book reviews and summaries, comments, analysis
TERRY'S BOOK IS SO good I'm at a loss to give it all the praise it deserves in the framework of a brief review. He has an engaging style of writing--cuddle up with this book in an easy chair. The description of the battles is crisp; of the lulls, languid. His honesty is touching and much like Tom Sawyer ("I cried a little bit when I covered up his face") he doesn't smother you with descriptions of casualties. You respect Terry's dignity (and that of the wounded or dying) for this brevity. He only asks that you never forget. On those few occasions where he is tempted to write a bit of an epitaph ("Able had lost a good platoon leader, I had lost....") his words get in the way.
Everybody loves Terry for his stories of battles and combat. Why? Again, he lets the story tell the story. The effect is fantastic. If you are wondering why everything suddenly falls apart at Sachon Pass [earlier that morning his men were "red hot-- an untouchable force"], well you can keep wondering because Terry doesn't know, either. As you get the sense the whole situation is slipping out of control with an NKPA roadblock behind them and the flanks crackling with encircling fire, you get just as angry as the author does when he finds an artillery battery that doesn't even have a defensive perimeter in place.
So the whole book goes. The fog of war becomes fog in the text. The words become Terry's eyes and ears, through which the soul of the drama enters the soul of the reader.
The truth is the only way we can learn from the mistakes made in the Korean War. His Haman chapter handles the issue of the 24th ID's dereliction of duty with honesty and candidness. His disgust of 'civilian bureaucrats' in Washington is justified and palpable. I might point out the fat-assed military brass in Japan prior to the Korean War were just as pathetic. Some things will never change.
Overall the book is an excellent read. Korean War buff's might want to brush up on Norman Allen's ITEM company saga in Knox's book Pusan to Chosin. Both Allen and Terry were near Taegu when the NKPA pushed hard in mid August. Both love artillery ("100 yards left! Drop 200! Battery 3 rounds HE, fire for effect") and probably would have a great tablepounding evening if they could get together and share memories.