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1. Antoine Capet <antcapet@aol.com> 2. aelson.chichipress@att.net -----Message from: Antoine Capet <antcapet@aol.com>----- I have been compiling a Bibliography of Britain in WW II for over ten years (with no prospect of it ever being published, since it now covers over 2100 pages) and I would be glad to send the comprehensive section on Memoirs (including those of "ordinary people") to anyone interested off-list. A. Capet Antoine Capet <antcapet@aol.com> -----Message from: aelson.chichipress@att.net----- Aaron Elson Oral History Audiobooks aelson.chichipress@att.net www.audiomurphy.com I wasn't certain whether to respond to this post, as I thought perhaps Howard Blue was looking for titles of war-themed memoirs put out by mainstream publishers, or that have become established over the years. I've been recording oral histories of World War II veterans for the past 20 years or so, and along the way I've read quite a few memoirs that were published in small batches of a thousand or a few hundred or even less. These were some of the best books about World War II that I've read, albeit many from the view of the dogface in a foxhole. I've also assisted a handful of veterans in self-publishing their memoirs and published a couple of them myself. My father was in the 712th Tank Battalion, which was attached almost exclusively to the 90th Infantry Division. The 90th saw some of the hardest fighting and produced some of the finest memoirs, and also an unofficial unit history which is prized by collectors, John Colby's "War From the Ground Up." Colby also wrote a memoir titled "Feet of Clay" which I've never been able to find; I believe his papers are in a university archive. Several years ago the son of a veteran who had recently passed away gave me a copy of his father's unfinished memoir, and allowed me to publish it on my web site, tankbooks.com. The title is "Remembrance of Combat in Normandy," and is not only powerful but explains why so many combat veterans have post traumatic stress syndrome. Also on the web site I have a memoir by Bruno Ehlich titled "Born on the Wrong Side of the Fence." Bruno was a 9-year-old Hitler Youth, although he was treated more as a mascot than a soldier until the town he was in was overrun and he was told to carry ammunition to an anti-tank gun which was promptly blown up, after which he became sort of a mascot of the Americans. He emigrated to Australia and spent 25 years in the Australian air force, retiring as a sergeant. Both memoirs can be accessed by visiting tankbooks.com and clicking on the "stories" link. One great memoir came out of the 90th Division, "Battalion Surgeon," by William McConahey, who wrote it shortly after the war while the memories were fresh. It's been through three printings; unfortunately Doc McConahey passed away a few years back. He was on the staff at the Mayo Clinic and lived in Rochester, Minn. Another great memoir that I read was simply called "The Race Across Europe," by Charles Bryan, who began as a company commander and finished as a battalion commander in the 90th. He printed 10 copies for his grandchildren and gave me one to get my opinion. He eventually published it in an edition of 100 if I'm correct. There are a myriad of other individually published memoirs by veterans of the 90th, and information on some of them is available at the 90th Division web site (it's a bit of a complicated url but if you google 90th Division Association you'll find it). I also published or assisted in the publishing of a few memoirs which are worth reading by people who like the foxhole view of World War II. One is "Love Company" by John Khoury, a veteran of the 100th Infantry Division. Another is "Then There Were Six," by Karnig Thomasian. I didn't have time to work on that and he published it with Authorhouse, but Karnig was a POW of the Japanese in Burma, and his is a remarkable story about an incident in the CBI theater that was more or less covered up, and his subsequent treatment at the hands of the Japanese. And while it's only partially a war-themed memoir, I fell in love with and published a book by a retired Catholic priest titled "Follies of a Navy Chaplain," by Connell J. Maguire. Father Joe is pushing 92 and lives in Florida, and was a chaplain in Vietnam, as well as a priest in the Philadelphia diocese. Oh, and before I forget, another POD book well worth checking out is "We Were in Normandy," by the French historian Henri Levaufre. Levaufre has helped hundreds of veterans revisit the battlefields where they fought, his house (which I've never visited) is said to be like a museum, and people have been after him for decades to write a book. Henri was a young boy in the village of Perier when it was liberated almost into oblivion by the 90th and the Air Corps. The initial publishing of the book is a bit of a story in itself because the fellow who was subsidizing its printing cost had it edited and when the final galley proof was ready and sent to Henri, he added a couple of hundred accent marks, causing many pages to be reshot and the book nearly missed the reunion where it was to be sold. Aaron Elson Oral History Audiobooks @ audiomurphy.com World War II Oral History @ tankbooks.com Author: Tanks for the Memories: An Oral History of the 712th Tank Battalion in World War II aelson.chichipress@att.net ----- For subscription help, go to: http://www.h-net.org/lists/help/ To change your subscription settings, go to http://h-net.msu.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=h-war -----
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