Customer Reviews

Cranking Up a Fine War: A Louisiana Soldier from Boot Camp to General's Aide

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"Cranking Up A Fine War" is a strong, intimate story centered around one man's World War II experience that is both captivating and enchanting. As an author, I find Mayhall's unique storytelling ability refreshing and enchanting. This book follows the author through his days in basic training, his arrival in France on D+66, his experiences during the war -- both good and bad -- and his return home to a waiting family. It is an honest and straight-forward look at the life of both a soldier, and a man, during the early part of this century. I highly recommend it, both for those who lived through the same experience, and for those who have only seen it through the lens of a Hollywood camera.

"Cranking Up A Fine War: A Louisiana Soldier From Boot Camp To General's Aide" is the story of Van Mayhall's military career which began when he joined the National Guard in 1936 at the age of seventeen. When World War II broke out, Mayhall was as an ordinary soldier among hundreds of others with the 90th Infantry Division, and advanced to the position of Captain, becoming the aide-de-camp to General William Weaver taking part in numerous battles including the crossing of the Moselle and Roer Rivers, and fighting as the company commander in assausts aginst the Maginot Line. Mayhall was awarded the Silver Star. Enhanced with black-and-white historical and personal photographs, "Cranking Up A Fine War" is a superbly written autobiography and a welcome, highly recommended addition to the growing library of World War II military biographies, memoirs, and autobiographies.

This book is not your typical "war story." While it does describe some major battles, such as the Battle of the Bulge, that the author fought in, it is concerned more with the day to day life of "growing up" as a soldier in WWII. The author joined the army when he was only 17, got married while in the army, had to leave his wife for three and a half years, and then had to come back with very little knowledge of how to succeed in a civilian world. The book is riveting, funny in parts, and full of great stories like how the author met Marlene Dietrich and the Queen of England. If you are interested in World War II, I would highly recommend this book.