The Last Hill by Bob Drury and Tom Clavin

 

The Last Hill: The Epic Story of A Ranger Battalion and the Battle that Defined World War II by Bob Drury and Tom Clavin -398 pages

These authors have written several popular history titles, including The Last Stand of Fox Company related to the Chosin Reservoir battle in Korea. The hill in the title was located in the Hurtgen Forest and its capture in early December 1944 allowed U.S. forces to finally enter Germany. The cost to the Ranger battalion was very high, as the Germans desperately wanted to control this last high ground along their border. The book spends too much time providing background on the Rangers' training and the campaign in Normandy, but it is a good account of a stellar fighting force.

Last Stand of Fox Company by Bob Drury & Tom Clavin

 Last Stand of Fox Company: A True Story of Marines in Combat by Bob Drury and Tom Clavin -353 pages

These authors have collaborated on several history related topics, and this book recounts a harrowing episode during the Korean War in late 1950. A Marine company of the 1st Division was assigned to hold a hilltop overlooking a key road junction to allow U.N. forces to retreat from the Chosin Reservoir area that came under relentless attack from Chinese Communist Forces in North Korea. For several days, the Marines and corpsmen fought off an entire enemy division while enduring sub-zero weather. During firefights, the corpsmen even had to keep morphine syrettes in their mouths to keep the morphine from freezing solid. The conditions were especially brutal for the wounded who could not be evacuated. Three Marines were awarded the Medal of Honor for their actions during this battle. This is a graphic book, but well worth reading for anyone wanting to know more about the Korean War.

Halsey's Typhoon by Bob Drury and Tom Clavin

Halsey's Typhoon by Bob Drury and Tom Clavin
322 pages / 10 hrs, 38 mins

"December 1944, the Pacific Theater. General Douglas MacArthur has vowed to return to the Philippines. He will need the help of Admiral William "Bull" Halsey's Pacific Fleet. But at the height of the invasion, Halsey's ships are blindsided by a typhoon of unprecedented strength and scope. Battleships are tossed like toys, fighter planes are blown off carriers, destroyers are capsized, and hundreds of sailors are swept into the rolling, shark-infested sea.

"Only now, thanks to documents that have been declassified after 60 years and scores of firsthand accounts from survivors, can the story finally be told. Informed by years of rigorous research and narrated with the immediacy of an action movie, Halsey's Typhoon is an enthralling true tale of courage and survival against impossible odds and one of the finest untold World War II sagas of our time."  --from the publisher

Wow, what an incredible experience that must have been.  There were 790 seamen lost in the typhoon or from exposure to the elements as they waited to be rescued.  President Gerald Ford and Senator John McCain's grandfather were two of the survivors.  The story is well written and mostly understandable for people unfamiliar to wartime jargon, like me.  Wikipedia has a decent article on the event: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typhoon_Cobra .  I give this one four out of five stars.

All Blood Runs Red: the legendary life of Eugene Bullard-boxer, pilot, soldier, spy by Phil Keith with Tom Clavin

All Blood Runs Red: the legendary life of Eugene Bullard-boxer, pilot, soldier, spy by Phil Keith with Tom Clavin
352 pages

"Eugene Bullard lived one of the most fascinating lives of the twentieth century. The son of a former slave and an indigenous Creek woman, Bullard fled home at the age of eleven to escape the racial hostility of his Georgia community. When his journey led him to Europe, he garnered worldwide fame as a boxer, and later as the first African American fighter pilot in history.

"After the war, Bullard returned to Paris a celebrated hero. But little did he know the dramatic, globe-spanning arc of his life had just begun.

"All Blood Runs Red is the inspiring untold story of an American hero, a thought-provoking chronicle of the twentieth century and a portrait of a man who came from nothing and by his own courage, determination, gumption, intelligence and luck forged a legendary life."  --from the publisher

What an amazing person! I'd like to have half his adventurous spirit. The authors do a great job relating his story and putting it in context of world events. I give it four out of five stars.