Through Veterans Eyes

The unique challenges facing today's veterans, in their own words

As of early 2010, more than two million U.S. troops have served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Yet the American public is neither much engaged in the issues of these two wars nor particularly knowledgeable about the troops' experiences, which have ranged from positive and energizing to searing and debilitating. Based on scores of interview--some culled from the Library of Congress Veterans History Project and others conducted by the author himself--Through Veterans' Eyes presents a composite narrative of the experiences of U.S. service personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan. Minear quotes more than 175 veterans by name and includes a dozen of their own photos from the conflict theaters. Thematic chapters cover duty and service, politics, cultural and ethical challenges, relationships to local populations, and reentry into American society. Neither pro-war nor anti-war, Minear's approach encourages veterans to express their views on issues critical to the nation. What has motivated U.S. military personnel to enlist? What specific challenges have they faced in Iraq and Afghanistan? What have been the impacts of deployment on their families and communities? Is their experience changing their views of their country and the world? What lessons may be learned from their stories? Veterans' candid responses to these and other probing questions deserve pondering.

November 2008 sees the 90th anniversary of the end of the Great War, 'the war to end all wars' that still haunts and fascinates in equal measure. Richard van Emden's new book tells that story as never before through the words and pictures of the men who were there. The Soldier's War includes incredible never-published-before letters and photographs to reveal the true stories of a lost generation. The Soldier's War traces the war chronologically, taking stories from each year of the fighting and following the British Tommy through devastating battles and trench warfare to the armistice in 1918. The book also reflects on other lesser-known and more personal aspects of the war, such as the work of stretcher-bearers, army chaplains, and burial parties. Each chapter will begin with an exploration of the soldiers' post-war attitudes to an emotive and controversial aspects of the conflict. What were their attitudes towards the enemy? What did the troops at the front line really think about their generals? Did they remember their time in the war with any fondness? Central to The Soldier's War are the original and as-yet-unseen photographs that punctuate the narrative. Many soldiers carried lightweight VPK cameras (Vest Pocket Kodaks) and used them (illegally) to photograph the war as it unfolded. Between seventy-five and a hundred remarkable images will for the first time show trench-warfare as it really happened.

Just in time for the 80th anniversary of W.W. II, when the future not only of the U.S., but of democracy itself, laid in balance, comes Always Remember - WWII Through Veterans'' Eyes. During the 1990''s, 140 veterans of W.W. II (including twenty recipients of the Congressional Medal of Honor) shared their stories of valor and sacrifice with the author who promised to keep them alive through the classes he taught and the pages of this book.One such story is that of Sgt. George Barlow, who never received the medal he should have been given posthumously for sacrificing his own life to save others.Iwo Jima, 1945. "How bad am I hit?" Sergeant George Barlow questioned his buddy, John Snyder. Barlow had just saved the lives of everyone in the squad by throwing himself on a grenade the Japanese had hurled into their machine gun emplacement. As he cradled Barlow''s head in his arms, Snyder told him he''d been hit pretty bad. Barlow''s lower torso had been blown away when the grenade exploded and he had no movement in what was left of his legs."You''re not going to leave me here to die?" Barlow asked softly. "No, George," Snyder promised. Snyder knew that without help, Barlow wouldn''t last till morning. With the Japanese entrenched everywhere, Snyder set off in the black night to find the company medic. Though he managed to find G Company''s Captain McCarthy, Snyder was told it was too dangerous to risk a corpsman''s life to go back with him to help Barlow. Dejected, Snyder somehow made it back to Barlow, and was by his side when just before daybreak Barlow died. Snyder was the only member of his squad to survive the hell of Iwo Jima. Since there was no one else able to verify Snyder''s story, Barlow never received a Medal of Honor. Undaunted, Snyder honored his promise not to let Barlow die at Iwo Jima by keeping his memory alive, telling Barlow''s story whenever he could, including in correspondence with the author.The voices of W.W. II have grown silent as the greatest generation has all but slipped away. Through the pages of Always Remember - W.W. II Through Veterans'' Eyes, 140 veterans speak again, their stories of heroic sacrifice kept alive, never to be forgotten. Together their stories provide a first-person narrative of W.W. II from the surprise attack at Pearl Harbor, to the D-Day invasion on the beaches of Normandy, to the intense fighting in the Pacific in the Philippines, Tarawa, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa, the experience of minorities serving in the Armed Forces, prisoners of war, the Battle of the Bulge, liberation of the Holocaust''s concentration camps, and, at last, victory in Europe and the Pacific.As a young teacher working in Germany for the Department of Defense Dependent Schools in the 1990''s, the sacrifices the greatest generation made seemed like only yesterday as Dr. Ulferts visited the hollow ground of Normandy''s beaches, the Ardennes Forest, and the concentration camps of Dachau, Buchenwald, and Auschwitz. Inspired by their sacrifices, Dr. Ulferts wrote W.W. II veterans to thank them for their service and vowed to keep their stories alive if they chose to share them. For every letter Dr. Ulferts sent, he received more responses than expected as veterans passed the letters on to their buddies and printed them in reunion newsletters. First as a classroom teacher, then as Superintendent-Principal of a small rural Illinois school district and Adjunct professor for Concordia University - Wisconsin, Dr. Ulferts has used the veterans'' letters as part of his instruction for years and always knew that one day he would record the veterans'' stories in Always Remember - W.W. II Through Veterans'' Eyes.As the voices of the greatest generation fall silent, it is left for those of us who follow in their footsteps to tell their stories and to speak their names so that all that they endured for you, for me, for future generations, may forever be remembered. As long as their stories are told, the veterans of W.W. II will never die.

During the 1990s, 140 veterans of World War II, including 20 Medal of Honor recipients, shared their stories of valor and sacrifice with the author who promised to keep them alive through the classes he taught and the pages of this book. Iwo Jima, 1945. "How bad am I hit?" Sergeant George Barlow questioned his buddy, John Snyder. Barlow had just saved the lives of everyone in the squad by throwing himself on a grenade the Japanese had hurled into the GIs machine gun emplacement. As he cradled Barlow's head in his arms, Snyder told him he'd been hit pretty bad. Barlow's lower torso had been blown away. "You're not going to leave me here to die?" Barlow asked softly. "No, George," Snyder promised. Snyder knew that without help, Barlow wouldn't last till morning. With the Japanese entrenched everywhere, Snyder set off in the black night to find the company medic. Though he managed to find G Company's Captain McCarthy, Snyder was told it was too dangerous to risk a corpsman's life to go back with him to help Barlow. Dejected, Snyder somehow made it back to Barlow, and was by his side when, just before daybreak, Barlow died. Snyder was the only member of his squad to survive the hell of Iwo Jima. Snyder honored his promise not to let Barlow die on Iwo Jima by telling Barlow's story to anyone who would listen. The voices of World War II have grown silent as the greatest generation has all but slipped away. Through the pages of Always Remember - World War II Through Veterans' Eyes, 140 veterans speak again, their stories of heroic sacrifice kept alive, never to be forgotten. Together their first-person narratives tell the history of World War II when the future not only of the U.S., but of democracy itself, laid in the balance. As long as their stories are told, the veterans of World War II will never die. This revised edition includes additional photographs of the veterans and a Discussion Guide for book studies. Check out the reviews on the Kindle version.

The Great War ended more than ninety years ago yet still haunts and fascinates us today. In The Soldier's War, Richard van Emden traces a history of the fighting month by month and year by year, using original diaries, letters and previously unseen photographs taken by the soldiers themselves. We follow the British Tommy not only in devastating battles and trench warfare, but also in his quieter moments away from the front line, contemplating the natural world around him. This history of the war as seen from the trenches is shockingly intimate, sometimes heartbreaking, often wryly amusing, but always compelling.

"Published in association with the Canadian War Museum and the Sir Arthur Pearson Association of War Blinded."