Customer Reviews

Shavetail: The Odyssey of an Infantry Lieutenant in World War II

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

 

 

The book is a very interesting set of personal recollections - some funny, some poignant, some harrowing. I recommend it!

The thing most impressive about this interesting book is the brutal honesty. No false vanity or ego here. He critiques the commanding generals and gives himself plenty of good licks too. I took basic infantry training in the Korean war and, fortunately, that was the end of the infantry for me. The book gives a very good feel for what it was like to be in the infantry. It was as bad as I had always imagined.

The most astonoshing thing I learned was that taking ROTC in high school could result in a direct commission. I had no idea that went on.

Its hard to describe the emotions I felt while reading this book.
This story is one man's remembrance of a war that cost the
"Greatest Generation" their youth, their innocence, and in all too many cases, their lives. Mr. Dewitt is very humble, but the
day to day life he describes while in the field, and advancing towards an unseen enemy, rings true. He continually asked himself, "Will I do the right thing?" vs. "Will I turn tail and run?" Most alive today have never dealt with life or death situations. As one who has read about danger but never really experienced, I can say - Yes, you did the right thing. Thank you for remembering how it was for us.

This book was only published about ten years ago, which I thought is interesting. It is so long after the end of the Second World War but the events are remembered in surprising detail. A psychiatrist might wonder at the delay (for this expurgation) but I guess other things happen and get in the way. I enjoyed the author's prose and his attitude of self-disclosure which lends an air of authenticity. It is amazing what is deemed a priority in terrible times yet years later he visits some of the locations where these battles happened. It is another world.