Download or read book From Artillery to Air Corps The World War II Memoir of a Green Mountain Cannone written by Paul F. Van Kavelaar and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 199 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book From Artillery to Air Corps The World War II Memoir of a Green Mountain Cannoneer Turned B 24 Radioman written by Paul F. Van Kavelaar and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 199 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book On Time on Target written by John D. McKenzie and published by . This book was released on 2000 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This World War II memoir follows McKenzie's transformation from a green recruit into a hardened combat veteran after joining the 82nd Airborne as a field artillery paratrooper. The retired chemical engineer looks back on his involvement in two months of continuous frontline combat. 5 maps. 24 photos.

Download or read book Artilleryman written by John T. Varano and published by Xlibris Corporation. This book was released on 2010-07-13 with total page 110 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: My story covers almost three years of my life when I was an artilleryman in the European Theater. The news of the day was so important and ghastly, so far-reaching and complex, so uncommon and courageous, that there can never be enough history books written to describe and explain the events of WWII. This is a personal history, however, and I was a young soldier, one who wrote letters and kept journals and planned to write about it. But then, after the war, it became too difficult, and I rarely even spoke of it. Half a century later, as a father, husband, and grandfather, I finally retired from running my own business, and realized now I had the time and must use it. With books, maps, and random notes scattered around me, I proved to be a most disorganized writer. One evening, in the midst of the media coverage of the 50th Anniversary of World War II, my daughter, Norma, called me. She was crying. She had just watched a television documentary about the war and it included footage of my Division, the 90th Infantry, Pattons Third Army.

Download or read book A Dangerous Assignment An Artillery Forward Observer In World War 2 written by William B. Hanford and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2020-02-04 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Merriam Press World War 2 Memoir. Corporal Bill Hanford had one of the US Army's most dangerous jobs in World War II: artillery forward observer (FO). Tasked with calling in heavy fire on the enemy, FOs accompanied infantrymen into combat, crawled into no-man's-land, and ascended observation posts like hills and ridges to find their targets. But beyond the usual perils of ground combat, FOs were specially targeted by the enemy because of their crucial role in directing artillery fire. Hanford spent much of his time fighting in the Vosges Mountains in eastern France and then in Germany in late 1944/early 1945. Rare memoir of a risky job performed by relatively few troops. Honest and observant narrative describes the good, bad, and ugly of the war. Originally published by Stackpole Books in 2008 and discontinued in 2015, this brand new edition from Merriam Press has a completely revised and improved design with additional photos. 23 photos.

Download or read book Blue Skies and Thunder written by Virgil W. Westdale and published by iUniverse. This book was released on 2009-12 with total page 299 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1942, Virgil Westdale was a successful young flight instructor when the government ousted him from the Air Corps and demoted him to army private. Having grown up as a Japanese American midwestern farm boy, Westdale had his first taste of Japanese culture when he was sent to train with the all Japanese American unit, the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. He was ultimately transferred to the 522nd Artillery Battalion, where, as a member of the Fire Direction Center, he helped push the Germans out of Italy, rescue the Lost Battalion in France, and free prisoners from Dachau Concentration Camp in Germany. After the war, Westdale went on to pursue a career in research and development with large corporations. He received twenty-five U.S. patents and earned an international award for his work with photocopier components. In retirement, he has been working for the TSA, returning to the worlds of aviation and national security. Written for the lay reader as well as the history buff, Westdale's stories of World War II challenge preconceived notions of what we think we know about a soldier's life in Europe and offer images that go beyond the history books. ---"Spanning over ninety years, Virgil's amazing and complex life story vividly reflects America's history from the early 1900s to our current fight against terrorism. His book reads if he were sitting before me casually sharing his life. A highlight of my career both as an Army officer and a Federal Civil Servant has been the honor of working with and getting to know Virgil Westdale, a great American. This is a truly fascinating and memorable autobiography." John H. Mumma, Colonel, US Army Retired Federal Security Director, Transportation Security Administration ---"Virgil Westdale's Blue Skies and Thunder tells a story that is both unique in American history and uniquely American. After growing up as a Midwestern farm boy whose Japanese father had largely assimilated into the local community, he found himself after Pearl Harbor viewed with suspicion by the very government he wanted to serve in the Second World War. Denied a chance to serve as a military pilot, or even as a pilot trainer, he eventually found his way into a newly created Japanese American artillery unit and served with distinction in Italy, France and Germany. Back in the United States, he completed college and made a career for himself as an engineer with multiple patents to his credit, and eventually served his country a second time, as an airport security officer. His account is highly readable and offers insights into a wide range of aspects of both his own life and the world around him." Dr. James Smither, Director Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project

Download or read book The Army Air Corps written by Colonel W. G. Bonvouloir and published by . This book was released on 2019-04-17 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: W. G. Bonvouloir received greetings from the government in August 1941. He said to his wife, Nancy, "Don't worry. I'm thirty-six, married with three children, and I'm overweight. They won't take me." Surprise! They have raised the weight limit for thirty-six year olds. "You're in. Congratulations, Captain." So begins the saga of his WWII experience. He always maintained that "Those who stand and wait also serve." This exemplified our mom. She stood and waited and raised three young girls, served with the GI Joe wives and kept the home fires burning. Dad wasn't present physically, but he was always there. Mom made sure we knew that.

Download or read book Above the Thunder written by Raymond C. Kerns and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Cover -- Title -- Copyright -- Illustrations -- A Note on the Language -- Preface and Acknowledgments -- Introduction: The Heroic Liaison Pilots of World War II and the Amazing Piper Cub L-4 -- Prologue -- 1 The Pineapple Soldier -- 2 Ninety-Day Wonders and Fair-Haired Boys -- 3 Kauai to Fortification Point -- 4 Tornado Task Force -- 5 Luzon: Lingayen to the Hills -- 6 Over the Hills to Baguio -- 7 Sashaying Around Up North -- Epilogue -- Appendix: History and Specifications of the J-3 Piper Cub -- Notes -- Further Reading -- Index.

Download or read book Grandpa s Selective Memories of World War II an Artilleryman in Italy written by Anthony Catalino and published by . This book was released on 2008-11-17 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Memoir by an Army artilleryman from training in the U.S. to service in Africa and Italy with the 35th Field Artillery. 125 pages, 36 photos.

Download or read book Victory Road written by Robert C. Baldridge and published by CreateSpace. This book was released on 2012-07-15 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Merriam Press Military Monograph 212. Sixth Edition (July 2012). Victory Road is a great World War II memoir: The gripping story of a determined young soldier in an artillery battalion of the famous 9th Infantry Division of the U.S. First Army, which invaded Normandy in June 1944 and fought on through five battle campaigns to victory over Germany in May 1945 at the Elbe River. The author accurately and compellingly describes a soldier's experiences in Army basic training, being shipped overseas to England in December 1943 on the ocean liner Queen Mary, crossing the English Channel to Utah Beach in Normandy on D-Day + 4, and then fighting the German forces for almost a year while living in the field during all four seasons. He explains how an artillery battalion functions, how it supports in battle the division's infantry regiments and in a fashion that brings to life what real combat action is all about. What adds even more to this book is his recounting of his family's experiences during those wartime years. 177 photos, 3 illustrations, 6 maps, 30 documents. This book has been used as a reference source for a number of other works, including Citizen Soldiers by Stephen Ambrose, and After D-Day: Operation Cobra and the Normandy Breakout by James Jay Carafano.

Download or read book The Cannoneers written by W. Stanford Smith and published by . This book was released on 1993-01-01 with total page 98 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Wonder of It All written by Howard L. Carlson and published by . This book was released on 2005-09 with total page 164 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The author tells of his role with the 62nd Armored Field Artillery Battalion in World War II in desert training, combat in Africa and Sicily, training in England for the invasion of Normandy, landing on Omaha Beach and the campaign through France and Europe, ending in Czechoslovakia.

Download or read book Mount Up We re Moving Out written by Vernon H Brown, Jr and published by . This book was released on 2021-03 with total page 150 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The author manned a .50-cal. machine gun in a "Peep" (jeep) as a member of D Troop, 94th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron, Mechanized, 14th Armored Division. Later, he became the gunner of an M8 armored car. The story starts with their shipment overseas on the troopship Gen. James A. Parker, landing in Marseilles, France. Their first foray into combat is in early December 1944. The rest of the story unfolds as the author and his unit move inexorably towards Germany and the end of the war. The story will be familiar to all veterans, with episodes of camaraderie, laughter, combat, fear, losses, tears, peace and joy. This is not a war story, nor is it a story about war; rather it is a story about men whose lives happened to become entangled in a war. 71 photos/illustrations. A Merriam Press World War II Memoir. "I have just finished reading your Troop D memoir and I find that I react to it more strongly than I ever have to any war novel, movie, etc. Perhaps because it is the real thing. I honestly don't see how you kept your sanity and would have liked to sit at your feet and have you tell me how you did it. I think that it is all the more telling because it is so understated - leaving so much to the reader to "fill in" with his own imagination and experience. I loved reading about you and how you felt, but it really leaves me with a deep understanding of what war is and why we must be so careful about getting ourselves involved in everything that is going on today." -John Wood

Download or read book Not Me written by Alexander Hadden and published by CreateSpace. This book was released on 2012-07-17 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Merriam Press Military Monograph 221. Sixth Edition (July 2012). What happens when an Ivy League preppy is suddenly dumped from a comfortable college environment into World War II combat as an infantry rifleman? Sandy Hadden well knew that he would find no glamour or glory in a foxhole, and for the first two years of his service managed to avoid answering that question. Knowing he would never be a hero, he said "Not me!" to Air Corps flight training and "Not me!" to dropping behind German lines in an OSS parachute. But like a moth to the flame, he was sucked into war's vortex. And so it was that in the early morning hours of December 16, 1944-the date personally picked by Hitler to launch his surprise Ardennes Offensive (the "Battle of the Bulge")-Hadden found himself exactly where he dreaded to be: in a front line foxhole with Baker Company of the 28th Division, stupefied by the first assault. This book explains how this came about and the horrors that followed. It tells of the terrifying German tank and artillery attacks, of the chaos of retreat and being reported as missing in action, of Baker's devastating losses and of the anguish of its men. And it goes on to document how almost miraculously the survivors rose above their "chickenshit" training, their misguided and even cowardly leadership, and especially their own terror to take the war to the Nazis. In doing so, it strips away the veneer and cant that cloaks most combat writing and lays bare what soldiers really think. The closing chapters are startling in their contrasts: as a new second lieutenant, Hadden is a staffer at the Potsdam Conference where he rubs elbows with Truman, Churchill, and Stalin, and he then spends a year of extraordinary occupation duty in postwar Berlin with side visits to romantic Paris. This book is unflinching in its look at combat. Its style is direct and unaffected, and it has the kind of real drama about it that comes from absolute authenticity. 32 photos; 3 maps; 3 appendices.

Download or read book Sixty Days in Combat written by Dean Joy and published by Ballantine Books. This book was released on 2007-12-18 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “The infantryman’s war is . . . without the slightest doubt the dirtiest, roughest job of them all.” He went in as a military history buff, a virgin, and a teetotaler. He came out with a war bride, a taste for German beer, and intimate knowledge of one of the darkest parts of history. His name is Dean Joy, and this was his war. For two months in 1945, Joy endured and survived the everyday deprivations and dangers of being a frontline infantryman. His amazingly detailed memoir, self-illustrated with numerous scenes Joy remembers from his time in Europe, brings back the sights, sounds, and smells of the experience as few books ever have. Here is the story of a young man who dreamed of flying fighter aircraft and instead was chosen to be cannon fodder in France and Germany . . . who witnessed the brutality of Nazis killing Allied medics by using the cross on their helmets as targets . . . and who narrowly escaped being wounded or killed in several “near miss” episodes, the last of which occurred on his last day of combat. Sixty Days in Combat re-creates all the drama of the “dogface’s” fight, a time that changed one young man in a war that changed the world.

Download or read book Echoes of War the Memoirs of a 976th and 913th Field Artillery Battalion Wireman in Italy During World War II written by James Brindy and published by . This book was released on 2012-06-10 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Echoes of War is the army memoir of James Brindy. A man taught by his father to stand up for himself on the tough streets of boom and bust Chicago. Following his army training as a wireman with the artillery, James went on to participate in the battles around Monte Cassino, the landings at Anzio, and the capture of Rome. Ultimately, James ended his service with the 88th Infantry Division.These are his stories of service during the Second World War.

Download or read book American Airpower Comes Of Age General Henry H Hap Arnold s World War II Diaries Vol II Illustrated Edition written by Gen. Henry H. “Hap.” Arnold and published by Pickle Partners Publishing. This book was released on 2015-11-06 with total page 927 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Includes the Aerial Warfare In Europe During World War II illustrations pack with over 180 maps, plans, and photos. Gen Henry H. “Hap.” Arnold, US Army Air Forces (AAF) Chief of Staff during World War II, maintained diaries for his several journeys to various meetings and conferences throughout the conflict. Volume 1 introduces Hap Arnold, the setting for five of his journeys, the diaries he kept, and evaluations of those journeys and their consequences. General Arnold’s travels brought him into strategy meetings and personal conversations with virtually all leaders of Allied forces as well as many AAF troops around the world. He recorded his impressions, feelings, and expectations in his diaries. Maj Gen John W. Huston, USAF, retired, has captured the essence of Henry H. Hap Arnold—the man, the officer, the AAF chief, and his mission. Volume 2 encompasses General Arnold’s final seven journeys and the diaries he kept therein.