Love, War, and the 96th Engineers (Colored): The World War II New Guinea Diaries of Captain Hyman Samuelson [Hardcover]

Gwendolyn Hall (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 1995

These candid diaries and letters present with striking immediacy the experiences of Captain Hyman Samuelson, a young, white, Jewish officer in command of African-American troops in New Guinea, during World War II. His detailed, on-site account of issues rarely touched on in wartime literature - especially the dynamics between black troops and white officers and the unsung work of military engineers - unfolds side by side with the poignant, ultimately tragic, love story of Samuelson's wartime marriage and his wife Dora's fight against cancer. Expertly edited by Samuelson's niece, the award-winning historian Gwendolyn Midlo Hall, these diaries tell a moving story of personal sacrifice under difficult circumstances that included not only enemy attack, but also a segregated and unequal military structure.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The author of this diary was a civil engineer raised in Louisiana. The U.S. Army of WWII believed such a combination ideal for assignment to a segregated unit: white Southerners were considered better able than Northerners to "handle" blacks. The 96th Engineers (Colored) was a "general service" regiment whose missions included building docks and airfields, maintaining roads and defending its work against Japanese raiders. The 96th fought its war in the southwest Pacific, at the bottom of both the list for equipment and a racially determined pecking order. Samuelson's diary entries vividly depict the hardships of jungle war even when safely behind the front lines. They document as well a growing awareness of racial issues on the part of a young man who had previously accepted the existing order as a given. This work is a significant contribution to military history and ethnic studies. Hall is a history professor at Rutgers Univ. Photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Hall, best known for her work on slavery (Africans in Colonial Louisiana, Louisiana State Univ. Pr., 1992), has assembled a compelling collection of excerpts from her uncle's wartime diaries and letters to and from his wife, Dora, from the period October 1941 through 1944. What distinguishes this book from other World War II memoirs is that Samuelson was a white, Jewish Southerner serving as an officer in an African American engineering battalion. Thus it provides insight into race relations within the military as well as documenting the psychological, emotional, and physical demands of long-term service in the Pacific theater, even in noncombat units. However, the most revealing and poignant portions of the book concern Samuelson's relations with women, particularly his wartime bride. This is an illuminating account of the underside of the "good war." Recommended for academic libraries.?Patrick F. Callahan, St. John's Univ., Jamaica, N.Y.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 344 pages
• Publisher: University of Illinois Press; 1St Edition edition (October 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0252021797
• ISBN-13: 978-0252021794
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #501,467 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #42 in Books > History > Australia & Oceania > Papua New Guinea

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An honest account of love & war by an extraordinary man., January 9, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Love, War, and the 96th Engineers (Colored): The World War II New Guinea Diaries of Captain Hyman Samuelson (Hardcover)

What I never learned in school about World War II, I learned from this book. I recommend it highly to anyone, from the person who enjoys reading romance stories to history buffs....there is something here for everyone. Captain Samuelson's writings are honest and sometimes painful, as he probably never intended his diaries to be published, and I commend Ms. Midlo for presenting (and thereby preserving) a bit of U.S. history, as well as a story of an extraordinary man.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A uniquely human perspective of race, war and love., January 20, 1996

By A Customer

This review is from: Love, War, and the 96th Engineers (Colored): The World War II New Guinea Diaries of Captain Hyman Samuelson (Hardcover)

Contemperaneously made diaries and correspondence of Captain Hymie Samuelson, a young Jewish man from New Orleans, introduces the reader to the life of this soldier in the jungles of the South Pacific. The author matures before your eyes during the two and one-half years he leads a segregated engineering unit in New Guinea The tragedy of his personal life reminds us that war is fought by mere mortals.

3.0 out of 5 stars Lackluster scholarship, February 12, 2008

By 

nwOtter - See all my reviews

This review is from: Love, War, and the 96th Engineers (Colored): The World War II New Guinea Diaries of Captain Hyman Samuelson (Hardcover)

I very much enjoyed reading the diary and letters of Captain Samuelson and his wife Dora but the compiling editor provides no context for entries other than in brief endnotes and there are no third party observations. In the end she just lets the story of the 96th Battalion fade into oblivion. The title is a definite misnomer.

In addition there are inexcusable errors in the introduction which lead me to believe that Stephen Ambrose (quoted in a blurb) may have seen the archive material but never read the actual manuscript. The editor confuses General Benjamin O. Davis Sr. with his son. Davis earned his commission while an enlisted man and did not attend West Point. He was the only black line officer (not the only black officer) from 1929 to 1936 (when his son graduated West Point) not the only black officer from 1920 - 1940.

If you want to read this for it's glimpse into the life of a white officers view of the Army, get it at your library if you can, it's not worth spending money on if you are interested in the story of a black unit in WWII.