BOOK 4 STARS OF VALOR (HISTORY OF 505th WW2 PARACHUTE INFANTRY) (BOX49)

 COURTESY OF GIBSONS TACTICAL TAVERN                                                                       MILITARY SURPLUS LISTING INDIVIDUALLY PICTURED

FOUR STARS OF VALOR: THE COMBAT HISTORY OF THE 505th PARACHUTE INFANTRY REGIMENT IN WORLD WAR TWO

AUTHOR: PHIL NORDYKE

PUBLISHER ZENITH PRESS

COPYRIGHT 2006 BY PHIL NORDYKE

ISBN 13: 978-0-7603-2664 (HARDBACK)                                                                              ISBN 13:  0-7603-2664-9 (PAPERBACK)

**     FROM BIG CITIES, SMALL TOWNS, FARMS, AND RANCHES, YOUNG MEN HARDENED BY THE BITTER EXPERIENCES OF THE DEPRESSION ANSWERED THE CALL TO SERVE THEIR COUNTRY AFTER PEARLY HARBOR.  PREPARING FOR WAR, THEY CAME OF AGE IN ARGUABLY THE BEST PARACHUTE INFANTRY REGIMENT TO DESCEND UPON EUROPEAN BATTLEFIELD DURING WORLD WAR TWO.  THEY WERE THE 505th PARACHUTE INFANTRY REGIMENT AND THEIR STORY IS TOLD BY THE UNIT'S OFFICIAL HISTORIAN IN FOUR STARS OF VALOR.                                                                                        THE 505th WAS THE ONLY REGIMENT DURING WORLD WAR TWO TO MAKE FOUR COMBAT JUMPS--SICILY, SALERNO, NORMANDY, AND HOLLAND--ALL WITHIN FOURTEEN MONTHS.  AT THE FOREFRONT OF SOME OF THE FIERCEST FIGHTING IN EUROPE DURING SIX MAJOR CAMPAIGNS: SICILY, NAPLES-FOGGIA, NORMANDY, RHINELAND, ARDENNES, AND CENTRAL GERMANY, THE REGIMENT'S COMBAT RECORD IS UNSURPASSED IN THE ANNALS OF WARFARE.                                                                       THROUGH ACCOUNTS FROM OVER THREE HUNDRED VETERANS OF THE 505th PIR AND THEIR SUPPORTING UNITS-INCLUDING PERSONAL INTERVIEWS, ORAL HISTORY ARCHIVES, AND UNPUBLISHED WRITTEN ACCOUNTS--THE AUTHOR BRINGS THE HISTORY OF THE REGIMENT TO LIFE; CONVEYING WITH REMARKABLE IMMEDIACY AND POWER WHAT IT WAS LIKE TO BE AN AMERICAN PARATROOPER IN HEAVY COMBAT IN WORLD WAR TWO. HR SKILLFULLY WEAVES THE STORIES OF THE MEN WHO SERVED, QUOTING OR MENTIONING ALMOST SEVEN HUNDRED OF THEM BY NAME.                    FOUR STARS OF VALOR IS HISTORY AS IT WAS LIVED BY THE MEN OF THE 505th, FROM THEIR PRE WAR COMING OF AGE IN THE REGIMENT, THROUGH THE END OF WORLD WAR TWO, WHEN THEY MARCHED IN THE VICTORY PARADE UP FIFTH AVENUE IN NEW YORK CITY, TO THE POST WAR LEGACY OF HAVING BEEN PART OF ARGUABLY THE MOST ELITE PARACHUTE REGIMENT OF WORLD WAR TWO.