• December 8, 2009
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Book Review: World War II Heroes of Southern Delaware by James Diehl

Heroes-Final-Cover Title: World War II Heroes of Southern Delaware
Author: James Diehl
Genre: Historical Nonfiction
Publisher: The DNB Group
Pages: 234 pages

Purchase your copy here!

5stars

About the Book

World War II Heroes of Southern Delaware is a book unlike any other ever written. In its pages are profiles of 50 ordinary Americans who did extraordinary things during a time unlike any other in American history.

These are men and women who today call southern Delaware home. In the 1940s, these brave Americans put their lives on hold to fight for freedom and democracy against the horrific threat imposed on the world by Emperor Hirohito of Japan and German Fuhrer Adolph Hitler.

When Imperial Japan attacked the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on Dec. 7, 1941, the world changed forever. These men and women were a big part of that change; they fought to protect our freedom and our way of life.

Among the amazing stories you’ll read in “World War II Heroes of Southern Delaware” are:

  • A United States Marine who was a part of the 1945 attack on the Japanese island of Iwo Jima. He was one of 17 members of his company who survived, a company that numbered more than 300 at the beginning of the attack.
  • An Army soldier who was responsible for uncovering Adolph Hitler’s enormous, and illegally gained, fortune toward the end of World War II.
  • An Army navigator who led a group of 500 B-29s over Tokyo Bay on Sept. 2, 1945, the day the Japanese surrendered to the United States.
  • A United States Navy machinist’s mate who narrowly survived a Japanese kamikaze attack.
  • A United States Marine who witnessed the horrific attack on Pearl Harbor from the deck of a nearby ship.
  • Men who survived German prisoner of war camps.
  • First–hand accounts from the beaches of Normandy during the D-Day invasion.
  • Two black soldiers who served their country with pride during World War II.
  • Men who liberated German concentration camps.
  • A woman who served her country by becoming a part of the “Rosie the Riveter” movement.
  • And much, much more.

Readers of World War II Heroes of Southern Delaware will also receive a bonus section on Fort Miles, the immense, heavily fortified military facility built to protect the mouth of the Delaware Bay and the city of Philadelphia from an attack by the German navy. Today, the fort is being renovated and will soon become one of the largest World War II museums in the country.

Review:

If ever there was a book that deserves the WOW factor, it’s James Diehl’s World War II Heroes of Southern Delaware. This is the first book I have ever given a five star rating here at Pump Up Your Book. It not only was the writing; it was the fact that James deserves a medal of honor for taking on such a huge project.

James interviewed fifty veterans who served in World War II. The stories grab you from the beginning. They tug at your heart and make you feel the pain these veterans are still feeling today. To give you an example, James says about compiling these stories, “…a funny thing happened along the way. What started out as a mere project became much more as I listened intently and with astonishment to tales of Iwo Jima, of D-Day, of the horrific surprise attack on Pearl Harbor and much, much more. The first-hand accounts these 48 men and 2 woman shared becamse personal in a way I had not originally intended. When a man looks you squere in the eye and tells you about all the dead bodies he had to push aside just to reach Omaha Beach on D-Day, it tends to affect you on a very personal level…many times during the course of these interviews, breaks were needed as emotion ruled the day.”

What was unique about the book was the fact that all these men and woman survived and what was even more unique is that they opened up their hearts to James so that he can bring us a living testimony to a time gone by. I throughly enjoyed this book. James is a master in his craft. Highly recommended!


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