Burlington Public Library

Letters and reflections in reponse to Brokaw's book The greatest generation.

"A riveting firsthand account of American heroism, Colonel Art Shaw's 82 Days on Okinawa delivers an unprecedented soldier's-eye view of the Pacific War's 'bloodiest battle of all' (New York Times)— the climactic final land battle of World War II and a campaign so brutal that it convinced leaders to unleash the atomic bomb. 75 years ago, he was the first officer ashore on Okinawa. It's taken him a lifetime to speak about the 82 days that followed....

These writings create an unforgettable portrait of life in wartime that continues to resonate with truth and humanity.

"Brown ... sits down with [Jerry] Yellin, now ninety-three years old, to tell the ... story of the final combat mission of World War II. Nine days after Hiroshima, on the morning of August 14th, Yellin and his wingman 1st Lieutenant Phillip Schlamberg took off from Iwo Jima to bomb Tokyo. By the time Yellin returned to Iwo Jima, the war was officially over--but his young friend Schlamberg would never get to hear the news. [This book] is a ... first-person...

The thunderous roar of exploding depth charges was a familiar and comforting sound to the crew members of the USS Barb, who frequently found themselves somewhere between enemy fire and Davy Jones's locker. Under the leadership of her fearless skipper, Captain Gene Fluckey, the Barb sank the greatest tonnage of any American sub in World War II. At the same time, the Barb did far more than merely sink ships - she changed forever the way submarines stalk...

The author tells about his part in the bombing of Tokyo on the Doolittle raid of April 18, 1942.

"Ernie Coleman survived the worst open-sea defeat in US Navy history. But he paid a price and buried the horrific memories for decades. Like Mitch Albom's successful Tuesdays with Morrie, 22 Minutes is a searing account of a survivor coming to terms with an incident he had suppressed for sixty years."--Provided by publisher.

An English literature major at Harvard with a talent for writing, twenty-one-year-old David Kenyon Webster volunteered for duty in the U.S. Army's parachute infantry in 1943 with the aim of seeing combat firsthand and then describing his experiences. His introduction to warfare came at the invasion of Normandy on D-Day in 1944. Webster went on to see considerable action in the next two years, serving as a combat infantryman in the campaign through...

As a young band of brothers flies over German-occupied France, they come under heavy fire. Their B-17 is shot down and the airmen--stumbling through fields and villages--scatter across Europe. Some struggled to flee for safety. Others were captured immediately and imprisoned. Now, for the first time, their incredible story of grit, survival, and reunion is told.

The former U.S. Senate Republican leader recounts his experiences of serving with the 10th Mountain Division during World War II, during which he suffered a dangerous wound that resulted in a three-year struggle for survival.