Forgotten heroes of World War II - Thomas E Simmons

Forgotten Heroes of World War II offers a personal understanding of what was demanded of these young heroes through the stories of rank-and-file individuals who served in the navy, marines, army, air corps, and merchant marine in all theatres of the war. Their tales are told without pretense or apology. At the time, each thought himself no different from those around him, for they were all young, scared, and miserable. They were the ordinary, the extraordinary, the forgotten. Multiply their stories by hundreds of thousands, and you begin to understand the words of war correspondent Martha Gellhorn: "There are those who received brief, poor, or no recognition, all those history leaves unmentioned, not because they are lesser but because they are too many." Recorded more than fifty years after the war, the stories in Forgotten Heroes of World War II were shared quietly, shyly, honestly, and often painfully by these extraordinary ordinary people. All of them begin with similar statements - "There's really not much to tell. I was just there like everyone else. All I wanted to do was get home...";Each was uncomfortable for being singled out to speak of experiences he felt were common to so many others.