num_pages: 343
description: When they shipped out in World War 11, they were from all over the country; two hundred men and officers of K Company, 333rd Infantry, 84th Division. This is their autobiography. The veterans of Company K know they didn’t win the war singlehandedly. They were just one of twenty-seven similar rifle companies in the 84th Division, and one of the twelve hundred such companies that were the cutting edge of the American army in Europe. But the story of Company K is the story of all the combat infantrymen of World War II. Here is Company K’s account of more than one hundred days of combat, from the Siegfried Line through the Battle of the Bulge to meeting up with the Russians on the Elbe River. Thirty-six men of the company were killed in action. And nearly two hundred replacements came into the company-most were evacuated with wounds or illness. This is a book about ordinary men as told by ordinary men, the Willies and Joes of real life: what it was like for men on the line-men coming to terms with themselves and their buddies in trying circumstances. It is a vibrant, moving account of what these same men have experienced during the last forty years of peace. Out of the diverse group, six men won PhD.’s; one became the title character for a Gertrude Stein novel, Brewsie and Willie; one became one of the nation’s leading manufacturers of prosthetic devices; and others are corporation presidents, truck drivers, ministers, postmasters, farmers, pecan growers, government officials, and lawyers. One still works from 3 A.M. to noon every day in the freezing room of a produce plant when he should be drawing 75 percent disability pay because of his wounds. Lastly, it is the story of life on the home front: the wives, girlfriends, and families who waited for their men to return, and when they returned, resumed the fabric of their lives. The Men of Company K is a vivid portrait of the men and women who are the heart of America.
language: English
title: The Men of Company K
titlecomplete: The Men of Company K
genres: Military History, History, World War II, American History, War, Nonfiction, Military Fiction
ratings_count: 77
publisher: Bantam