Customer Reviews

Parachute Infantry: An American Paratrooper's Memoir of D-Day and the Fall of the Third Reich (Dell War Series)

5 star:		(44)
4 star:		(25)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

then this is an excellent book. David Webster is at times introspective, bitter, proud, angry and, like all combat troops, depressed and frightened. On more than one occasion the reader wonders why he volunteered in the first place. But his story is so convincingly told, so personal, that the reader experiences the same conflicting emotions. This narrative of a paratroop over Normandy and beyond, fills a gap left in most other accounts of the airdrop on the western flank of Overlord. Webster masterfully moves the reader with him, dressing out for the big jump. Assignments are reviewed, equipment is explained in detail, the movement of men on to the tarmac by truck, the numbness over the Channel, the searchlights probing the night skies and, finally before the jump, the hellish flack. Realism is maintained throughout the work as much of it was based on letters written during the war and recollections reduced to writing shortly after the war.

This book and bits of it are mentioned in Stephen Ambrose's excellent "Band of Brothers".

David Kenyon Webster's personal account of the D-day invasion and the fall of the Third Reich is beautifully written and completely captivating. Though he did jump in Normandy on D-Day, and saw the war to the end, his actual combat experience was somewhat limited. He recalls only one definite kill, a retreating German soldier who was thought to be a runner. Webster admits that this action was one of the few times he ever fired his rifle in combat. For Webster, the real war was fought inside his mind, as he tried to find a personal acceptance and justification for being in the army and fighting in WWII. He starts the text by stating that in a letter to his mother, he tells her that the Germans must be brutally beaten and destroyed in their homeland, for that was the only way to ensure that they would never again try to wage war on the world. He later changes his mind by saying that he never believed in the war, and that the army was the most ineffeciantely run organization in the world. After liberating the concentration camps, Webster again admits that the war was necessary. He also toils with his love-hate relationship with the army. Though he constantly cursed the army, he closes by saying that he would not trade his experience for anything in the world. He was glad to be a part of WWII. Webster had his reasons for hating the army, but it should be noted that thousands of other soldiers felt that their military life was very gradifying and comfortable, and they were glad to have the experience. Many WWII soldiers say that the army (service) made them better people. With a negative and sometimes hateful tone, Webster vividly recounts his experiences. This book is a must read for anybody who is interested in learning what many soldiers were thinking and saying as they participated in the largest military invasion in history.

Kenyon, as he calls himself in his letters home, wrote a fascinating experience of the Second World War and the now legendary 506 PIR. This book differs from so many other first person texts in that it is written by a man with a fair amount of education prior to the war and based on the content of his letters home to his parents, Kenyon was not from a stereotypical 1930's family.
He doesn't write about incredibly fierce combat, indeed the most intense experience he relates is his experience in Holland. He claims to have only killed one German soldier for sure but, after seeing the Lager system, wishes he had killed more.
He has little love for the French, loved the Dutch and had a grudging respect for the German people. And his tales of his comrades and the friendships and intense loyalties with his squad mates make it clear what esprite de corps really arises from.
This book is masterfully written and a pleasure to read. After reading this text I am tempted to order Webster's book on sharks because I am sure it would be a pleasure to read.
If you like personal tales and are not looking for a definitive history of the 101st AirBorne (of which there are plenty written), then this book is as good as it gets.

If you have read and enjoyed Band of Brothers by Steven Ambrose and/or have seen the HBO mini-series, then this book is a must read! The author, David Kenyon Webster, is one of the "Band of Brothers" and is the main character in episode eight, "The Last Patrol". This book is a fast paced, sometimes humorous, and often moving account of the late Mr. Webster's experiences during WW II. If you can imagine reading "Band of Brothers" had it been wriiten by one of the participants, that will give you an idea of what this book is like. Some elements of the Band of Brothers mini-series were obviously taken directly from Mr. Webster's book, and I thought he should have received more recognition in the credits.
On another note, Mr. Webster could not get this book published while he was alive, because back then, publishers were looking for more "sensational" fictional war novels. What could be more sensational than jumping into France on D-day or jumping into Holland during Operation: Market-Garden? It was not published until 1994 during the revived public interest in WW II triggered by the 50th anniversery of D-Day.
Thank you Mr. Webster - we are in your debt!

This is one of the very best books I have read. Webster was an excellent writer and an excellent observer of the horrors of battle and the chickens--t so common in military organizations. I cannot see how anyone who read the book could rate it less than a five star effort. Seattleatty's comment that the book was incomplete because it doesn't deal with important actions like the Battle of the Bulge fails utterly to recognize the that this was a personal memoir of Webster's service. He made it very clear that he was recovering from his leg wound and awaiting reassignment during the Bulge (page 120). Since he was very honest, he didn't include that heroic action as a part of his book. What he did omit was his impressions of the concentration camp that was liberated by E company (it was part of the Dachau system). I believe this was because it was too painful to think about, let alone, write about.

I mourn Webster's far too early death, for he was a writer of a calibre far better than 99% of those being published today. Also, as an intellectual in a very non-intellectual setting, he was able to see the worst of war and being in the Army and translate what he saw into exquisite prose.

This book is one of my all time favorites because it deals honestly with the petty tyranies of the army. As Professor Paul Fussell pointed out in "Wartime", chickens--it was the organizational theme of the WW 2 army. I would enthusiastically recommend this book to anyone, most especially to all purveyors of chickens--t.

I liked this book. It was not the best reading ever, but it fills out more fully the story of the `Band of Brothers", the WWII exploits of E Company of the 101st Airborne division. It is one of several books that came out after the success of "Band of Brothers".

To read "Parachute Infantry" is to look at the flip side of the story of E Company.

David Kenyon Webster, a Harvard student, was not an original member of E Company at Toccoa, jumping on D-Day as a member of the HQ Company.

He later joined and became a completely unaccomplished member of E Company, and had a very limited role in its storied successes during WWII. He was a self-admitted "goldbrick", and refused to volunteer for anything. He was not a coward but did have a strong sense of self-preservation which served to severely limit his opportunities for doing anything heroic.

Webster barely seems to have even gotten to know Major Dick Winters, the central character of E Company in the BoB story. Throughout his time with E Company, Webster was so good at keeping his head down that he rarely was able to see the bigger picture of what his unit was trying to accomplish beyond a very tightly focused small objective.

Webster would end his autobiography of his WWII experience with this lament: "I have accomplished nothing, achieved no rank, seen almost no action".

Why would anybody interested in WWII, in the story of E Company, be interested in this book? Why would Stephen Ambrose be so interested in it that he would help get it published in 1994, after it had been initially rejected in the 1950's, when it was first written?

For BoB aficionados, it does fill out some more details about several members of E Company, such as Joe Liebgott, Donald Hoobler, Burton Christenson, George Luz, John Janovek, Ronald Speir, Lieutenant Thomas Peacock, and the Camera Killer Lieutenant.

The other books about E Company concentrate on the most active members of E Company, the "heroes", the "killers" (Dick Winters's term). This book is about the other guys in the company, the faceless GIs of E Company who were only trying to get by and survive the war. And to that extent, this book is full of the rich details of the daily grind and trivia of Army life during WWII. We get abundant details about food and Army rations out in the field, about the cooks, about the looting, about the sex, about the civilians in the countryside.

We find out additional details such as the fact that towards the end of the war, George Luz had left E Company to go to the HQ Company.

From this book came the scene of German prisoners being shot by the roadside by a French soldier (Webster's account is much more striking than the movie version - you'll have to read it), as well as the scene of Webster chatting with the German MP at the roadside checkpoint from the HBO series.

Other scenes from the HBO series involving David Webster are not in this book, and so it remains unclear whether these came only from the imagination of the writers. These include the conversations between Webster and Joe Liebgott in the truck (where Liebgott talks about his dreams after the war is over), Webster's rant at the passing columns of surrendering German soldiers, the scene at the concentration camp involving Webster and Liebgott, and Webster's involvement in the Last Patrol (he actually stayed in one of the outposts to cover the patrol while Liebgott went as the translator - Webster's account does have a more detailed description of what happened to the dying German soldier left behind by the American raiding party). The HBO depiction of Webster getting snubbed by E Company members when he rejoins them is completely contrary to his account of a warm reception by E Company in this book.

It was good to read this book to find out more about what was true and what was Hollywood in the scenes involving Webster, and to get such a different viewpoint of "Band of Brothers" beside the ones focusing on the heroes of E Company.

This was a book written well before its time. The ethos of the 1950s simply could not handle its raw honesty about life in the military. It is not unlike "Jarhead", a book about the first Iraq War, and it also is similar to many other Vietnam era and post-Vietnam era war autobiographies.

The only part that's really different, that has changed completely, is that this book describes a time when students at elite universities like Harvard would volunteer to serve with the military, with the paratroopers of the U.S. Army.

This was a very real view of what day to day life was for the average man in the parachute infantry. David Webster was able to perfectly reflect his feelings from elation to despair. His memoirs really complement the wider view which is represented in so many WW2 writings. This book also gave further insight into E Co. 506 PIR that we have all come to know so well through Stephen Ambrose's Band of Brothers.

Following the success of the book and TV series Band of Brothers, several autobiographies of surviving members have come out enabling the men to tell their own stories.
Arranged on a book shelf they make very good reading, but David Webster's Parachute Infantry should stand out because of when it was written in the 1950's, decades before Stephen Ambrose made E company, 506 PIR of the 101st Airborne Division famous.

Later books enlarge upon or correct what Ambrose wrote or what was shown in the TV series, but Webster, who died in 1961, had none of that. He was just telling his story. He also wrote it less than 20 years after the events happened when he was still in the prime of life and years had less time to cloud memories.

As do all the autobiographies he enlarges upon some details that others have mentioned and gives further details of some members who are not around to tell their own tale. Such as more examples of Liebgott really not being trustworthy around German prisoners,exactly WHY Lt. Peacock was the officer everyone was glad to be rid of and probably the best description of Captain Nixon's behavior when other books describe him as either a rude drunk or fearless under fire depending on how the author knew him.

As a soldier, Webster was, by his own admission, a slacker. In a company of men who famously apologized for being wounded or broke out of hospitals while still wounded, to rejoin their mates, Webster reports he proudly did the least required of him to get by. To his credit he admits this. He tells it to you in his story and that before Easy Company he had served in Fox Company, where his attitude got him thrown out.

This probably explains why he had trouble selling the book in his lifetime. Webster wrote his book during the 1950's in the golden age of American grandeur. People did not want to read about some guy who hated the army, officers and fate. They wanted glory and heroism. Had Webster lived another 10 years his book might well have been a best seller as veterans of Vietnam could learn their experiences with the Army were not unique but an on going issues an early generation of Americans had gone through. This did not happen, but luckily for us, Webster's book does survive for us to enjoy and learn from.

Ambrose said he was disappointed not to have had the chance to meet Webster. However, reading Webster's book, you wonder if he would have tried to play down Easy company's account of the war. Admittedly, he did not experience Bastogne, but he did take part in (and was injured in) the bayonet charge at Randwijk. Webster talks about a squad of Germans; Ambrose, 2 SS companies. Which is it? I am inclined to believe Webster. It took numerous attempts before his book was published. The reason? It was not sensational enough. Therefore, I believe it to be a true account. Webster was a reluctant soldier, but a good one. He did not shirk his duty. He had a healthy fear of death and did his utmost to survive the war. I am glad he did.

That's a sweeping statement, but I mean every word. Webster was a gifted writer, who could transport you with immediacy back to his experience in and out of combat. I couldn't put this book down. Reading it immediately after reading Band of Brothers had an incredible effect. It gave a personal face to the story so aptly told by the late Stephen Ambrose. Webster's book should qualify as a work of literature. The writing is that good! Webster deftly shifts between stream of consciousness and first person. His command of writing techniques exceeds my ability to describe it.

Much speculation has occurred about why this book was not published until almost 50 years after it was written. I think there are several reasons. First of all, the language, while relatively mild by 2004 standards, was quite strong for the late 1940's; in fact, I believe it was even sanitized for the first printing in 1994. The period immediately following WWII was a very different time, and Webster's ability to hit hard emotionally, coupled with the accurate, sometimes profane, language was probably too raw for the more genteel mid-1900's. Second, this book makes no pretense of being history. It entirely is a personal memoir, and if you look at what was published about WWII through the mid-60's, it was almost all history; most memoirs began cropping up after the mid-Sixties. Third, I think the writing is almost too good. Webster was a master wordsmith. His passages are sometimes so good that you will re-read them just for effect. I can think of relatively few books, no matter how well written, that can elicit that response. If you want to understand what an Airborne Trooper felt like during WWII, you can't find a better, more immediate and personal description than David Kenyon Webster's.