Presents personal narratives from the generation of Americans who were born in the 1920s, came of age during the Depression, fought in World War II, and came home to build a new America during the postwar era.

"No heroes, everyone did their part, and everyone was scared to death." They are the words of soldier Mark W. Harms in 1968, summing up his combat experience during the Vietnam War. His stunning letter home is just one of hundreds featured in this unforgettable collection, Letters from Vietnam. In these affecting pages are the unadorned voices of men and women who fought, and, in some cases, fell, in America's most controversial war. They bring new...

Presents forty oral histories by the soldiers, sailors, airmen, nurses, chaplains, and wives who were stationed at Pearl Harbor in 1941.

"The fast-paced, true story of a naive nineteen-year-old's evolution into a combat-scarred soldier. The story is indeed, not only that of Norman Russell who lived and tells it, but also that of the Universal Soldier - youth called to serve different countries and causes but who share a common horror, combat. Russell asks questions that neither he nor others really answer. In that process he vividly shows the destructive impacts of war not only on...

Celebrates the "greatest generation" of Americans, from the Great Depression to the Bataan Death March and beyond, in a series of biographical profiles that chronicle the experiences of ordinary Americans who became caught up in historic twentieth-century events.

"On April 6, 2003, twenty-six Green Berets, including those of Sergeant 1st Class Frank Antenori's Special forces A-team (call sign Roughneck Nine-One), led a violent battle against a vastly superior force at the remote crossroads near the village of Debecka, Iraq. In an already legendary conflict that will influence US Army doctrine for years to come, the Green Berets stopped an enemy unit that included battle tanks and more than 150 well-trained,...

"This is the hard-hitting and unforgettable memoir of Jack Lucas, the youngest Medal of Honor recipient of the twentieth century. During the Battle Iwo Jima, two enemy grenades landed close to Jack and three of his fellow Marines. Jack threw himself on one of the grenades, then grabbed the second and pulled it beneath his body. His buddies were saved, but Lucas was badly injured. Miraculously, he survived--but just barely. For this brave action, seventeen-year-old...

Buddy hadn't always been on this specific career path. He was an ordinary farm boy from Iowa when the Japanese bombing at Pearl Harbor devastated an entire nation. Buddy, like so many other young men, decided to fight for his country and his family. He enlisted in the US Army Air Corps. As Buddy adjusted to life in the military and trained to become a fighter pilot, each moment was faithfully recreated for his family back home. He wrote honestly about...

On a clear night in June 2005, four Navy SEALs left their Afghanistan base for the Pakistani border on a mission to capture or kill a notorious al Qaeda leader. This is the story of fire team leader Marcus Luttrell and that desperate battle in the mountains. It is the story of the teammates who fought ferociously beside him until he was the last one left. And it is the story of how, badly injured, Luttrell fought off assassins for four days before...