Reprise from Last December 7th - A Salute to our World War II Veterans

A personal thank you to WWII vets on this day of remembrance. Thank you for your service to our country and the many sacrifices you made for us. Most of your personal stories are known only to you, your families, or friends. Only decades later have some of these stories been more fully researched and told. Many never will be. For any of you looking for a place to connect on various veterans issues - see the Veterans Links on the right side of this blog.

A good starting place for anyone looking into WWII veterans subjects is the Official World War II Veterans website.

For those of you who want to get an idea of just what our troops went through in some of the toughest battles in WWII, two recent books are:

Flags of Our Fathers by James Bradley, the son of one of the men who raised the flag on Iwo Jima

Ghost Soldiers by Hampton Sides, which documents the rescue of the survivors of the Bataan Death March

Both of these riveting accounts are difficult to read at times because of the reality of the events, but they will give you a better appreciation of the personal stories involved and how these events affected the participants.

Thank you again WWII vets! You are not forgotten.

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p.s. Are there any other recent books that readers want to recommend?