Read: G Company's War

G Company's War: Two Personal Accounts of the Campaigns in Europe, 1944-1945 by Bruce E. Egger & Lee MacMillan Otts
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I read this book because my husband bought it for me for Christmas. It was on my Amazon wish list, and I put it there because my grandpa is mentioned in the book.

Gpa Ray was part of the G Company whose WWII work is described in this book. He was wounded in action and lost his right arm. When I was a kid I'd always thought that he'd lost his arm during battle and it was still there on the battlefield -- like if someone had just gone to get it he could have had it reattached. That was just a weird thing I made up in my head and definitely not anything anyone told me. The book explained that he was wounded by shrapnel and his arm was amputated at the hospital later.

So I'm glad to have learned more about my grandpa's experience, although he's really only mentioned briefly in the book everything is positive. I read the entire thing because it was interesting and I like first person, real life narrative. I wouldn't say it's a particularly well written book, but the subject matter is deeply engaging, even for someone who didn't understand half of the military terminology and abbreviations (which weren't always explained).

Also: reading this while taking care of a new baby put things in perspective. If I'm tired I can remind myself that I'm not sleeping on freezing ground and walking miles and miles -- or having to be sick while on the back of a truck that won't stop for bathroom breaks. And my dramatic-to-me decision about working is really nothing in comparison to what these infantrymen went through.

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