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Title: The Marines of Autumn by James Brady ISBN: 0-312-28081-5 Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin Pub. Date: 15 May, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.59 (44 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Book Review for Marines of Autumn
Comment: I have just finished reading the book Marines of Autumn. It was written James Brady. It is a war novel. The book is set in the 1950's during the Korean War. The main character is Tom Verity is in the reserve, but his daytime job is being a teacher of Chinese History at Georgetown University, Tom has a daughter and his wife just passed away. He can speak Chinese in six different dialects (which was a very un common thing for a white American). Since the United States is starting to believe that the Chinese could become involved in the conflict they decide that Tom could become a very good resource for intercepting Chinese radio waves And sending it to headquarters. On his way up to the Yalu River (the border between China and North Korea) he meets many Marines trying to go through the hardship of staying alive in the -30 degree weather and the continuous onslaught of the Chinese Regular Army. The only thing keeping Tom alive in this confusing and extremely deadly war is the fact that he is the only parent left to his daughter Kate and the fact that he promised her that they would dance on the bridges of Paris with her.
I liked this book very much it went into great detail about how the Marines were going through a great ordeal. I don't want to give away the ending but the ending could have been better.
Rating: 5
Summary: A Marine's Story of Korea
Comment: James Brady's Korean War novel tells the story of the first autumn of the war from a U.S. Marine's perspective. Brady, a Marine Corps veteran of the Korean War, presents a compelling portrait of a typical Marine officer called into action at an inconvenient time.
The protagonist of the novel, Thomas Verity, is called from his teaching post at Georgetown University to serve as an observer of Chinese action in North Korea. A veteran of World War II, Verity is an officer in the Marine Corps Reserve. Upon the beginning of action he is recalled because the government "needs" him. Verity leaves his young daughter with a nanny and sets off for a "short" tour. Early in his service he frequently writes letters to his daughter telling her of Korea and promising to return to take her to Paris. As time passes, the weather grows bitterly colder, the situation in North Korea grows more desperate, the letters become less frequent--it is no longer possible for him to keep his letters cheery and optimistic. Verity becomes a pawn whose expertise in Chinese is no longer needed but who is used by the military to lead Marines in battle.
Brady presents a typical Marine view of the war which strained their sense of duty. The American troops are directed by "Dugout Doug" McArthur (a reference to McArthur's escape from Bataan peninsula in WWII) who never spends a night in Korea and oversees the war from a hotel in Japan. The force is divided, separated by a range of mountains, making it easier for the invading Chinese troops (whom McArthur never believed would attack) to reek havoc. As the Chinese move in, the Americans are forced to retreat quickly and, in the process, many dead and wounded are left behind--a violation of the Marine promise to leave no one behind.
Captain Tom Verity, Gunnery Sgt. Tate, and their driver Mouse Izzo maintain their commitments to one another and to the Marine Corps ideal, in spite of the situation, and each is honorable in his own distinct way.
A good read, this is a true-to-life story about a time when Americans were sent into harm's way without proper planning or appropriate leadership. Yet, these soldiers still performed in a way that should make us proud of their service.
Rating: 5
Summary: "Korea wasn't a walk in the park."
Comment: This is a brilliant book but not the typical war novel. It is a novel but Jim Brady's own demons pop up relentlessly and the reader does himself a great service if he or she first reads "The Coldest war," Brady's autobiographical recollection of his life as a Marine Rifle Platoon Commander.
William Manchester writes of his youth while staring through a glass of (I think) bourbon, on a flight west to recall "the young man he had been," (ironically as I now recall also as a Marine.)Writing of the war a half dozen years later, Brady does the same with brief, terse, vivid, sparingly used prose.
Tom Verity, called back into service in the Marine Corps after serving as a Rifle Platoon Commander in the Pacific, reluctantly leaves the girl he loves at home. But this time it's a different love story because the girl is his three year old daughter, Kate, an orphan if Verity dies.
There's a lot of Harry Brubaker, the Navy Panther Jet pilot estranged from his wife and daughters in a similar situation in Michner's classic about Korea, "The Bridges at To Ko Ri."
Verity, a Chinese linguist sent over just for the "walk in the Park," finds himself at the Chosin Reservoir surrounded by 120,000 Chinese infantry soldiers. This is where Colonel Lewis "Chesty" Puller, commanding the Marines, supposedly remarked when being told he was surrounded by 10 Chinese infantry divisions, "now we got the B******* where we want 'em." I don't know if it's true. Made great legend though.
We owe it to these men and women caught up in the ego of Commanding Generals and comfortable politicians to read as much about Korea. Read "Truman," McCullough's brilliant biography esp. the section on MacArthur, as well as Brady's non-fiction and even Michner's work. This is great stuff. 5 Stars.
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Title: The Marine: A Novel of War From Guadalcanal to Korea by James Brady ISBN: 0312291426 Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books Pub. Date: 03 June, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: Warning of War: A Novel by James Brady ISBN: 0312280181 Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books Pub. Date: 10 April, 2002 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: The Coldest War : A Memoir of Korea by James Brady ISBN: 0312265115 Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin Pub. Date: 08 June, 2000 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Retreat, Hell by W. E. B. Griffin ISBN: 0399150811 Publisher: Putnam Pub Group Pub. Date: 05 January, 2004 List Price(USD): $26.95 |
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Title: When Duty Whispers Low by John Gobbell ISBN: 0312274912 Publisher: St. Martin's Press Pub. Date: 20 April, 2002 List Price(USD): $25.95 |
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