HomeMy WebLinkAbout2007 Military Magazine~'
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in history, to receive the award.
Throughout the narrative the
author has "flashbacks" to other
events in his life, the obstacles he
had to overcome throughout his life,
and his indomitable spirit. His faith
in God and his love for the Marine
Corps permeates his narrative.
SgtMaj Jack W. Jaunal,
USMC (Ret), Federal Way, WA
aa. aa. ai ra. a..
NAMES I CAN'T REMEMBER
-AN ASSASSIN CONFESSES,
by Douglas R. Bergman (War-
rior Group, 2005; 292 pp.,
$24.95 -ISBN 0975917714).
This book is a graphic tale of the
tour of an infantry lieutenant and
his Viet-Nam experience. Written in
an eclectic mix of prose and poetry
reminiscent of Ernest Hemingway,
and occasionally in rambling verse
difficult to follow, Bergman recounts
his youth and his personal struggles
with alcohol and his enlistment in
the Army as an escape from his
middle class family life.
I recall what it was like coming
of age during the Viet-Nam War.
I graduated from high school in
1967 and I was within a month of
the same age as Bergman. It was
sometimes difficult for boys to have
to take on such awesome respon-
sibilities at such a young age, and
Bergman describes the emotional
hardship it presented to him.
From his enlistment through
basic training, OCS, airborne
qualification and assignment to
Viet-Nam, his sometimes-gratuitous
use of harsh language to describe
his experiences, including his first
sexual encounter, may be offensive
to some readers. If not for the pho-
tocopy of his DD-214 and excerpts
from his 201 file, this book could
be taken for a novel rather than a
personal account. However, writ-
ing about his struggle with alcohol
during his tour of duty, one can
understand his recollection of the
events he describes. In 35 years of
researching the history of the Viet-
Nam War and my own experiences
during my service in Viet-Nam, I
have never encountered some of
the incidents Bergman recounts.
The ritual dousing of the new lieu-
tenant with the combined urine of
his patrol members and the point
man's insertion of a twig down the
barrel of his M-16 as a sensor for
night patrols seems to be vicarious
imagery.
This was a difficult read for me
but is an interesting work. For
those who are interested in a broad
spectrum of Viet-Nam experiences,
this book will be a good addition to
their collection. For those interested
in trying to understand the deepest
recesses of the mind of one who
lived the trauma of Viet-Nam, this
is also recommended reading.
CMS Steven L. Pennington,
USAF, (Ret)
Edmonds, WA
COMBAT
REPORTER
-DON WHITE-
HEAD'S WORLD
WAR II DIARY
AND MEMOIRS,
by John B.
Romeiser (Ford-
ham University
Press, 2006;
236 pp., $26.95
-ISBN 978082322675?).
Don Whitehead was with the
Associated Press (AP) headquar-
ters in New York after being a cor-
respondent in Knoxville, Tennessee,
from 1937 to 1940. He undertook
the considerable risks of frontline
reporting during WWII in order
to provide a more authentic story
for his readers back home. Like
his friends and fellow journalists,
Ernie Pyle of Scripps Howard, and
Jack Belden of Time, he fulfilled
his desire to be up front where the
fighting men were.
For the AP, Whitehead covered
almost every important Allied
invasion and campaign in the
North African-European Theaters
of Operations from North Africa to
landings in Sicily, Salerno, Anzio
and Normandy to the drive into
Germany. His dispatches, pub-
lished in the collection, "Beachhead
Don," edited by John B. Romeiser,
are treasures of wartime journal-
ism.
Romeiser, who teaches at the
University of Tennessee-Knoxville,
edited this volume of Whitehead's
writings covering Cairo, Sept.-Nov
1942; Libya, Nov 1942-Feb. 1943;
Tunisia Mar.-Apr. 1943, and Sicily,
July-Aug. 1943. In the Cairo chap-
ters, as Whitehead was accredited
with the British, the editor has
included both Whitehead's diary
and his later war memoirs, writ-
ten some six years later. The latter
appear in italics, including much
of the same combat materials, but
from a much different perspective.
It is a great loss to war journalism
that Whitehead never had time to
carry his memoirs further.
The final part of this narrative is
drawn from Whitehead's unfinished
boom typescript, written almost a
decade later. The source of some of
the Sicily narrative can be found
in the dispatches he wrote for the
AP while covering the U.S. 1st
visit us at www.milmag.com
40 MILITARY, September 2007
ra. a.. aa. a~ ri
Infantry Division. Unlike his wire
dispatches for the AP, the writing
in his diary and war memoirs is
- more personal. Whitehead is able
to vent his frustrations with the
bureaucratic hurdles he often had
to clear just to be able to report.
Moreover, Whitehead expresses in
great clarity the horror of combat,
including its attendant destruction
of innocent lives and property in
graphic terms, in a language that
most likely would have never made
it past the censors at AP headquar-
ters in New York.
Whitehead makes poignant
comparisons in all the campaigns
between British, American, German
and Italian soldiers, and between
Generals Montgomery, Patton,
Bradley, Hodges, Terry Allen, Teddy
Roosevelt, Jr. and Clarence Hue-
buer. Also, much is written about
the civilians: Arab, French, Jewish
and Italian.
Whitehead pays much attention
to conditions of battle, including
the terrain, weather, supply and
troop physical and mental condi-
tions. He interviewed numerous
officers and men, providing names
and home addresses. The tolls from
enemy small arms, artillery and
aerial strafing and bombardment,
and sometimes from "friendly" fire
are written in moving sentences,
using exacting words and convey-
ingbasic information, while stirring
the emotions without superfluity.
"You know, none of us is fit to carry
Don's typewriter," his friend, Ernie
Pyle, reportedly told a group of war
correspondents in North Africa, as
recorded by Romeiser in the intro-
duction to his editing of "Beachhead
Don."
A few short years later, White-
head joined the American forces in
Korea for the AP, resulting in the
award of two Pulitzer Priies. While
serving as Washington bureau chief
for The New York Herald 71"ibune,
he wrote the first of his five books,
including the bestseller, "The FBI
Story." He died in Knoxville on 12
January 1981, at age 72.
Calvin C. Boykin, Jr.
College Station, TX
r•- a~ a~ as. a•.
THE BRIDGES OF VIETNAM
- FROM THE JOURNALS
OF A U.S. MARINE INTEL-
LIGENCE OFFICER, by Fred
L. Edwards, Jr. (University of
North Tezas Press, 2000; 273
pp.; $18.95 -ISBN 1574411381).
Historians love the wartime
journals of the common soldier.
These are the accounts that lend
muscle and sinew to the bare
bones of official communications
and serve to make dry military
history understandable and read-
able. Unfortunately, I found that
the title of this work is somewhat
misleading. I suppose I expected
some revelation concerning the
bridges of Viet-Nam or perhaps
something new about the infiltra-
tion from the north, or maybe even
something about our clandestine
reconnaissance efforts. According
to the book cover, the journals
allegedly bridge the gap between
the combat soldier and the MACV
headquarters in Saigon. In the
epilogue, Edwards explains that
the bridges were based upon per-
sonal experiences.
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