Yank: Memoir of a World War II Soldier (1941-1945) - From the Desert War of North Africa to the Allied Invasion of E
This unusual World War II book publishes the long-lost manuscript of a young Iowan who responded to FDR's call to resist the Nazis by joining the British Army in 1940. Leaving wife and family behind, Ellsworth saw combat in the desert, where he encountered General Montgomery, whom he vividly describes. Transferred to the U.S. Army, he was early ashore in Italy and in Normandy, where he was captured. He survived the ordeal of being a German POW and also a year of wandering in Europe when the Russians were either unable or unwilling to repatriate him. He pays final and moving tribute to the staunch loyalty and unfailing optimism of his wife, which survived his being listed as missing in action, and some of his most effective writing is about their reunion. Some may find Ellsworth's prose lacking in polish and his attitude lacking in perspective, but remember, this is a young man recounting how he survived when that he survived still seemed as miraculous as many readers may find it today.Roland GreenCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved