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"Bravo, Amerikanski!": And Other Stories from World War II

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This is the first book I am aware of to set down the extraordinary life and career of Ann Stringer in the detail it deserves. It's all the more compelling because it is autobiography---Stringer tells her story in a clear distinctive voice. Stringer's life is fascinating for its accomplishments and contradictions. She was tough enough to make it as a "newspaper man" under the most difficult conditions---as a war reporter during World War II. In the chauvinist world of war reporting --her reputation as a skilled reporter remarkably transcended her distracting physical beauty, including what one colleague called her "butter-melting eyes." Stringer's life and career seemed to begin and end with the loss of her fellow war-correspondent husband (Bill Stringer) to a badly timed burst of German gunfire somewhere in France. Bill's death prompted Stringer to take up where he left off and become a war reporter in the first place--a brilliant one at that---who stayed on even after the war to cover the Nuremberg Trials. But, her post-war life took incomprehensible and disastrous turns. This reader winced (as one suspects Ann did, herself) when she recounts how she ended up in the 1950s and 60s in Europe "baking meringue pies" for use in her German photographer-husband's pictures. Yet, as Ann Stringer tells her story, you somehow understand why she married a man whose countrymen killed her beloved Bill, stayed with him for several decades, and came gracefully to terms (better than many of us could) with her tragic life-wasting mistakes. There is something quintessentially female about the trajectory of Stringer's life in a really modern sense that makes you want to understand it better. This book provides a chance to begin to do so.

Featuring an introduction by Walter Cronkite, "Bravo, Amerikanski!" And Other Stories From World War II by Ann Stringer (as told to Mark Scott) is an impressive and compelling collection of personal stories (sometime uplifting, sometimes heartbreaking) narrated by Ann Stringer, who lost her journalist husband in Normandy during World War II, and subsequently found the courage to take his place as a reporter. Beautiful, determined, and one hundred percent focused on her duty, Ann Stringer encountered both the horrors of war and the celebrations of freedom, including the liberation of Nazi concentration camps and the linkup of American and Soviet armies at the Elbe River. A highly recommended look at a unique woman's experience as a war correspondent, and the experiences and observations that would change her life forever, "Bravo, Amerikanski!" And Other Stories From World War II is a welcome and valued contribution to the growing library of World War II autobiographies and memoirs.

I found Ann Stringer's story and recollections, as recorded by Mark Scott, to be exciting, sad, and poignant. She is a reminder to women of today that there were outstanding women like Ann Stringer who were making their own destinies by taking bold steps into unknown territory many decades before the "feminist movement" took hold in this country. Ann was one of a few courageous women who chose to be war correspondents and really put their lives on the line on the front lines of the war. The sad aspect was that she had hoped to do it all with her husband, who was also a war correspondent, but he was killed just outside Paris before she could join him. Even in the midst of her grief, she was determined to carry on, for herself and for his memory.

I personally experienced in 1985 the phenomenal 40th anniversary reunion of World War II American and Russian soldiers who had linked up at the Elbe River in Germany during the last days of the war so her recollection about being the second war correspondent to reach troops from both armies was particularly exciting. She got there while they were still joyously celebrating the reality that, now that the two great armies had met up, the German soldiers would be surrendering and the war would soon be over. Her true gutziness was revealed with her story about the lengths she went to in order to get back to Paris and be the first to file the story about the historic link-up! Yet her recollections did not end with the conclusion of the war. The book goes on to share her experiences following the war--going into the ravaged cities of Europe, seeing the despair, hopelessness, and hunger of the people throughout. She also covered the Nuremberg Trials for 11 months, witnessing first-hand the Nazi leadership on trial in the Palace of Justice. Finally, I was especially touched by the poignant way in which she reflected towards the end of the book about lessons to be learned: "Wars are cruel to all sides, no matter whether you win or lose. One of the major issues of the Trials was the condemnation of aggressive wars. Another was recognizing how vicious a doctrine of hatred can be. Yet another was that orders are not always enough. Just to obey an order does not absolve you of all guilt. We can still prevent wars by getting to know each other, to realize that "they" have some of the same problems "we" have...." For this and for historical reasons, everyone should read this book.

I fully endorse "Bravo Amerikanski" by Ann Stringer (as told to Mark Scott) because it sheds light on a wonderful representative of that great generation of Americans whose young adulthood fell during World War Two. The book vividly brings back to life a gifted young woman who was struck by tragedy and then embarked on a fabulous career at an age when most young people today are only starting out in 'real life.' The story of Ann and Bill Stringer would make a sensational movie. I feel especially close to the story because, like its subjects, I am a journalist and knew of Bill and Ann Stringer before I read the book. I was privileged to cover the 50th anniversary commemorative ceremonies of D-Day on the Normandy beaches. It was there that I first heard of Bill and Ann Stringer and how they covered different stages of the Allied invasion of Western Europe. Their work, telling the American public how its sons were freeing Europe,is vividly recalled in this book. The atmosphere of field journalism in an area of conflict is also extremely well rendered. This book is a must for anyone interested in war reporting and tells a wonderful story about some very special people.

This book was great reading and would make a terrific movie. The author gives a brief background of Ann's early years and then takes the reader into the loss of her husband, who was also a war correspondent, and then right into World War II. It included comments from people who worked with her. They saw her deal with grief, confront a variety of obstacles with great resourcefulness and yet retain her female personna. Ann's ability to scoop the news would be remarkable today let alone in the 40's. I recommend this book not only because of the remarkable woman behind it but because it also gives good insight into the many facets of the Second World War.