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13 Soldiers: A Personal History of Americans at War Kindle Edition
As a veteran himself, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and a long-time student of history, John McCain brings a distinctive perspective to the experience of war. With Mark Salter, Thirteen Soldiers tells the stories of real soldiers who personify valor, obedience, enterprise, and love. You’ll meet Joseph Plumb Martin, who at the tender age of fifteen fought in the Revolutionary War; Charles Black, a freeborn African American sailor in the War of 1812; and Sam Chamberlain, of the Mexican American War, whose life inspired novelist Cormac McCarthy. Then there’s Oliver Wendell Holmes, an aristocratic idealist disillusioned by the Civil War, and Littleton “Tony” Waller, court-martialed for refusing to massacre Filipino civilians.
Each story illustrates a particular aspect of war, such as Mary Rhoads, an Army reservist forever changed by an Iraqi scud missile attack during the Persian Gulf War; Monica Lin Brown, a frontline medic in rural Afghanistan who saved several lives in a convoy ambush; and Michael Monsoor, a Navy SEAL, who smothered a grenade before it could detonate on his men in Iraq. From their acts of self-sacrifice to their astonishing valor in the face of unimaginable danger, these “inspirational accounts of thirteen Americans who fought in various wars…aptly reveal humanizing moments in such theaters of cruelty” (Publishers Weekly).
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherSimon & Schuster
- Publication dateNovember 11, 2014
- File size21866 KB
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Editorial Reviews
Review
"Messrs. McCain and Salter have chosen a thoughtful array of subjects....the authors have drawn a diverse group portrait of 'ordinary Americans'....Following ancient and medieval precedent, their hope is simply to use each soldier's deeds to represent a particular aspect of war: fear, duty, honor, comradeship, sacrifice and so on....We can all agree...to admire Messrs. McCain and Salter's 'ordinary people doing extraordinary things.'" — The Wall Street Journal
"Discerning and praiseworthy." — U.S. Naval Institute Proceedings
“The wide variety of characters involved makes for many fascinating accounts….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….Casual readers interested in a wide sampling of U.S. military history should enjoy this book.” — Library Journal
“Written with thrilling immediacy, insight, and reverence for the men and women who have risked and sacrificed their lives for their country. Much more than a military history, Thirteen Soldiers brings famous battles and campaigns down to the individual scale, enhances our understanding of the costs and consequences of battle, and introduces a human dimension to the history of armed conflict.” — NationalMemo.com
“Deeply personal stories that track real soldiers through conditions of trying morale…. A patriotic though unsentimental look at the major wars fought by the United States as told through the difficult experiences of ordinary soldiers…. Arizona Sen. McCain and his longtime staffer and co-author Salter again sound the themes of courage and honor represented by the regular Americans of all branches of the military.” — Kirkus Reviews
“These are great and powerful stories that deserve to be retold, and McCain and Salter do an admirable job of showing us why.” — Stars & Stripes
“An intriguing read covering a wide swath of military history, much of it probably little known to many Americans. It takes a microscopic, individualized look at famous battles, describing them from the point of view of the soldiers who fought them…. "13 Soldiers" whets the appetite for history lovers, blending lesser-known facts into well-known battles. But it's approachable for novices, too…. McCain and Salter, a long time storytelling duo, have crafted a worthwhile read that abstains from romanticizing war yet instills a sense of pride that will touch any reader.” — Fayetteville Observer
"Highly enlightening." — The VVA Veteran
“This instructive book is crammed with battlefield details, struggles, and strategies, along with an intriguing cast of characters and their untold stories.” — The Daily Beast
“McCain and Slater tell the historical story of the ordinary Americans that went to war, told in a way that may help the average reader understand the sacrifice, the lost blood and treasure of sending our sons and daughters to war.” — Medium
About the Author
Mark Salter has collaborated with John McCain on all seven of their books, including The Restless Wave, Faith of My Fathers, Worth the Fighting For, Why Courage Matters, Character Is Destiny, Hard Call, and Thirteen Soldiers. He served on Senator McCain’s staff for eighteen years.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
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.
Product details
- ASIN : B00IWTWNFQ
- Publisher : Simon & Schuster; Illustrated edition (November 11, 2014)
- Publication date : November 11, 2014
- Language : English
- File size : 21866 KB
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Sticky notes : On Kindle Scribe
- Print length : 385 pages
- Best Sellers Rank: #1,915,008 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #103 in Biographies of the American Revolution
- #275 in Biographies of the Iraq War
- #292 in Biographies of World War I
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
Senator John McCain entered the Naval Academy in June of 1954. He served in the United States Navy until 1981. He was elected to the US House of Representatives from Arizona in 1982 and to the Senate in 1986. He was the Republican Party’s nominee for president in the 2008 election. He is the author of Faith of My Fathers, Worth Fighting For, Why Courage Matters, Character Is Destiny, Thirteen Soldiers, and The Restless Wave.
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While the title unsurprisingly tells how many people they focus on, it might be appropriate to list all thirteen. With only a few exceptions, however, these are not figures whose lives garnered fame outside of their war achievements, which makes the book all the more refreshing in showing how the common soldier functioned and what drove them to valor. First, there was Joseph Plumb Martin, who enlisted as a teenager during the American Revolution and near the end of his life published one of the few memoirs to come out of nation's beginning conflict. Second is Charles Black, a freeborn African-American sailor who served with severe hardship during the War of 1812. Third, Samuel Chamberlain served in the Mexican-American War (his prior history as a bandit makes him perhaps the most morally dubious fellow in the book) and later wrote a memoir called Recollections of a Rogue that served as the inspiration for Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian. Fourth is Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., one of America's finest men of letters and arguably the greatest Supreme Court justice ever; he is likely the most famous person to emerge out of this book. Fifth, Edward Baker served as a buffalo soldier with Teddy Roosevelt's Rough Riders in Cuba, but had a tragic end, dying as a lonely alcoholic. Sixth is Maj. Gen. Littleton “Tony” Waller, who refused to fulfill an order to slaughter the Filipino natives during the brutal counterinsurgency campaign following the Spanish-American War and was ultimately court-martialed. Seventh, Elton Mackin served during World War One on the Western Front and, despite extreme odds, survived and lived to write a memoir of his time a dough boy. Eighth was Guy Gabaldon, who on Saipan saved hundreds of Japanese soldiers and civilians from a fate similar to their countrymen at Okinawa and went from cave to cave convincing them to surrender. Ninth was Pete Salter, the author's father, who with a comrade faced attacking members of the Chinese People's Liberation Army during the Korean War and survived due to his friend's sacrifice. Tenth is Leo Thorsness, a Vietnam veteran who was McCain's prison companion in Hanoi and who was later awarded the Medal of Honor. Eleventh is Mary Rhoads, survivor of a missile attack during the Gulf War who had previously worked as a meter maid and who later was one of the first to win legal recognition of Gulf War Syndrome. Twelfth is Monica Lin Brown, who, despite not being a doctor, was the most trusted medic of her unit in Afghanistan and went on far more missions than any reasonable person would have requested of her, ultimately winning a Silver Star for her bravery. Finally, there is Michael Monsoor, who is the only one of the thirteen not to have survived his war experiences, flinging himself on a grenade in Iraq to shield his comrades.
As you could guess from these brief biographies, these men and women across the ranks came from a wide variety of economic, racial, geographic, and historical backgrounds. The point the authors make in their selections is that any group can be capable of similar valor, but who as an individual will does so cannot be known until the thick of the fight. The authors also emphasize the transformational experience of combat, with Justice Holmes being perhaps the clearest example of the trauma it can cause. Nonetheless, I think if you placed each of these soldiers in a room and asked if they were glad they acted as they did, they would respond in the affirmative.
For anyone with an interest in military history, it is an informative read and sheds some further light on the Senator McCain's own combat experiences and the mindset it produced in him. A highly recommended read that goes quickly.
As a woman in her 30's, I will admit that understanding the various wars that our country has been engaged in has not been something that I have excelled at, but after reading this book, I have a better understanding of the different wars and a deeper appreciation for the soldiers who fought in them. My grandfather fought in the Korean War. I was visiting him at about the same time that I was reading the chapter on the Korean War. Because of this, I was encouraged to discuss his military service with him, which is not something we have ever really discussed before.
It took me a few chapters to get into John McCain's writing style of starting the story midway and then backtracking to tell the beginning and then the conclusion. But overall, I enjoyed his writing style. I also felt like the teaser for some of the chapters suggested a more in depth story was coming, but then the specifics were never shared.
I think that my favorite line from the books is this: " It is disrespectful to sentimentalize war, to make it seem glorious and romantic. When we do, we devalue the sacrifices made in it." I think that this line sums up the feel of the book nicely. I would definitely recommend this book!