"I Remember" by John Shirley - 3rd Infantry Division
I wanted to post up a thread about a book I read a few months back titled "I Remember" by John Shirley. The book is made up of a collection of stories (a war memoir) from Mr. Shirley himself, who served in the US 3rd Infantry Division - 15th Infantry Rgt. during WW2. Starting from his first combat mission at Anzio, coming in as a replacement Sgt and being assigned to the battle sled team (one man open-topped metal sleds attached in groups behind a Sherman tank and dragged into combat). The book is not a complete, beginning to end record of all of Mr. Shirley's war experiences (just a collection of his experiences told in his own words). It is a wonderful book and an easy read, and the stories cover Anzio, Operation Dragoon (invasion of Southern France), Vosges Mountain campaign, the battle for the Colmar Pocket, all the way into the fighting inside Germany where Mr. Shirley ends up receiving a battlefield commission to Lieutenant.
I have read quite a few of these personal war memoirs and this one is by far my favorites so far. He doesn't waste time flowering up his descriptions and it is completely void of any chest-beating bravado/personal grandiosity that you sometimes encounter in other memoirs (it feels very honest and realistic). Also he expresses compassion/respect for the German soldiers he encountered on the battlefield.
If anyone is interested in reading it, I'm not aware of it being for sale anywhere other than on the 3rd Infantry Division website (which is where I bought it while doing research for my documentary). Here is a link to the page: http://www.warfoto.com/3rdmarket.htm
You have to scroll down and the email address they list for a contact isn't valid (I just sent a letter to the address and bought it via the mail).
I had the pleasure of meeting John Shirley and performing an on-camera interview with him in January for use in my upcoming documentary. He is in good health and remains very active to this day and had some truly amazing war experiences which I think you guys would enjoy reading about.
I have read quite a few of these personal war memoirs and this one is by far my favorites so far. He doesn't waste time flowering up his descriptions and it is completely void of any chest-beating bravado/personal grandiosity that you sometimes encounter in other memoirs (it feels very honest and realistic). Also he expresses compassion/respect for the German soldiers he encountered on the battlefield.
If anyone is interested in reading it, I'm not aware of it being for sale anywhere other than on the 3rd Infantry Division website (which is where I bought it while doing research for my documentary). Here is a link to the page: http://www.warfoto.com/3rdmarket.htm
You have to scroll down and the email address they list for a contact isn't valid (I just sent a letter to the address and bought it via the mail).
I had the pleasure of meeting John Shirley and performing an on-camera interview with him in January for use in my upcoming documentary. He is in good health and remains very active to this day and had some truly amazing war experiences which I think you guys would enjoy reading about.
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