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Summary
Previous books have promised to describe the combat experience of the World War II GI, but there has never been a book like Patrick O'Donnell's "Beyond Valor." Here is the first combat history of the war in Europe in the words of the men themselves, and perhaps the most honest and brutal account of combat possible on the printed page. For more than fifty years the individual stories that make up this narrative -- shockingly frank reflections of sacrifice and courage -- have been bottled up, buried, or circulated privately. Now, nearing the ends of their lives, our WWII soldiers have at last unburdened themselves.
"Beyond Valor" recaptures their hidden history. A pioneering oral historian, Patrick O'Donnell used his award-winning website, The Drop Zone, to solicit oral- and "e-histories" from individual soldiers. Gradually, working from within the community, O'Donnell convinced some of the war's most battle-hardened soldiers to tell their stories. The result is WWII seen through the eyes of the men who saw the most intense of its action. O'Donnell focuses on the elite units of the war -- the Rangers, Airborne, and 1st Special Serv
Reviews (5)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Over a hundred individual veterans' vignettes are drawn from oral histories and electronically transmitted memoirs ("e-histories") in this assemblage of firsthand accounts of the WWII American Airborne, Ranger and other special units. Instrumental to the collection of these stories was O'Donnell's special-interest Web site, The Drop Zone (www.thedropzone.org), which functions as a "virtual museum" of vet experience. The book itself, after a brief introduction sketching the origins of the special units, is comprised of chapters devoted to a dozen operations in the European theater, from initial forays at Dieppe and North Africa, through Italy and Normandy, to final months in Holland and Germany. One chapter covers the home front experiences of African-American troops in the 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion. O'Donnell furnishes a cogent introductory overview of each operation, after which a number of veterans describe their memories of the action. Most of these remembrances are work-a-day, telegraphic run-downs of key situations beach landings and marches to lines, a night in the cargo hold of a destroyer, a diversionary attack on a fortified town that leave a lot of emotional baggage under the surface, in favor of often mortal logistics (some of which involves atrocities on both sides). Most fail to make their situations vivid or compelling to the uninitiated. (Mar. 12) Forecast: While this title is a Main Selection of the Military History Book Club, it assumes a fair amount of interest in and familiarity with its subjects, and won't get much beyond the buff market. Nevertheless, scholars will find it a font of well-documented primary source material and developers might comb it for film or TV-worthy vignettes. Meanwhile, the Drop Zone, which has gotten press mentions in the Wall Street Journal, USA Today and other papers, may generate further sales. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
Before there were superheroes, there were these guys: the wild, wooly, and implausibly brave GIs of WWII, who here give us their version of the conflict in newcomer ODonnells oral history of the war. This is a tale told from many perspectives, made up of hundreds of recollections from men who served in the wars elite forces: rangers, airborne troops, and the Special Service Forces. We are shown the war from the ground level, with all the chaos and snafus that were carefully edited from the newsreels here left intact. Little of it is heroic in the Hollywood sense, but it comes across as much more intense. One soldier describes how he was captured in Italy early in the war; he managed to escape and found sanctuary with the underground, only to be recaptured by German troops who summarily shot his rescuers as he was marched away. There is plenty of scary material (When a bullet goes by you, the air current will suck by whoosh, whoosh like that. You hear the crack. You know the ones that are on you.), plus some chilling insights into the reality of combat technique (Our orders were to leave no prisoners). The recollections range from the understated (At the time I didnt realize it, but even with the A-10 parachute I had both kidneys dislodged from the jump) to the macabre (I sent my mother home some Nazi cups and egg saucers [from Hitlers villa at Berchtesgaden] . . . very fine china). And more than once, more than a dozen times, the words I still dont know how I survived that day echo down the years. ODonnell has grouped the comments by area of contestNorthern Africa, Normandy, Belgium, etc.and precedes each of the mens words with a short description of events surrounding the action. Raw and dramatic stuff. Readers will likely experience a better-them-than-me feeling.
Booklist Review
A natural reticence to express their experiences characterizes survivors of combat, which makes the more remarkable this set of remembrances the author has induced from American veterans of airborne and Ranger units that fought in Europe. The soldiers' reluctance, as many of them point out, stems from words' absolute inadequacy to convey the noise, gore, and wastage of war; yet O'Donnell has convinced dozens to try. He prefaces their memories with concise summaries and maps of their individual locations in the big picture, then lets the men speak. Their stories, paradoxically, are often difficult to read yet impossible not to. For example, more than a few admit to shooting prisoners, without doubt war crimes; yet the crimes committed in the context of stress, such as the obliteration of buddies, are unimaginable from the distance of 55 years and a comfortable armchair. However ineffable to those who weren't there, the emotions of combat are at least understandable, thanks to O'Donnell's ability to draw out his interviewees. A potent addition to World War II memoir literature. Gilbert Taylor
Choice Review
This is another book in the Tom Brokaw/Stephen Ambrose genre--the reminiscences of WW II veterans. In this case, the men were Rangers and paratroopers. O'Donnell is the creator of the veterans' oral history Web site Drop Zone . The excerpts from interviews are vignettes of men in action in Europe, 1942-1945. The memoirs of the individuals ring true and provide insights into the thoughts and observations of young men in combat. Unfortunately, the book is poorly edited. The introduction and the lead-ins to the individual pieces contain both historical inaccuracies and insufficient identifications. R. Higham emeritus, Kansas State University
Library Journal Review
Creator of The Drop Zone (www.thedropzone.org), a pioneer web site for oral and e-histories, O'Donnell here chronicles America's elite military units, the Rangers, the glider infantry, and the airborne of World War II. These units have formed a unique bond that has lasted half a century. Since 1996, O'Donnell has amassed hundreds of interviews and thousands of photographs and memorabilia of these special World War II units, and this book is an extension of his ongoing project. It contains several dozen recollections of veterans throughout the war, each prefaced by the author's brief summary of the events to be described in first person. Beginning with the Dieppe Raid in 1942 and continuing through the campaigns of North Africa, Italy, D-Day, France, and the final push into Germany, these accounts reveal the human side of war. The accounts of Operation Market Garden, Normandy, and the Battle of the Bulge are especially illuminating. The result reads like a good documentary. This fresh, personal, and revealing look into the past is recommended for most public and special collections, and the web site is also worth viewing.DDavid M. Alperstein, Queens Borough P.L., Jamaica, NY (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
