"If You Survive"

[civdiv]

I just finished the audio book version of George Wilson's 'If You Survive'. I was on a long road trip VA to NC and back, hence the audio book. What a gripping book!! What do the grogs out there think of it? The engagement where Wilson has ID'd an enemy held hill, only to be told repeatedly that a friendly unit occupied it just makes me cringe. Wilson's company advances into the open with Wilson knowing the enemy is on the hill, and promptly takes like 95% casualties.

And other parts really struck a chord with me. The jackass who thought Wilson was dead so he's campaigning for some BS Silver Star Wilson supposedly promised him, when it turns out the guy's sole combat experience was dropping a rifle grenade inside a house and wounding 17 of his comrades. I like that Wilson showed class and didn't name the guy; I would have pilloried the guy in the press for the fraud he was.

[JonS]

I've read the book, and thought it good too. But I far preferred "Roll me over".

My thoughts on a few other NWE first person accounts are here

[civdiv]

Glad you added McDonald there at the end. In your (slight) criticism of Wilson's account, I'm not sure I see that as justified He seemed to care very much about his troops, and he went out of his way to praise other officers and men around him. In the last attack when he was wounded he said, w/o referring to himself, that if Holcomb or whatever the company commander's name was, if Holcomb had not been in command they would have taken much heavier casualties in the attack. In saying that it is a tacit admission he, himself, would have been in command, and they would have taken heavier casualties.

In regards to the gulf between officer and enlisted, that is sort of part of the life of an infantry officer. He is sort of on an island. He can't say; '****, this is a bone headed order and we are going to get waxed' in front of the troops. He can't confide in his subordinates. Sure, when he has some familiar officer around him they can take counsel in their fears, but with a bunch of 90 days wonder replacement officers, he has to keep his own counsel.

Having spent a lot of time in the military, and having gone through like 7 combat tours, I can tell you it's a tough thing, this leadership thing. I remember talking with a young LAV TC right before the invasion of Iraq. He had this mistaken impression that his LAV was immune to an RPG. I had a bit of a dilemna in terms of whether to correct him on this. Ultimately I did, and let him know the truth, but then I also let him know that his and his unit's training would carry him through. And in the end it did.

Leading young men into battle is one of the greatest honors anyone can expect to undertake. But with it comes the responsibility when some of those young men come home feet first, and that is a responsibility that you carry for life. And thankfully I never lost one.

I see Wilson constantly questioning himself when his own troops go down. I also see him fighting bad orders, expressing his objections, and in at least one case refusing to carry out what he though was a dumb order. I also see cases where he knew a mistake was being made, but he knew his outright objection would lead to someone else, most likely a less experienced officer, undetaking the mission if he dug his feet in too far.

But thanks for the list of books. I will see if my library has any of the one's I haven't read; I've read '7 Roads To Hell' or whatever it is called. I also have 'A Soldier's Journal' by David Rothbart, 'Blood Red Snow' by Gunter Koschorrek, and 'The Secrets of Inchon' by Eugene Clark on deck.

Currently I'm reading 'The Making of the Atmonic Bomb' by Richard Rhodes, at the request of a friend's father-in-law and I just finished 'No True Glory' by Bing West. The latter I highly recommend.

[JonS]

Fair points all. Still, this is a memoir - there is no requirement to be the island anymore, though perhaps some habits are hard to break. For the record, I've been in the forces for going on 15 yrs now, and have been overseas on the job, so I'm not a complete n00b. Just 90% of a n00b.

It may have been a timing thing - I read Wilson either just before or just after Roll Me Over, and the contrast is quite stark. Also, comparing it to Jary's 18 Pn there is quite a difference. OTOH, I've recently read "Field of Fire: Diary of a Gunner Officer" by Swaab, and although a very interesting read (it is literally his diary, with next to no editorial content, from late 42 to the end of the war) his apparent attitude to his men is even worse than I remember Wilson's being. But maybe I just need to read Wilson again.

Personally, I'm no much interested in the US airborne memoirs, but I'm not sure why. I greatly enjoyed the mini-series of BoB, but I can't see me reading any of the plethora of books on the 82nd or the 101st. Sheesh - it's getting almost as bad as the SS with those two divs.

It's very hard to find, but I also recommend Rex Fendick's "A CANLOAN officer".

[Redwolf]

I also read Roll Me Over and If You Survive one after another.

Neither really stuck for some reason, I liked e.g. Charles B. McDonald "Company Commander" much better.

ETA: also Ken Tout.

[ January 03, 2007, 10:26 AM: Message edited by: Redwolf ]