List.

This is coolbert:

From the reading list of Bert:

"Hold Back the Night". By Pat Frank.

"'These are not stragglers, Sir. This is Dog Company.' That was Sergeant Eklands report. A Company of 126 men started the retreat from the Changlin reservoir, 14 made it back . . . but they'd fulfilled their mission . . . the dwindling handful of US Marines would not admit defeat."

U.S. Marines fighting a rear-guard action - - Korea - - 1950. This book, however, is dedicated to A COMPANY OF U.S. ARMY SOLDIERS FROM THE 1ST CAVALRY DIVISION WHO DID FIGHT A REAR-GUARD ACTION - - KOREA - - 1950. Evidently this book is based upon the combat action of Army soldiers - - NOT Marines!!

"The Making Of A Soldier". By Anthony B. Herbert.

"The military and combat experiences of Anthony B. Herbert during the Korean War. He was the most decorated soldier of the Korean War, rising from a Private during the Korean War to becoming a Battalion Commander during the Vietnam War."

Anthony Herbert WAS the most decorated soldier of the Korean War. A natural soldier who had a subsequent distinguished military career. Unfortunately became disenchanted with the American war effort in Vietnam, retiring embittered and disillusioned.

"Operation White Star". By Richard O. Sutton, M.D.

"Good special operations yarn about a new West Point grad who enters Special Forces, learns the ropes from some tough minded NCO's, and soon finds himself in the real thing, fighting the Pathet Lao insurgents in Laos during the early 1960s."

NOT really a YARN. A YARN as a tale. A fable not really factual. Reads to me as the real thing. American Special Forces troop prepares for duty and combat against communist forces - - Laos - - early 1960's. White Star was the U.S. military involvement in the effort to prevent Laos from becoming communist. Before Vietnam was - - Laos!! Early in his Presidency, John Kennedy did think that if a general war was to start between the U.S. and the various communist powers, it WOULD begin in Laos! Special Forces [Green Berets] and special operations would be the means to forestall such a war!

"The Face of Battle". By John Keegan.

"The Face of Battle " is a 1976 non-fiction book on military history by the English military historian John Keegan. It deals with the structure of warfare in three time periods - medieval Europe, the Napoleonic Era and World War I - by analyzing three battles - Agincourt, Waterloo, and the Somme. All three of these battles involved British soldiers."

I read and re-read this book over and over. Never fails to provide new information for blog entries. A basic text for students of military history.

John Keegan has recently become Sir John Keegan. Like I have said, fancy that, a military historian being knighted for his work. Bully for him!

coolbert.