pretty cool in its own way.  Critics might say that the 1 or so page introduction to each chapter isn’t enough to adequately describe a given subject or time frame.  But hey, this is only partially about the words.  You need those to introduce all the content that follows in each chapter.  Many of the pictures are well known and published in many places over the years.  Others are darkish and hazy offerings and I get that.  This is a book with lots of pictures and not every one of them is going to be great.  Still, I’d give this a 4/5 stars. Amazon linkage.

To D-Day and Back by Bob Beardon–I liked it.  Beardon is no Webster or Sledge, but he did manage to carve out an easy going, laid-back narrative style.  At times it was Ernie Pyle-eske (with some descriptions bordering on cliche).  The strength of the book is Beardon’s descriptions after his capture in Normandy and his ordeal from there.  There are prison camp tales, and moving and disturbing tales of life while moving behind Russian lines after his liberation.  Truly for Beardon, it was a long, strange trip back to Texas.  3/5 stars. Amazon linkage.

On Writing by Stephen King–Okay this one isn’t WW2-themed but if you are a writer, get this book. I found my copy on a table at work under the sign FREE, so I count myself lucky. King takes his readers on a very personal journey here, from his early experiences sneaking in writing during breaks at a sweaty, awful sounding laundry company, to the struggles of overcoming physical hardship in in later years, and how writing has been there through it all. The second half of the book is mostly practical active for writers of any genre. The key? Find a place to write and shut the door. Go there everyday and write. No exceptions. Sounds easy, right? Were it so there would be millions of SKs. More advice? You gotta read, man. Read everything you can get your hands on as a way to figure out your style.  More, you say?  You gotta find your muse.  In writing circles, this is a familiar trope, especially for poets, but I found King’s muse interesting.  It is an old, fat, cigar chomping lout that keeps yelling at him (and writing…).  Not exactly one of the 9 daughters of Zeus but a guiding spirit nonetheless.  As far as audience goes, King argues that you are writing for one person.  For him it is it his wife Tabitha.  If you can make that one person “get you” and your “moves,” then you are on to something.  5/5 stars. Amazon linkage here.

Monday Conversations About Dick Winters

So on campus today, I had the chance to speak to a student who used to see Dick Winters once a month for sunday dinner.

“Really?” I said.

“I was ten at the time, more or less, and I went over there with my friend.”

He did not mention if the friend was a grandson or great grandson.

“I had no idea who he was until later…at his funeral actually, that he was a war hero. I saw a Facebook announcement about his death and said ‘hey wait. I know that guy.'”

“So,” I asked, “you never saw his office with the E Company flag and the maps?”

“Never. He never said anything about the war around me. I would just see him at the table or in the backyard. Great guy. Very nice to me.”

A third person was in on the conversation.  “Dick Winters?  Band of Brothers?,”  he said.

“Get it,” we both said in unison.  It is worth knowing this American bada$$, either through Ambrose’s book or the HBO mini-series.

United States Naval Memorial in DC

Down in DC to visit the Spy Museum today, and I have to admit it was pretty cool. I’d been resisting a visit to this place, mostly because it is a pay museum in a city full of free offerings. Gotta love all those Smithsonians. There were more than few WW2 entries in the mix at the Spy Museum, though regrettably, photography was prohibited in all exhibits. But I have to say that folks through history have thought of some pretty ingenious ways to take pix, and of course, to kill each other.

On our way over to the National Archives to see the Declaration of Independence and Constitution, we stopped by the US Naval Memorial and took a few pix of the masts, and the bass reliefs at the front which depict a different aspect of Naval service. On our way back from seeing the Founding Documents at the Archives, we stopped inside the memorial and spoke with two Naval veterans, one from WW2. After we said hello, he launched into the story of the USS Yorktown at the Battle of Midway. About 20 minutes later, I took a few pix of the model, which is pictured here. As these things go, it would have been rude to interrupt the storyteller who was so clearly invested in the tale. Enjoy the pix.

The 82nd Airborne Division and Operation Neptune

This weekend, I spent a fair amount of time clearing out space on my hard drive.

That process always leads to unusual discoveries, including this. I do not remember anything about the context of this image, except that I DLed it as a PDF and converted to a JPG for presentation here. It did not include the report, which would have been much more interesting than some late July hard drive cleaning and organizing.

Our friends over at wikipedia describe the airborne landings thus:

“The U.S. 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions, numbering 13,000 paratroopers delivered by 12 troop carrier groups of the IX Troop Carrier Command, were less fortunate in completing their main objectives. To achieve surprise, the drops were routed to approach Normandy from the west. Numerous factors affected their performance, the primary of which was the decision to make a massive parachute drop at night (a tactic not used again for the rest of the war). As a result, 45% of units were widely scattered and unable to rally. Efforts of the early wave of pathfinder teams to mark the landing zones were largely ineffective, and the Rebecca/Eureka transponding radar beacons used to guide in the waves of C-47 Skytrains to the drop zones were the main component of a flawed system.

Three regiments of 101st Airborne paratroopers were dropped first, between 00:48 and 01:40, followed by the 82nd Airborne’s drops between 01:51 and 02:42. Each operation involved approximately 400 C-47 aircraft. Two pre-dawn glider landings brought in anti-tank guns and support troops for each division. On the evening of D-Day two additional glider landings brought in two battalions of artillery and 24 howitzers to the 82nd Airborne. Additional glider operations on 7 June delivered the 325th Glider Infantry Regiment to the 82nd Airborne, and two large supply parachute drops that date were ineffective.

After 24 hours, only 2,500 troops of the 101st and 2,000 of the 82nd were under the control of their divisions, approximating a third of the force dropped. The dispersal of the American airborne troops, however, had the effect of confusing the Germans and fragmenting their response. In addition, the Germans’ defensive flooding, in the early stages, also helped to protect the Americans’ southern flank.

Paratroopers continued to roam and fight behind enemy lines for days. Many consolidated into small groups, rallied with NCOs or junior officers, and usually were a hodgepodge of men from different companies, battalions, regiments, or even divisions. The 82nd occupied the town of Sainte-Mère-Église early in the morning of 6 June, giving it the claim of the first town liberated in the invasion.”

Audio Book Reviews

Summer travelers, ATTENTION!!!!

Worried about covering long distances with only AM/FM radio? No cash for SAT radio? Listen up: find a computer and DL some audio books. The hours won’t seem as dull and you will have “read” a book, thus making you much more brilliant and literate than any other traveler on the road. Plus it will drown out the kids in the back yelling “are we there yet?” for 500th time.

Kidding aside, I’ve become a big fan of audio books. My commute isn’t long but the time in a car adds up day after day and audio books can be slightly more interesting than talk radio. Over the last few months, I’ve knocked out all the Harry Potter books…finally…while driving kids and heading to work.

On a three-week vacation this summer, I finished up two WWII-themed books of note. The first is Beyond Band of Brothers: The War Memoirs of Major Dick Winters by Dick Winters and Cole Kingseed. Readers familiar with Stephen Ambrose’s Band of Brothers and the HBO miniseries will enjoy this book as it provides much additional detail on the men in E company, 506 PIR, 101st Airborne Division. Winters even tells of a near death experience in the Swiss Alps hunting mountain goats after all the shooting had stopped. With his guide in the snowy upper reaches of a mountain, Winters spied his goat, but lost his footing and tumbled down the mountain, finally self-arresting with his rifle after a considerable distance. Sitting up, he shot the goat and promised never to mountain climb again. Stories like these fill the book and add considerable depth to the story of E company. The downside of the book is perhaps the last 1/3 as it ends with lectures on leadership and fan mail received after the airing of Band of Brothers. While this content is notable, it’s not nearly as interesting as the first 2/3 of the book. Still, this is a good read worth checking out.

The second book is Sławomir Rawicz’s The Long Walk. While there are lingering questions about the authenticity of the book, I can say that it is a pretty marvelous piece of fiction. I thought it would be awful, to be honest. I mean who wants to read a book about a bunch of dudes walking 4000 miles? But this is a story about a Polish Army officer captured by the Russians, interrogated/tortured, and shipped to Siberia. With the help of the only woman in the camp (the Commandant’s wife), he escapes with a few friends and the walking begins. Of note were the author’s descriptions of the trek through Tibet (and the generosity of the people) and of crossing the Gobi desert. I kept thinking over and over, “no way that just happened.” The prose is florid and quite beautiful at times. Plus the narrator was exceptionally good (and British, too) and brought the story to life. With audio books, this is key. This book is worth a listen.

So there you have it: two decent audio books. Happy listening.

WW II Across the Country

I recently finished up a three week trip by car across the US visiting National Parks. It was an _amazing_ experience seeing Mesa Verde, Zion, Arches and Moab, Grand Teton, Yellowstone, and Mt. Rushmore. Plus I had some time in-between to rest/refit at my parents place in northern Utah, where, it turns out, they have really good mountain biking.

Along the way, I noticed _MANY_ small towns with war memorials right by the highway. I saw tanks, aircraft, jeeps as centerpieces of these memorials. Some were ornate; others were in dustbowls; still others in grassy areas by rivers. That sort of thing. These were always a welcome sight.

At one point in the trip, I found myself in a cemetery in Monroe, Utah, visiting the grave of my grandparents. Monroe is situated in the middle/central part of the state, it is as “cowboy” as it gets in a “cowboy” state, and it is 200 or miles from large population centers like Salt Lake or St. George. It is the kind of place that writers describe as “hardscrabble.” To me, it’s dusty and more than a little shitty. But that’s Monroe, the birthplace of my grandfather. After paying respects to my grandparents, I turned to leave and noticed a B-17 image as part of a grave stone. That image is included here. It says that Robert Hal Parker flew 35 combat missions as part of the 401 Bomb Group in World War II. Some basic web sleuthing reveals that Parker came home from the war, became a dentist, and served in his church for many years.

I also had the chance to visit the Hill Air Force Base Aviation Museum just outside Ogden, Utah. I’ve written about this place before in other posts but wanted to add a few more pix to the collection. Plus there is a pix showing the outside of Smith and Edwards (The Country Boy’s Store) which is pretty much a half surplus, half Walmart kind of place. It is easy to get lost in the surplus section. Sign mounted to top of Sherman Tank? What ever works. Enjoy.

Memorial Day 2011, gaming, and “Rock 98”

This post is a little late (as in May 31) and it is partly in due to the many notes I’ve seen in my Facebook news feed about remembrance on Memorial Day. I think I made one, too. And this morning, I saw a comment associated with a post about John Basilone on this blog. It reads:

“John became a very good friend of my Fathers during WW2. My Father used to tell me some great stories about John and how wonderful a guy he was. Everybody liked him and above all he was born leader. The soldiers just gravitated towards him. I always have a prayer for John on Memorial Day. Thanks John. RIP John Basilone. RIP to all our Veterans.”

Just prior to this, I’d been reading a piece via Ars Technica called “From execution site to gaming icon: the story of Wake Island” by Ben Kuchera about multiplayer gaming. Now I am a gamer, through and through. I love a good FPS and I spend WAY too much time messing around in Call of Duty Black Ops, though I have always been a little uneasy spending time “gaming” on levels where people have, you know, died. And Memorial Day here in the US brings this sharply into focus.

Over the years, I’ve worked through many World War II themed titles, including the early Call of Duty and Medal of Honor games, and the amazing Brothers in Arms series, which pretty much changed the genre for me in terms of game play. But I’ve never felt quite right about it.

I’ve heard the argument that video games shouldn’t ever tread on those hallowed, historical grounds. Let’s honor the dead and take our games elsewhere. The Halo series fits this argument well enough, if you are an Xbox person anyway. But Kuchera’s argument is that history and gaming can co-exist together. He writes:

“No one needs to feel guilty when playing a war game that uses real-world battlefields for entertainment, but we do need to be acutely aware that these are real places where tragic things happened. A little respect for, and knowledge of, the past can go a long way.

This hit home for me while researching this piece. While reading up on Wake Island, I came across a photo of the so-called ’98 Rock.’ When the bombing got thick in 1943 and the Japanese knew they would lose the island, 98 imprisoned contractors—not soldiers—were rounded up and executed. One man somehow escaped and scratched ’98 US PW 5-10-43′ on a nearby rock as a way of communicating what had happened. That rock is now a memorial on the island.”

The 99th man (who made the etching) was captured and later beheaded. And the upcoming Battlefield 3 title is going back there (for the third time after installments in two previous titles).

As Kuchera suggests, it’s just important to be thoughtful in how we approach our entertainment aims. For me, I’m going to keep reading and gaming. Writing on the side, too, and maintain a healthy respect for service and sacrifice. As a gamer, it’s the only way. Otherwise, you are just walking on the deck with mud on your shoes. And nobody likes that.

War Memorial Featuring M5 “Jeb Stuart” Tank

It isn’t often that you see a war memorial complete with a tank in the middle of a neighborhood.  Originally constructed in 1921, a group of WW I veterans created the memorial to honor war dead and managed to place a Howitzer cannon there.  More on this later.

But there is such a place in Brunswick, MD, USA.  Brunswick is an old railroad town that borders the Potomac river and I happened to be there attending a family event at a local church.  In fact, the only thing I really knew about the place was that it was a company town for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and that there used to be a pretty big rail hub just down the line.  Now days, most DC commuters catch a train there for the hour plus trip downtown.

The memorial itself is situated on a narrow island in the middle of the road, with cars driving by both ways.  There are sets of benches for reflecting, a large marker on one end and the tank on the other.  In between are marble tiles with the names of local men and women who were killed in conflict going back to WW I.  There were even a few newer additions with names of men killed in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

The tank is the M5 “Jeb Stuart” according to the placard and it was presented to the city in 1946.  During the war, the city was asked to donate the howitzer during a scrap drive.  The Marines, it says, favored the use of this tank in the Pacific theatre because it was lightweight and easily outfitted with a flame thrower.

With the glare of the sun obscuring my trusty phone/cam, the picture of the placard came out poorly.  But the rest show the various parts of the memorial.

More Iconic Images (West Virginia BB-48)

Reader David Wells posted this in the comments of the Iconic Images post. I decided to promote that comment here, and post the image as well. Thanks for commenting, David.

“The shot of the West Virginia (BB-48) anchored in Sagami Wan with Mt. Fuji in the background sums up the Pacific war in one shot. From the bottom of Pearl Harbor to the home islands of Japan, the rebuilt WeeVee symbolizes American resolve, capability, and achievement. It is also most fitting that the WeeVee was the victor in the last BB-on-BB encounter ever fought when she polished off the Yamashiro at Surigao Strait.”

Image source: http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/images/h89000/h89362.jpg