Thirteen soldiers A personal history of Americans at war

Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

Senator McCain and staffer Salter (Hard Call: Great Decisions and the People Who Made Them) deliver inspirational accounts of 13 Americans who fought in various wars. Their introduction, lauding soldiers "who went to war for our country, who risked their lives and suffered, and should not be forgotten," will warn readers what to expect. Among the choices are Joseph Martin, who wrote a Revolutionary War memoir long beloved by historians, and Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., who barely survived the U.S. Civil War. The authors make an attempt at diversity, choosing two black representatives: Charles Black, a sailor in the War of 1812, and Edward Baker, a buffalo soldier cavalryman who fought in Cuba during the Spanish-American War. Mary Rhoads, one of two women included, survived a catastrophic Scud missile strike during the 1991 Gulf War, while Monica Lin Brown, a medic, earned a Silver Star in Afghanistan. Incidents of racism and sexism are highlighted as they emerge in the narrative. Each chapter includes an overview of the relevant war to contextualize the soldier's story. "War is wretched beyond description," but McCain and Salter aptly reveal humanizing moments in such theaters of cruelty. Agent: Philippa Brophy, Sterling Lord Literistic. (Nov.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

---

Review by Library Journal Review

In their sixth collaborative work, coauthors McCain and Salter (Faith of My Fathers) profile 13 soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines; each from one of the 13 major conflicts in which the United States has been involved. Stories depict some aspect of wartime and combat experience, and the wide variety of characters involved makes for many fascinating accounts. Some of the subjects will be familiar to readers-Joseph Plumb Martin and Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., for example. Others are not as well known, including George Roberts, an African American gunner on a War of 1812 privateer, and Mary Rhoads, an army soldier during the Gulf War. Chapters have similar structure and provide a brief introductory biography followed by descriptions of major events in that person's tale. The bulk of each section contains the history of the featured individual's engagements, pleasantly interwoven with their personal experiences. The text as a whole offers insights into life during battle; however, it comes across as a bit disjointed, seeming more a compilation of minibiographies than a work with an overriding theme. VERDICT Casual readers interested in a wide sampling of U.S. military history should enjoy this book. [See Prepub Alert, 6/2/14.]-Matthew Wayman, Pennsylvania State Univ. Lib., Schuylkill Haven (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

---

Review by Kirkus Book Review

A patriotic though unsentimental look at the major wars fought by the United States as told through the difficultexperiences of ordinary soldiers.Arizona Sen. McCain and his longtime staffer and co-author Salter (Hard Call: Great Decisions and the Extraordinary People Who Made Them, 2007, etc.) again sound the themes of courage and honor represented by the regular Americans of all branches of the military who fought for their country from the Revolutionary War to the Iraq War, circa 2006. From the first soldier, Joseph Plumb Martin, who enlisted in Gen. George Washington's army at age 15 and served the duration of the War of Independence, the authors emphasize the deprivation and confusion of war over the hollow declarations of "glorious triumph over adversity." McCain and Salter use Martin's own late-life memoir to pepper the details of military lifee.g., being commanded at one point by the Marquis de Lafayette and suffering the cold and hunger of the winter of 1779 at Morristown, which prompted Martin's regiment to mutiny in May 1780. George Roberts, an African-American seaman, represented one of the 15 to 20 percent of black sailors in the U.S. Navy during the War of 1812, serving with distinction but under segregated conditions and restricted liberty. Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., son of the famous Boston professor and essayist, was an idealistic Harvard student who fought bravely with his Massachusetts regiment for the Union and was profoundly changed by the bloodshed of the Civil War. Other notable soldiers include Maj. Gen. Littleton "Tony" Waller, who refused to fulfill an order to slaughter the Philippine natives during a battle of the Spanish-American War in Manila in 1898 and was court-martialed; and Guy Gabaldon, who, while battling on the Pacific island of Saipan during World War II, convinced many Japanese to surrender rather than commit suicide. Deeply personal stories that track real soldiers through conditions of trying morale. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

---

Thirteen Soldiers INTRODUCTION EVERY MEMORIAL DAY AT ARLINGTON National Cemetery, soldiers from the 3rd U.S. Infantry Brigade place small American flags at the headstones of more than three hundred thousand graves. The headstones bear the names of people of every ethnic origin. They mark the final resting places of professional soldiers and conscripts; of rich and poor; Christian, Jew, and Muslim; believer and nonbeliever; descendants of Mayflower pilgrims and immigrants who had barely arrived in the country before they took up arms to defend her; dark-skinned and white; city dwellers and people from small towns and farms; teachers and machinists; businessmen and day laborers; poets and presidents. People of impeccable character rest here. Scoundrels do too. Most were brave; some may not have been. Some of the dead were celebrated successes in their lifetimes, and some obscure failures. Many here perished in war and never had the opportunity to pursue peaceful ambitions; others died in ripe old age, rich in blessings. Some sacrificed willingly, others resentfully. But all of them sacrificed. And families from every place in America have wept at a graveside here. War might be a great leveler while it is being experienced, but the millions upon millions of Americans who have gone to war are the most diverse population the country could produce. There is no other profession in all of human endeavor as varied as the profession of arms. This book recalls the experiences of a single American soldier, sailor, airman, or marine in each of the thirteen major wars our country has fought. We did not attempt to identify the prototypical soldier. No such prototype exists. Not one of the subjects is much like the others. Rather the stories were chosen to represent a particular attribute of their service or condition in their experience of war. Obviously there is some arbitrariness at work here. The conditions illustrated are only a few features in the nature of soldiers and wars. We had only thirteen stories to tell. The intent was to write about things most soldiers in combat will have experienced or witnessed, but even then it is a very incomplete catalogue of commonly shared emotions and experiences. The subjects hail from different walks of life, though most of them had modest origins, like most soldiers today and in the past. We wanted to represent all four branches of the armed services, as the experience of war can vary from one service to another, though many sensations and situations are common to all. Many were chosen because they left accounts of their experiences that have survived to the present. Some kept diaries or wrote books or spoke publicly about their wars. A few subjects left little or no record of their service. One subject especially is mostly lost to history; we know where he served and a few incidents from his life and have tried to reconstruct his story informed by the few facts we do know and the experiences of others in the same or very similar circumstances. We were not looking for thirteen stories of supermen or superwomen. We wanted to write straightforward, honest accounts of ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances. All thirteen soldiers were brave and sacrificed for our country. There are Medal of Honor recipients among them, and others distinguished by high decorations for valor. Some wore no decoration more proudly than their combat infantry badge. They are not perfectly virtuous. The readers will admire some of our subjects more than others, although all have earned admiration. Soldiers come in all types, from righteous, God-fearing human beings to wantonly cruel scoundrels. None of the stories we elected to recount features a soldier who belongs in the latter category, though one of them identified himself as a rogue and possessed some less than admirable qualities. Soldiers in combat share a genuine and powerful bond, so powerful that they are willing to die for one another. The paradox that makes that bond so unique is that in their lives before war they might not have chosen to associate with each other. They might not have liked each other. They might not even like each other while they serve together, and yet they will fight for each other, and often die for each other. Every war occasions heroism and nobility. Every war has its corruptions, which is what makes it a thing worth avoiding if possible. There is compassion and savagery in these stories, terror and valor, confusion and acuity, obedience and insubordination, self-aggrandizement and humility, brotherhood and individuality, triumph and loss, and in all of them, sacrifice for something greater than self. Each of these stories is also a story of change. Rare is the soldier who is not changed by war. Some are changed for the better and some for the worse, but all are changed in some way and forever. It is a surpassing irony that war, for all its horrors, provides the combatant every conceivable human experience. Experiences that usually take a lifetime to know are all felt--and felt intensely--in one brief moment of life. Anyone who loses a loved one knows what great sorrow feels like. Anyone who gives life to a child knows what great joy feels like. The veteran knows what great joy and great loss feel like when they occur in the same moment, in the same experience. Such an experience is transforming. Some come home and struggle to recover their balance, which war had upset. For those who came home whole in spirit if not in body, civilian life will seldom threaten their equanimity. They have known the worst terrors the world holds and have seen acts of compassion and love that no evil can destroy. They have seen mankind at its most dehumanized and its most noble. No other experience will ever surpass its effect on their lives, and they can never forget it. Here are the stories of eleven men and two women who went to war for our country, who risked their lives and suffered, and should not be forgotten. Excerpted from Thirteen Soldiers: A Personal History of Americans at War by John McCain, Mark Salter All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.

---