Bøger af Steven Trout

"Serpents of War is an abridged edition of a nearly 200,000-word World War I memoir by Pennsylvanian Major Harry Dravo Parkin: Memoirs of World War I, being an account of the experiences of an American Officer wounded and captured by the Germans. The original memoir resides in Gettysburg College's Musselman Library. Offering the perspective of a mid-level officer responsible for the lives and welfare of over a thousand men, Parkin conveys the stress of command at a time when one innocent blunder could cost an officer his combat assignment, brings the inferno of the Meuse-Argonne Offensive to life in terrifying, gory detail, and recounts an experience undergone by very few American soldiers in 1918-that of being taken prisoner (while wounded no less) by the Imperial German Army. This is a book by a brave soldier, a recipient of the Distinguished Service Cross for his heroism on the battlefield, who was also a gifted writer. Parkin's narrative seldom strains for effect. Its prose is unassuming and workmanlike. Nevertheless, readers of Serpents of War will likely agree that Parkin possessed of a strong sense of setting, a knack for capturing the chaos and strange exhilaration of battle, and a sharp eye for the interpersonal, social dynamics of military life-the personality clashes and simmering feuds, as well as the moments of comradeship and accord. There is no other American World War I memoir quite like it"--

Tells the story of Marine Lieutenant David Westphall, who was killed near Con Thien on May 22, 1968, and of the Westphall family's subsequent struggle to create and maintain a one-of-a-kind memorial chapel dedicated to the memory of all Americans lost in the Vietnam War and to the cause of world peace.