Description: I COMBINE SHIPPING $1.50 per book. FREE SHIPPING for orders over $60. Send books to your check-out cart. E-Bay will automatically adjust shipping costs. PACKAGING & SHIPPING RULES: 1. Individual books Under $18.00 are shipped in padded poly envelopes. 2. Individual books Over $18.00 are shipped in a poly envelope inside a box. 3. Buy Three or more books and the order is shipped in a box.ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THIS LISTING:From Two Book Reviews: 1. Yet another fragment in the intricate mosaic of World War II, this book is part battle history and part detective story but mostly an angst-ridden memoir to a troubled father. The 551st Parachute Infantry Battalion fought its way across Europe until it was nearly annihilated in a heroic assault during the winter battle in the Ardennes. Years later, Orfalea, a poet and the son of one of the survivors, became aware of the lost outfit and set out to uncover its story. In a sensitive and deeply introspective narrative, he has pieced together the experiences of his father and explores the "mystery" of the heroic unit's present obscurity. This conspiracy angle is somewhat overblown, but the story of the 551st needed to be told, and Orfalea does it better than most of the official unit histories. His narrative is enlightened by numerous deft character sketches, vivid flashbacks, and poignant anecdotes gleaned from army reunions. Recommended for military collections and larger public libraries.?Raymond L. Puffer, U.S. Air Force History Prog., Edwards AFB, Victorville, Cal.Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.2. A son's record of his long, wide-ranging search to uncover his dead father's army experiences during WW II. Poet and historian Orfalea attended the first reunion of the 551st Battalion, hoping to find out something about his father, but discovered many mysteries instead. Why was this heroic airborne unit sent to its destruction against a well-entrenched German unit, and why were their achievements ignored in military history? During the Battle of the Bulge, with few other units not already pinned down or shattered, the 551st was sent against fanatically determined German forces in a counterattack that lasted five days, blunted a part of the German assault, took hundreds of prisoners, and left only 110 of the battalion's 643 soldiers standing when it ended. Despite this extraordinary record, the unit was disbanded, its records were destroyed, its bravery went unrecognized, and its very existence was swiftly forgotten by the army bureaucracy. Orfalea's investigations reveal the men of the 551st to have been exuberant loners, distrustful of authority; many had served time in the military stockade. Unattached to other Allied forces, they were, in many ways, seen as a rowdy, defiant bunch and thus, perhaps, dispensable. Despite the army's neglect, the unit received the Croix de Guerre from Charles de Gaulle, and a monument was erected to them by the Belgians in recognition of their heroic efforts. Orfalea, who writes vividly and with great detail about the men of the 551st and their battles, asserts that the army, ever reluctant to acknowledge past injustice in the ranks, is still unwilling (despite the entreaties of 551st survivors and several generals) to recognize the unit's remarkable achievement. A fine military history of a heroic, hitherto forgotten unit finally brought to light
Price: 16 USD
Location: Livonia, Michigan
End Time: 2024-12-25T13:37:04.000Z
Shipping Cost: 5.4 USD
Product Images
Item Specifics
Return shipping will be paid by: Seller
All returns accepted: Returns Accepted
Item must be returned within: 30 Days
Refund will be given as: Money back or replacement (buyer's choice)
Book Title: Messengers of the Lost Battalion
Narrative Type: Nonfiction
Publisher: Free Press
Item Length: 9.6 in
Intended Audience: Adults
Modified Item: No
Subject: History
Vintage: No
Publication Year: 1997
Format: Hardcover
Language: English
Illustrator: Yes
Era: 1940s
Item Height: 1.5 in
Author: Gregory Orfalea
Features: Dust Jacket, Illustrated
Genre: Biographies & True Stories, History, Military, War & Combat, Biography & Autobiography
Topic: Army, Combat, Military History, True Military Stories, World War II, Military / World War II, Military / General, Military / United States, Military, Airborne, Airboorne
Subjects: History & Military
Item Weight: 17.8 Oz
Item Width: 6.5 in
Number of Pages: 432 Pages
