When We Were One: Stories of World War II
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Book Overview
Before W. C. Heinz embarked on his illustrious career as one of the premier sports writers of the past fifty years, he served as a war correspondent for the New York Sun. Now for the first time ever, Heinz's finest work on World War II, written both during and after the war, is collected in one volume. From his first-person account aboard the U.S.S. Nevada during D-Day in 1944 to his legendary dispatches from the towns and battlefields of the European front, Heinz vividly conveys the courage, humor, and humanity of men under fire. Whether describing a battle scene or a soldier, Heinz brings home the war like few others ever have. In the second half of the book, he and his fourteen-year-old son, Bud, revisit the beaches of Normandy with D-Day veteran Major General Earl Rudder, who recounts his experiences there; in another story he describes, in his patented you-are-there style, the morning three German spies were executed; and in the concluding piece, Heinz revisits many of the towns he journeyed through as the American army fought its way across Europe twenty years before.When We Were One is a superb collection of writing on World War II that ranks with the finest ever assembled on any war.
Format:Paperback
Language:English
ISBN:0306812088
ISBN13:9780306812088
Release Date:May 2003
Publisher:Da Capo Press
Length:262 Pages
Weight:0.74 lbs.
Dimensions:0.7" x 5.5" x 8.5"
Related Subjects
Americas Europe Germany History Leaders & Notable People Literature & Fiction Military World World War IICustomer Reviews
2 ratings
Moving
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 16 years ago
The late Bill Heinz was a great writer. I read this book straight through without stopping. He will be greatly missed.
Not an Ernie Pyle but very worthwhile reading
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 21 years ago
This is a remarkable recently published book of short stories gleaned from this ETO war correspondents dispatches during WWII. The book is organized into 3 sections: Dispatches from 1944, 1945 and after the war is over. The "Dispatches" sections sometimes seem repetitive until you realize that they were published in a serial format, so each had to stand on it's own yet they were a continuing story. So the author had to "recap" sometimes what had happened so a new reader would be able to follow along. The "After the War" section is presented with current narration in regular type and the wartime writing in italics. It is a nice way to "flashback" while the author is revisiting locations that had wartime memories to him. Some of these were written for publication in national magazines in the 50's and 60's. I especially enjoyed the authors relating a visit to Point du Hoc in 1954 with the Commanding Officer of the Ranger Battalion that assaulted the cliffs there on D-Day, James Rudder, and Rudder's 14-year-old son. His final story ends with a sad poignancy that is suitable for a book of wartime remembrances. I recommend this book highly to anyone interested in WWII history.
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