This group portrait of most of the living recipients of the Congressional Medal of Honor has an entry for each recipient, including a photo portrait at the time of the award, a summary of the medal-winning action and sometimes (though not often enough) the later career. The variety of actions documented by Collier (The Rockefellers) will impress even fairly seasoned students of military history, as will the 250 duotone portraits. They range from thumbnail period snapshots to full page close-ups of the lions in winter. Van Barfoot, of Choctaw descent, overcame minefields and German tanks in World War II. William Charette was one of numerous medics who fought with a first-aid kit and raw courage. Air Force Maj. George Day was a Vietnam War POW who received his medal for tenacious resistance in the Hanoi Hilton. Eugene Fluckey of the USS Barb
is the last surviving submariner of World War II to receive the medal. The six-foot-seven-inch Robert Foley won the medal in a bunker complex in Vietnam and retired as a lieutenant general. And Shizua Hiyashi had to overcome prejudice as well as Germans to have his DSC upgraded to the medal 55 years after he won it in Italy. Courage is a key component of every medal recipient, and so is loyalty to both country and comrades, superior skills and dogged determination. (Nov. 11)
Forecast:This makes an excellent companion to the recent
Beyond Glory: Medal of Honor Heroes in Their Own Words (Forecasts, July 14). These two titles will figure into a Veteran's Day events at 30 bookstores across the country on November 11, with appearances by recipients.
