2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
True Report of Army Life in WWII, February 8, 2006
Mr. Obermayer's book is an excellent read. The chapters feature a summary and then copies of Mr. Obermayer's letters to his family during World War II.
What makes Mr. Obermayer's story interesting is that he was a young man who didn't like the Army, but did his best to serve his country.
Every since the movie "Saving Private Ryan," and the book "The Greatest Generation," the public has viewed WWII veterans as people who were on a crusade. "Soldiering for Freedom" brings back the facts of 1940 military life we've forgotten. He describes:
* The hurry up and wait so common to military operations.
* The dependence on rumors for information and the concurrent frustration of not knowing what's happening.
* The forming and training and then re-forming and retraining. He goes through a dizzying number of programs and units: college based technical training, Combat Engineer battalion, Airborne Engineer battalion, a medic in a Fuel line detachment, and legal clerk.
* The senseless and unfair rules: officer only facilities of higher quality than the enlisted men were provided, censor ship of his mail, working for officers and noncommissioned officers who had less intellegent and/or education than him, etc.
* The resentment and lack of support from liberated French people for the war effort.
This is a part of the Army and the war that use to be shown in the television show "Sergeant Bilko" or the "Sad Sack" comic books--Civilians with an uneasy alliance to military life who often spent their time in uniform doing the best with what little the Army gave them.
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Lessons from World War II, July 28, 2005
Mr. Obermayer brings vividly alive a GI's life in the final years of World War II in Europe and the occupation that followed. But he also finds lessons in that period that inform us today-- especially his insights into the ongoing conflict between the United States and France that had fertile roots in 1944 and 1945.
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Must read for all ages, May 12, 2005
This book is not only an excellent history lesson on WWII but it is a fascinating account of values applicable today such as family unity, education and patriotism. I am impressed at Mr. Obermayer's attention to detail, his astute observations for a young soldier at that time and especially at his commitment to daily letter writing to his parents. I have shared his writings with my children in hopes that they will adopt the same diligence when they leave the nest. There is much to enjoy and learn by reading "Soldiering for Freedom".
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