BattleFire!: Combat Stories from World War II / Edition 1

by Arthur L. Kelly

Overview

" Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941: High on the bridge of the USS West Virginia Sfc. Lee Ebner was looking forward to the end of his watch and a relaxed Sunday morning breakfast. But the two low-flying planes painted with rising sun insignia and bearing down on the ship had other plans for him and his fellow seamen. Ten hours later, at Clark Field in the Philippines, Pfc. Jack Reed felt the brunt of another Japanese air attack and within weeks found himself a part of the gruesome Bataan Death March that was to claim the lives of hundred of his comrades. On another continent, four years into the war, Capt. Benjamin Butler led his exhausted company up a steep, fog-shrouded Italian mountain toward a well entrenched German defensive position. The odds against their survival were appalling, though worse was to come in the months ahead. Such were the experiences of many young men-plucked from their local communities all across America, trained for war, and hurled into the strange reality of combat thousands of miles form home. In this stunning collection of World War II oral histories, Arthur Kelly recreates the experiences of twelve young men from Kentucky who survived the seemingly unsurvivable, whether in combat or as prisoners of war.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780813190105
Publisher:	University Press of Kentucky
Publication date:	06/15/2001
Edition description:	REPRINT
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)
Age Range:	18 Years

Table of Contents

	List of Illustrations	ix
	Acknowledgments	xi
	Introduction	1
1	Pearl Harbor, Leyte Gulf, and Okinawa: Signalman First Class Lee Ebner, U.S. Navy	4
2	The Bataan Death March and Camp Cabanatuan: Corporal Field Reed Jr., Tanker, U.S. Army	15
3	Kamikaze Attacks in the Pacific: Lieutenant John Barrows, Aircraft Carrier Pilot, U.S. Navy	36
4	Monte Pantano, Monte Cassino, and Beyond: Lieutenant Colonel Benjamin Butler, Infantryman, U.S. Army	52
5	The Air War over Germany, and Stalag 17: Sergeant Bernell S. Heaton, B-17 Bomber Gunner, U.S. Army Air Force	88
6	Normandy, Holland, Bastogne, and Stalag 4B: Captain Willis P. McKee, Airborne Surgeon, U.S. Army	107
7	New Guinea and the Philippines: Technician Fourth Class Thomas W. Murphy, Combat Medic, U.S. Army	123
8	Normandy and Lorraine: Staff Sergeant Paul Mudd, Infantryman, U.S. Army	138
9	Depth-Charge Attacks in the Pacific: Torpedoman First Class Hanly Davis, Submariner, U.S. Navy	160
10	Bastogne and Germany: Technician Third Class Robert Haney, Radio Operator, U.S. Army	165
11	Iwo Jima: Paul and Joe Simms, U.S. Marine Corps, and Hometown Friends	184
	Epilogue	213
	Sources	216
	Index	218

Editorial Reviews

They were there all right—and you're right there with them!

World War II Magazine C. Brian Kelly

You can experience the shocking events of Pearl Harbor, the Bataan Death March, Bastogne, Kamikase hits, and POW life.

Springfield Sun

This excellent book continues the current trend of exploring the individual soldier's experiences in World War II.

Military Review

These are all well written stories of men at their best in the worst of all possible times, brave Americans well worthy of their citizenship, state, and community.

Register of the Kentucky Historical Society

A remarkably gripping work. To this reviewer, who served as a combat infantry officer in the war, the accounts ring extraordinarily true.

Charles P. Roland

From Pearl Harbor to Leyte Gulf and Okinawa to Iwo Jima, the stories are presented as the individual soldiers, sailors, and marines lived them.

Gun Week

I salute all of these Kentucky heroes, as well as Kelly, who reminds us of what these old soldiers cannot forget.

Lexington Herald Leader Bob Edwards

"A remarkably gripping work. To this reviewer, who served as a combat infantry officer in the war, the accounts ring extraordinarily true." -- Charles P. Roland

"Anyone wanting to read of combat and courage can find it aplenty in this excellent book." -- Register of the Kentucky Historical Society

"From Pearl Harbor to Leyte Gulf and Okinawa to Iwo Jima, the stories are presented as the individual soldiers, sailors, and marines lived them." -- Gun Week

"I salute all of these Kentucky heroes, as well as Kelly, who reminds us of what these old soldiers cannot forget." -- Bob Edwards, Lexington Herald Leader

"These are all well written stories of men at their best in the worst of all possible times, brave Americans well worthy of their citizenship, state, and community." -- Register of the Kentucky Historical Society

"They were there all right -- and you're right there with them!" -- C. Brian Kelly, World War II Magazine

"This excellent book continues the current trend of exploring the individual soldier's experiences in World War II." -- Military Review

"You can experience the shocking events of Pearl Harbor, the Bataan Death March, Bastogne, Kamikase hits, and POW life." -- Springfield Sun

From the Publisher