cover image Forever a Soldier: Unforgettable Stories of Wartime Service

Forever a Soldier: Unforgettable Stories of Wartime Service

Tom Wiener, . . National Geographic, $26 (330pp) ISBN 978-0-7922-4189-8

This second volume (following Voices of War ) culled from more than 35,000 stories in the ongoing Library of Congress Veterans History Project is a dense collection of reminiscences—oral histories, letters and diaries—from WWI to the Persian Gulf War, with emphasis on WWII. The most compelling stories are eyewitness accounts: a sailor recounts the attack on Pearl Harbor, a survivor of the Indianapolis sinking in 1945 describes five days in shark-infested Pacific waters, a doctor relates the horrors of trench warfare in 1917, a soldier endures murderous combat during the 1968 Tet offense in Vietnam. Contributors survive long, terrible experiences as prisoners in Germany, Japan, North Korea and Vietnam—and a short, unpleasant confinement in Iraq. If all 37 accounts met these standards, this would be an outstanding addition to the genre, but perhaps out of excessive respect for historical material, the editor too often spares his red pencil. As a result, earnest patriotic essays, rambling tributes to comrades, mildly interesting career summaries or long itineraries of places veterans visited dilute the collection. Military buffs will happily add this to their shelves, but others may wish for a more consistently eloquent anthology of our veterans' memories. 65 b&w photos. (Nov. 11 )