Customer Reviews

The Hawk and the Dove: World War II at Okinawa and Korea

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I guess I should start this review by disclosing that I've known the author, Roland Glenn, for over a decade. That said, I don't think you have to know Roland to understand what's going on in this book, or to get the relevance to the world today. It's beautifully written, frequently harrowing and not for the faint of heart, with a happy ending, but an ending won through years of real life and real living.

This is Roland Glenn's account of being a young man from a small town in rural Pennsylvania who was drafted into the Army during World War II and marched bravely off to war, becoming a member of the "Greatest Generation" if not by accident, then not by design either. Through a combination of Depression-era experiences that wouldn't seem to have prepared him for combat, and his own pluck and courage, Glenn rises to the command of a small company of troops, just in time to lead them into the brutal and bloody invasion of Okinawa, just weeks before the atomic bombs fell. Glenn's eye for detail in the midst of carnage and his way with words is stunning, but he also makes you feel and understand the fact that he can recall so much precisely because the events around him were so grim.

More than a war story, though, this is also a narrative about how Glenn recovered from war and found himself unexpectedly coming to appreciate the humanity of his former opponents and the beauty of their cultures. Before "post-traumatic stress disorders" were a recognized part of our vocabulary, Glenn found himself wrestling with demons and learning to overcome them.

A novelist who had written this tale would get praise for creating believable, interesting characters in Glenn's life, but might leave some readers wondering how all of this could possibly have happened to one person. In Glenn's case, the improbable merely happens to be true.

Although I've known Roland Glenn for years, I found myself learning a great deal I had never suspected--and not just about him, but about the idealism that leads young men to war, the realism that gets them through it, and the hope that helps them carry on and put themselves back together after they survive it.

If a contributer of a blurb for THE HAWK AND THE DOVE merits listening to as a reviewer, I'd like to add to my words on the book's back cover. All great war books are anti-war books in their various ways. Roland Glenn's way is to use the wisdom of his years to inform about some of war's real costs. He couldn't have done that sixty-odd years ago, shortly after participating in Okinawa's gruesome combat. No doubt he couldn't have done it twenty years ago because he wasn't wise enough even then - nor as willing and able to be honest, as some still-with-it old men are. George Feifer, author of OKINAWA: THE BLOOD AND THE BOMB (2002)

This autobiographical work focuses primarily on the author's formative years in Western Pennsylvania and on his coming of age in the U.S. Infantry in the 1940's. The Hawk and the Dove is a remarkable book on several fronts. The author, Roland Glenn, is a Purple Heart winner wounded on Okinawa during World War II. Following the attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki he was re-assigned to the task of repatriating the same Japanese soldiers he had been taught to hate. After V-J Day, men he had once tried to kill became his friends and allies.

Glenn's recall of events that occurred sixty years ago when he served as a commissioned "90-day wonder" first lieutenant is extraordinary. The book is at once a sociological study of the way society shapes people's values, expectations and actions as well as a deeply personal examination of one man's life. Glenn's relating his many traumatic experiences as a soldier show in literary form what films such as Saving Private Ryan and Band of Brothers have demonstrated in visual form.

In the case of the Hawk and the Dove, what we see is the first-hand account of the damage combat does to the vanquished and the victors as well. Glenn's frank discussion of his struggles with post-traumatic stress disorder will serve as a lesson for anyone who would go to war; any war; any time. The author goes from being a man who unquestioningly shot and killed Japanese soldiers to being a man who still struggles with the weight of his violent acts.

While we don't learn a lot of details about his change of heart, we do know that his awareness is the product of deep introspection and years of psychotherapy. As the title suggests, the years following his largely unquestioned devotion to God and country eventually led the author to a deep realization of the futility of modern warfare.

One can only hope that Roland Glenn has the interest to write another volume filling in the gaps and answering the questions thoughtful readers are likely to have about personal transformation.

This book is full of historical and personal information regarding World War 2 and put in a very fascinating easy to grasp story about what a man has to go through in war and some love, too. A very good and fast read.

Glenn was a 2nd Lieutenant and was posted to the 17th Infantry Regt, 7th Division as a replacement during the Battle of Okinawa. He then served occupational duty in Korea.

Glenn is a small town boy and he devotes a few chapters to growing up and to the members of his rather extroadinary family. He is very religious and hard working and somewhat incongruously very open about his adventures with the ladies. He does well as a recruit and elects to undertake officer training (OCS 90 day program) and again does well. He spends a little time processing through replacement facilities but joins his unit in April 1945.

His two months of combat are dealt with in 50 pages. His introduction to the front doesn't go smoothly. He gets off-side with his commander (and later misses out on a Silver Star as a result) and his first fight is a debacle. He is able to impose more control over later actions and his unit has considerable success. He writes that he killed several enemy but only goes into detail the once. This event, ironically a mercy killing, returns to haunt him in the decades after the war. There is interest in the combat revealed. Glenn losses several close comrades as well as a number of his men. There is considerable detail at times but it is not a gripping account by any means. This is partly because the dialogue reconstructed by the author is a bit trite.

This is a solid memoir. A surprising amount is devoted to duties in Korea, including interactions with surrendered Japanese and Korean prostitutes. Indeed, there is a surprising amount of material of a sexual nature - some of it absolutely bizarre given the type and context. As alluded to above, it conflicts with the persona otherwise revealed by Glenn. While the author is perfectly within his rights to write it and let's face it, soldiers will be soldiers, it may make more conservative readers uncomfortable. On a less awkward note, Glenn periodically includes copies of letters he wrote and received. Perhaps one of the more noteworthy elements of this book is Glenn's fascinating revelation of his psychological problems (and treatment) stemming from his battle experiences. So there is certainly material of interest, to the point of being surprising even. Recommended.

"World War II combat veteran Roland Glenn is one of the best story tellers I've come across in a long time. These richly textured stories - complete with love, sex, friendship, loyalty, and betrayal - are the bookends that frame the tale of close combat with a mortal enemy. The Hawk and the Dove asks that we face the full human toll of war: the military and civilian casualties and the psychologically wounded as well. This book demands our attention." Army Colonel Jack Jacobs (retired), recipient of The Congressional Medal of Honor, CNBC military analyst and author of his Viet Nam war memoire, If Not Now, When with Douglas Century.

"By turns humorous and tragic, Roland Glenn's richly detailed and compellingly written memoir of war and peace vividly recreates a small-town youth's transformation into a man and leader of men on the horrific killing fields of Okinawa. His fascinating account of involvement in the repatriation of thousands of Japanese soldiers from Korea sheds light on a significant but little-known chapter in postwar U.S. military history." Paul Siff, Ph.D., Associate Professor of History, Sacred Heart University

The reward of a well written book is to have written it. Roland Glenn's newly published offering, "The Hawk and The Dove", is not only a poignant tribute to the author's marvelous story telling abilities and amazing recall, it is a reward for his readers as well. Throughout this beautifully crafted book, they are able to follow the author's journey as a young 20 year old US army infantryman from a small, rural Pennsylvania town to the killing fields of Okinawa and the last bloody battle of World War Two in the Pacific. From there it was on to Korea, where he was assigned as an officer to take part in the repatriation of the Japanese, the very soldiers he had been trained to kill in the war and then ordered to befriend and help.

Written from the heart, courageous, poignant, poetic at times, sometimes humorous, but more often than not bravely facing the devastating toll of war, its carnage, and the unspeakable personal desolation born of killing other human beings , this marvelous book should be read.

Roland Glenn's story of how he fought his personal demons, nightmares and flashbacks after returning home and for most of his civilian life tells of his need for psychological help throughout the years for what is now called Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, PTSD. His revelations are made in an effort to assist and befriend returning servicemen from Iraq and Afghanistan who are suffering from it and need help.

----Elizabeth Cavage, mother of five, grandmother of ten and the widow of a deceased US Navy Veteran, World War II