I’m currently reading the 'Worst combat role in WWII?" thread in general questions and someone made the comment that they’ve never seen a memoir by a flame-thrower operator.
So I was wondering if people could recommend books written by people who served in less commonly covered roles, not necessarily direct combat positions and preferably 20th century conflicts.
I’ve just finished reading ‘Love My Rifle More Than You: Young and Female in the US Army’ by Kayla Williams about her experiences in Iraq in 2003 and while she doesn’t come across as a particularly sympathetic or likable person it was certainly interesting to read a memoir from the perspective of a female soldier.
The Brass Ring by Bill Mauldin, soldier and cartoonist for Stars and Stripes in WWII, is a wonderful book. There were lots of incidents that, bit by bit, chipped away at his naive illusions about the world, like the overly-friendly French farm girls who he knew were exactly as friendly a week earlier to occupying German soldiers, the petty corruptions in the moral vacuum of wartime Italy, the crazy lengths he had to go to to obtain a hunk of zinc to make a printing plate to get out an edition of his unit’s newspaper, and the destroyed church at Monte Cassino that reminded him that America was sometimes the bad guy.
This book is about a black woman who became an RN in the Deep South in the 1930s, and later served in the Army, where she met her husband. Because they were black, they got the least desirable assignment, which in this case was in Africa.
Not North Africa. Liberia. :eek: I hadn’t known until then that the U.S. military was active there in WWII. I know now that they set up a base there primarily to engage in research into malaria and other tropical diseases, which leads one to wonder how many troops there got Ebola, 30-plus years before the disease was identified.
This woman and her husband both died just within the past few years.
I’d also recommend Dr. Gordon Seagrave’s books about his experiences during WW II, “Burma Surgeon” and “Burma Surgeon Returns”. Both are out of print but were huge best-sellers in the 1940s and relatively easy to find.
He was actually a missionary doctor but these books are about his secular work as an Army surgeon in the Burmese theater.
Tank Sergeant by Ralph Zumbro. It’s combat arms but in a war where the narrative is mostly about light infantry fights it stands out. It is a bit like telling war stories after he had a few beers.
The Other Side of the Mountain: Mujahideen Tactics in the Soviet Afghan War by Lester Grau. LTC(ret) Grau interviewed mujahadeen leaders and the book is the vignettes he captured from them. It’s not a lone persons memoir but there is not all that much else out there capturing the stories of tactical leaders in an insurgency. Grau’s “Bear Went Over the Mountain…” is a great companion since in some cases it tells the other side of the same fight. That one is translated after action reviews so even stretching memoir doesn’t cover directly including it.
Soldat: Reflections of a German Soldier is written by a German officer who had a pretty unique viewpoint of the war. He was on both the Eastern and Western fronts. He was injured and sent to the rear before things went really bad in the east. He was one of the last officers to go through general staff school. He most unique role was as part of General Weilding’s staff he gave briefings at the Hitler bunker during the defense of Berlin. This book was used in part as the basis of the movie Downfall. It’s an interesting perspective since we usually hear about it from the allied side.
Low Level Hell is written by a scout helicopter pilot in Viet Nam. There are not too many books about aeroscouts.
[Take Mary to the Pictures](Take Mary to the Pictures - Alan ‘Kit’ Kitley) by Alan ‘Kit’ Kitley is a neat little memoir by a British fighter pilot who ended up flying missions over Burma from an offshore base in the Indian Ocean.
It’s not very long but it’s full of interesting details.
Spike Milligan served in a British heavy artillery regiment, initially post-Dunkirk and then into North Africa and Italy.
There are four main books in his ‘trilogy’
Adolf Hitler - my part in his downfall
Rommel - “Gunner who?”
Monty - his part in my victory
Mussolini - his part in my downfall.
While they were a combat unit and saw action a lot of the story is about alleviating the boredom in between. Spike was a jazz musician and spent a lot of time as an entertainer.
Spike is something of a god to many British and Australians, I have no idea if he even registers among Americans.
Safe to assume Low Level Hell occupies a place of honor in your personal library?
Excellent book, IMO.
When I was a young PFC/LCpl barracks rat, I read a ton of “PX Special” paperback books written by Vietnam helicopter pilots; mostly slicks and gunships, but I do recall at least one or two books about scouts that weren’tLLH. I wish I could remember their titles (or at least their authors); I left the books in various barracks rooms, base libraries, and “Have a free book” boxes on a couple continents during the previous century.
Also excellent books IMO: Once a Marine: An Iraq War Tank Commander’s Inspirational Memoir of Combat, Courage, and Recovery
From The Black Deck - is just being launched, written by an acquaintance about her experiences dealing with sexual harassment and assault while in the Royal Canadian Navy. I have not read it myself, but I know her experiences were traumatic, including how the Chain of Command dealt with the reporting.
One of the many stories I think of when working to help victim-survivors and hopefully prevent future victimization.
