Memoir

Title: When Whippoorwills Call
Author: John Bandy
Genre: Non-Fiction, Memoir
Reviewer: Joyce Faulkner

ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): 0595212727

A 16 year old, high school dropout leaves home to avoid incarceration in the juvenile detention center. Using a fraudulent birth certificate, he enlists in the army, where he finds an extremely hostile environment. Seeking refuge in the army he discovers that he cannot run away from himself and the family "curse."

As a member of the United States Constabulary in occupied Germany at the end of WW2 where he faces the greatest challenges of his life amid the war torn ruins of a conquered nation.

The book describes in lurid detail the misadventures of the men in the lower ranks of the military establishment and the effects of their relationships with the German population. As a fraudulent enlistee, he lives in constant fear of being discovered. He is further plagued by premonition of doom by the family "curse," the result of a terrible sin committed by his maternal grandfather.

Born in an impoverished, dysfunctional family in the midst of the Great Depression, he struggles to overcome the indoctrination of inferiority and social ostracism, the result of his mother's alcoholism,

The story traces the family history from his ancestors' 19th century Mississippi plantation to the early 1950's in segregated Birmingham, Alabama.

Title: K9 Heroes: Together We Protect, Defend, and Conquer as One
Author: Nicole Arbelo
Genre: Non-Fiction, Memoir
Reviewer: Carmen Stenholm

ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): 1432744755

Presents stories of courage and duty, friendship and family, loss and love, as told by the men and women serving with the Military Working Dogs, whose tasks include scouting, search and rescue, and the detection of explosives. Families and friends remember the servicemen and women, and their Military Working Dogs, who gave their lives for their country's service, as well as presenting a vivid picture of the life and times of a K9 Military Working Dog handler.

Title: Tracks: Memoirs of a Vietnam Veteran
Author: Clyde Hoch
Genre: Non-Fiction, Memoir
Reviewer: Bob Doerr

ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): 0615396577

This book is a remarkable account of a piece of American history that is rarely talked about: My name is Sergeant Clyde Hoch of C Company, First Tank Battalion, First Marine Division, Fleet Marine Force. I served in Vietnam from February of 1968 to April of 1969. When I was eighteen, I had a fast, hard lesson on how to become a man. It is called the United States Marine Corps. My life, like all of our lives, has been a series of trials and tribulations, triumphs and failure. We have many memories, thoughts, and stories that make up our history. This is a part of my history.

Title: Semper Cool: One Marine's Fond Memories of Vietnam
Author: Barry Fixler
Genre: Non-Fiction, Memoir
Reviewer: Bob Doerr

ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): 0982518404

Semper Cool is the wrenching, sometimes hilarious and always thought-provoking true story of a well-off Long Island teenager who enlists in the U.S. Marine Corps seeking adventure and his father's approval and finds both, plus more danger than he ever could have imagined. Barry Fixler gets molded into a Marine at Parris Island and sent to Vietnam, where he is assigned to a company that would soon etch its place in Marine Corps lore. Fixler's Echo Company defends a hill at Khe Sanh against overwhelming enemy numbers in a 77-day battle that is considered one of the greatest military victories in the history of modern warfare. With its vivid imagery, Semper Cool thrusts readers into a grunt's eye view of the blood, guts, tears and laughter of war, as told by a Marine who returned home a man and a patriot. Be prepared to laugh and cry and ultimately thank God for the men and women willing to risk their lives for the freedoms that so many Americans enjoy.