June 6, 1944: The Voices of D-Day (World War II Library)

You will be at the front lines listening to the truth of a necessary war. You will understand how a war is won by which set of generals are the least incompetant. Our generals were incompetant, but our soldiers courageous and that won the war. Reading this is vital, and I have purchased all the other Gerald Astor books that I could find.

I found Astor's book to be an excellent read. He lets the soldiers tell their own stories and does not exclude any of the blood-and-gut comments. You get an accurate portrayal of what the invasion must have been like for the soldier, e.g., like what you see in "Saving Private Ryan" - the blown-apart body parts, limbless bodies, etc. The book covers, quite well, the soldiers at home (before the war), their experiences in training, the trip over to France, their battles on the beach, and a follow-up. I certainly recommend his book to anyone. Any of Gerald Astor's books are good. I did find one item unusual: several times I found myself thinking, "I remember a scene like this in 'The Longest Day' movie. I asked myself if Astor saw the movie first, then decided to write the book. Nevertheless, just a small observation. I would certainly read this book again!

Gerald Astor's accumulation of stories from a wide variety of sources serves to bring a human aspect to WWII that seems to get overlooked in the strategic and political accounts. The author offers a quite vivid, detailed account of the carnage and fear that was felt on perhaps the most famous day in military history.

If you saw Saving Private Ryan and wondered at the authenticity of Spielberg's account, this is an excellent reference. Astor's method is as much journalism as history, relying heavily on first person narrative to tell the story, providing enough background and tactical description to make the overall account into a cohesive narrative. This is an important, moving work. Astor takes the time to start with the pre-war days with the personal lives of the soldiers from infantry and airborne divisions who would eventually form part of the initial assault wave in Normandy on June 6, 1944. The soldiers who formed the 116th Infantry Regiment, the first assault force on Omaha Beach, were from small mid-Atlantic towns such as Bedford, Virginia, regular guys with small town hopes and dreams - who were fed into slaughter and chaos. Astor's work is powerful and poignant because we are made to realize that these men were, as Ambrose coined the phrase, citizen soldiers. The troops were largely untested (more than 85% of the American participants in the Normandy invasion had never seen combat), but trained in depth and willing in heart to perform their duty - whatever hell lay ahead. The price of the invasion was steep - but the reward was even greater. There is no sentimentality or Hollywood melodrama here - just a clear, unflinching portrait of ordinary Americans exhibiting valor in awesome circumstances, American citizens paying the price for freedom. These men proved that Americans are the true descendants of the Greeks of the age of Marathon.