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Title: The Medic by Leo Litwak ISBN: 0-14-200219-4 Publisher: Penguin Books Pub. Date: 25 June, 2002 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.62 (16 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: Litwak's Memories of Love and War
Comment: This book was recommended to me by my father, also a WWII medic. In fact, my father remembers being in combat medical training in South Carolina at the same time as Mr. Litwak. I have been told many stories by my father about the life of a medic as well as his capture during the Battle of the Bulge. Mr. Litwak's book left me somewhat empty as I was hoping for more insight into the life of these very special men, combat medics. I found his pursuit of a young French woman to be the romantic memories of a young man in a terrible situation. This is an enjoyable quick "read" but if you're hoping to learn more of the medic's life, I suggest you look elsewhere. A big "Thank You" to Mr. Litwak and WWII vets everywhere for their remarkable sacrifice.
Rating: 5
Summary: An Uncommon Look Back at WWII
Comment: Perhaps it is the distance of a half century that allowed Mr. Litwak to avoid the heroic stereotypes that are common in many recollections of war.
For me, some of the most emotional moments of this book are the author's descriptions of wretching events told in the dispassionate voice of the combat medic. I felt I could understand the impact that the dangers and brutality of the war had upon the ordinary soldier.
In balance to the narrative of the young medic, there are the amazingly honest memories of the author looking back at the war: the deep comradeship of his unit; the loss of his platoon sergeant; the poignantly unreal romance in Paris.
Over the past couple of years, I have read numerous histories and biographies related to World War II. None of the others brought me as close to the lives of combat troops as Mr. Litwak's honest little memoir.
Rating: 4
Summary: An honest look back ...
Comment: Leo Litwak's recollections of his service in WWII as a combat medic is not what I had expected. I had anticipated a memoir - instead the book is essentially a collection of vignettes and impressions the author had during his service in Europe in the final year of the war. Litwak admits in his foreward that unit names and places had been changed, and that some individuals mentioned in the book were composites of personalities he knew. I appreciated his honesty.
After reading the book, I also appreciated his honesty in presenting his perspective on the war. The graft and looting by "our boys." The whoring around. The detached neutrality of working on the wounded, and the non-chalance of seeing so much death so often. Not everyone who served in the European Theater of Operations (ETO) saw combat; and not everyone who saw combat in the ETO was there from the Normandy landing to V-E day. Litwak was honest about his service, his experiences, and his impressions.
As a combat medic from a later war, I had anticipated experiences and recollections similar to my own. While we had some experiences in common, we had many more differences as we served in two very different times. Nonetheless, the honesty with which Litwak writes of his time in Europe is not a romanticized or sanitized version of WWII. And aside from the obvilious shortcomings of his composites, it is real at an emotional (if not strictly historical) level.
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Title: Fighting For Life by Albert E. Cowdrey ISBN: 0684863790 Publisher: Free Press Pub. Date: 01 October, 1998 List Price(USD): $18.75 |
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Title: Swastika Night by Katharine Burdekin ISBN: 0935312560 Publisher: Consortium Book Sales & Dist Pub. Date: 01 November, 1985 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World War II by Doris Kearns Goodwin ISBN: 0684804484 Publisher: Simon & Schuster Pub. Date: 01 October, 1995 List Price(USD): $18.00 |
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Title: The Drowned and the Saved by Primo Levi ISBN: 067972186X Publisher: Vintage Books USA Pub. Date: 01 April, 1989 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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Title: No-No Boy by John Okada ISBN: 0295955252 Publisher: University of Washington Press Pub. Date: 01 February, 1978 List Price(USD): $12.89 |
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