A D-Day reenactor during the 80th anniversary of the WWII invasion in Normandy, France. Photo taken at the Waterbury-Oxford Airport in Oxford, Ct., on May 16, 2024. Not everyone can participate in enactment exercises, but books about veterans’ experiences are available to all. Richard Moore/The Epoch Times
Reacting to the belief of Woodrow Wilson and others that World War I would be “the war to end all wars,” philosopher George Santayana wrote, “Only the dead have seen the end of war.”
History has confirmed the truth of Santayana’s dark rebuttal. Following World War II, which killed many millions more than the first, the next 50 years delivered violence and conflicts all around the globe. The 21st century appears no more inclined to peace than its predecessor. Right now, for instance, in addition to the fighting between Ukraine and Russia and Israel and Hamas, approximately 40 other countries are engaged in some type of warfare.
An American soldier in a trench during WWI, circa 1918. FPG/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
With the exception of 9/11, the United States has been blessedly free of war on its own soil in this age of turmoil, yet we’ve dispatched several million men and women across the oceans into battle. They fought and died in Korea, Vietnam, and the Middle East. Every year on Memorial Day we pay homage to all those who sacrificed their lives for our country, while on Veterans Day we honor all military personnel who have served or are serving their country.
Because the vast majority of Americans living today have never served in the military, appreciating what those men and women in uniform have done for the rest of us requires knowledge about the past and some imagination in re-creating it.
Fortunately, there are authors blessed with these gifts of imagination and knowledge who have given us books by which we may remember and honor our veterans.
U.S. Marines during a simulated mission as part of a Revised Capabilities Exercise at Camp Lejeune, N.C., on May 8, 1996. The United States was gearing up to retaliate for the 9/11 terrorist attacks. US ARMY/AFP via Getty Images
Fiction Goes to War
American literature since WWI is rich in novels about warfare. Ernest Hemingway’s “A Farewell to Arms,” James Jones’s WWII trilogy, books from the Vietnam War like “The Things We Carried” and “Matterhorn,” Bing West’s Afghanistan novel “The Last Platoon”: This is only a slim list of the fiction produced by veterans about our wars.
For “The Leader’s Bookshelf,” Retired Adm. James Stavridis and R. Manning Ancell asked more than 200 four-star military officers to name and comment on their favorite books. After compiling these recommendations, Stavridis and Ancell discovered that Anton Myrer’s “Once an Eagle” took first ranking on this reading list.
"Once an Eagle" by Anton Myrer.
In this 1968 novel, Myrer, a Marine and Purple Heart recipient in WWII, gave us Sam Damon, a maverick Army officer who serves his country from WWI until his death in Southeast Asia. Damon’s story provides readers with an excellent introduction to the principles of superb leadership, to the rigors and horrors of combat, and to 20th-century American history and culture. We find in this character a man of principle, intelligence, and devotion to honor and duty—the sort of officer under whom anyone would be proud to serve.
Another author is veteran James (“Jim”) Webb. He’s a Naval Academy graduate who fought as a Marine in Vietnam, won the Navy Cross and the Silver Star, was appointed Secretary of the Navy during the Reagan administration, and served one term as a Democrat senator from Virginia.
"Fields of Fire" by James Webb.
Like Myrer’s saga, Webb’s Vietnam novel “Fields of Fire” gives us a realistic account of boots-on-the-ground fighting while at the same time taking note of American culture. In this case, he noted the tumultuous societal divisions and protests about the war. Like “Once an Eagle,” Webb’s book demonstrates both the fortitude of young Americans dropped into horrific circumstances and the terrible costs of battle.
Private First Class Raymond Rumpa watches as a Viet Cong base camp is burned down, on April 5, 1968. Public Domain
Tooth-to-Tail Ratio
In the Army today, the tooth-to-tail ratio (“tooth” being combat soldiers and “tail” representing all other personnel who support them) is approximately 1:10. Behind every soldier in combat are 10 personnel, ranging from truck drivers and clerks to medical staff.
On Veterans Day, we honor all those who have worn the uniform, past and present. We also honor noncombatants and their vital support. Surely, one of the best fictional re-creations of these backup personnel is Thomas Heggen’s “Mister Roberts.”
Henry Fonda (L) and Paul Stewart in the 1950 Broadway production of "Mister Roberts." Public Domain
“Mister Roberts” is a 1946 novel that became a Broadway play and then a hit movie. It takes us aboard the USS Reluctant, a Naval supply ship in the Pacific far removed from combat and sailing from “apathy to tedium.” Here the enemy isn’t the Japanese so much as the small-minded dictator who commands the ship: the captain. Under him is the executive officer, Mr. Roberts, who seeks again and again to leave the Reluctant and join a fighting vessel. He does his best to defend the crew against the captain’s heavy-handed and often nonsensical policies. This humorous yet ultimately heart-wrenching classic gives us a work-a-day side of the military that other storytellers rarely address.
"Mister Roberts" by Thomas Heggen.
Both the book, which the Naval Institute Press has admirably kept in print, and the film by the same name are well worth a look.
The Recollections of Warriors
The years since WWII have also gifted us with memoirs revealing the face of battle. Here are just a few of these accounts that provide us with a greater appreciation of our vets.
Eugene Sledge’s “With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa” is the remarkable story of a young man from Alabama who joins the Marines and soon ships out to the Pacific, where he sees action in two terrible island battles. Sledge, nicknamed “Sledgehammer” by his fellow Marines, gives us insights into combat. But just as importantly, he lets readers see and feel the other elements of a campaign: the rain and the heat, the obstacles of the terrain, and the atrocities that some participants, both Japanese and Americans, inflicted on the bodies of their dead enemies.
"With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa" by E.B. Sledge.
Sledge tells his story as an enlisted man, but in Army Lt. Col. Hal Moore’s “We Were Soldiers Once … and Young,” readers move up the chain of command with Moore and ship out to Vietnam. Coauthored by Joe Galloway, the only journalist present with Moore during the desperate Battle of the Ia Drang Valley, “We Were Soldiers Once” shares the perspective of a commander in battle, the officers carrying out his orders, and the soldiers themselves. Here is a vivid account of the desperation that occurs in combat when the situation becomes dicey and willpower and courage are at a premium.
Infantry advances at the X-RAY landing site, during the Battle of Ia Drang Valley in the Vietnam War. Public Domain
The destruction by terrorists of the World Trade Center in September 2001 brought America into direct confrontation with the Middle East. This series of conflicts shapes American foreign policy to this day and accounts for our military presence in that region. With the assistance of writer Patrick Robinson, Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell in “Lone Survivor” recounts his ordeal in Afghanistan when his four-man team’s mission turns into a disaster. With his three comrades dead, Luttrell battles on alone. Sixteen other SEALs plus an Army rescue team member lost their lives trying to retrieve this lone survivor. The courage and force of will he demonstrates during this solitary ordeal remind us once again of the savage costs of war and the price in blood paid by some of our veterans.
"Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10" by Marcus Luttrell with Patrick Robinson.
Oral histories, collected both in books and in online archives, present shorter accounts of our veterans’ experiences both in the military and as civilians. Drawing from such vignettes of Americans serving in the European theater during WWII, Stephen Ambrose’s books “Band of Brothers” and “Citizen Soldiers” were popular with readers. The former even became a hit HBO series. In Illinois, the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum contains a dozen collections of online oral histories from the Korean War, featuring interviews with more than 1,000 participants. Ron Steinman’s “The Soldiers’ Story: Vietnam in Their Own Words” tells readers of the experiences of 77 Americans stationed in that country, from fighting in the Tet Offensive to captivity in the “Hanoi Hilton,” a central prison for American POWs.
"Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne From Normandy to Hitler's Eagle's Nest" by Stephen E. Ambrose.
Reciprocity of Gifts
On Veterans Day, we honor those who spent time in the military with a special ceremony in Arlington Cemetery, with speeches by politicians, and with articles, programs, and opinion pieces in our media. Search online for “Veterans Day appreciation ideas,” and we discover plenty of ways to thank our vets, from writing letters to those serving overseas to visiting VA hospitals, to doing something as simple as displaying an American flag.
To these worthy proposals and acts of gratitude we might consider adding one more salute for their service. To honor all who have served in our military, from the Revolutionary War up to the present, we can pledge to learn more about our American past, especially about our military history, and teach those lessons to our children and grandchildren. We can read, and we can encourage others to read, books about these citizen soldiers. Their gifts of sacrifice have helped preserve our Constitution, our republic, and our way of life.
American troops stand by on Omaha Beach after the D-Day landings in June 1944. MPI/Getty Images
In the American Legion Hall of my hometown of Fort Royal, Virginia, which I visited just before Memorial Day this past May, there’s a mural depicting a uniformed man and woman saluting our country’s flag. Inscribed beneath is a sentiment so familiar that it borders on cliche: “Freedom Is Never Free.”
Becoming acquainted with the stories of our veterans breathes new life into those four words.
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Jeff Minick
Author
Jeff Minick has four children and a growing platoon of grandchildren. For 20 years, he taught history, literature, and Latin to seminars of homeschooling students in Asheville, N.C. He is the author of two novels, “Amanda Bell” and “Dust On Their Wings,” and two works of nonfiction, “Learning As I Go” and “Movies Make The Man.” Today, he lives and writes in Front Royal, Va.
