Customer Reviews

Storming Ashore: One Soldier's Adventures in the First Engineer Special Brigade 1942-1945 Including D-Day

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A gripping story of and by a living example of the "Greatest Generation". As an Air Force officer who flew bombing missions over Europe in World War II, I take my hat off to Ken Garn who stormed ashore in the greatest and possibly the most dangerous invasion of all time.

Joshua T. Winstead, Jr Colonel USAF (Ret.)

The appeal of Ken Garn's account for me is that this is the definitive account of the enlisted man's WW II told by an enlisted man. There are many stories and histories by historians and retired generals, but they gloss over what the man under fire on the beach was thinking about. The story telling is straightforward, personable and engaging.

A good read, given the rising interest in WWII. An amazingly detailed memoir of a man who survived four assault landings and seven campaigns in a special engineer unit which prepared invasion beaches for troop landing, including D-Day. It resonated with this vet of that war, but others will find it compelling as well.

My dad was in the 531st and as many soldiers did, only touched on a few thing's here and there. This book put's all the pieces together. I knew that his unit was important but, "DARN". I really recommend this book to anyone who wondered just what the hell these guy's did.

Super movies have been made covering the big picture of WWII. Garn's book gives you the rest of the story, the daily life of the engineers in and out of the battlefront. Written with explicit detail covering the daily routine of the average soldier, before and after the battle. A must read!

Amazing that this book commands a USED price of one-thousand dollars. I realize it's out of print...but c'mon...really? WoW!!! Someone is dreaming.

I read the book "Storming Ashore" because I am a very close friend to a man who was in an Engineer Combat Shore Battalion similar to the authors, and followed the authors same track through WWII. My friend, who landed at Omaha Beach in the first wave, is still alive (20 March 2010) and I have pleaded with him to write down or record his memoirs. From his stories and the authors, you get a strikingly similarpicture of bravery, duty, and courage. But from their own mouths they were not heroes, just guys doing what they were trained to do. I gave my copy of the book to him, with hopes he will be inspired to write his story down.

You get a very enlightened view of their saga in an Army Engineer Combat Regiment from start of training to finish and his release from the army, including Kenneth Garns many return trips to France and England after the war to visit the people and the places they fought for.

If you have interest in DDAY and WWII history at all, get this book for your records. You won't be sorry.

By the way, I finished the book on 20 May 2010. I Googled Mr. Garn in Sarasota Florida, only to find his obituary. He died two days before I finished the book. Another great loss for their family and our nation.

God rest you, Corporal Garn.

I found this book while searching WWII books looking for information on my fatherinlaw. I was elated to find this book. We had scattered paperwork that mentioned he belonged to the 53st and we had his letters home. But we knew nothing about the engineers. How they formed, where they trained, where they went to battle. This book surely helped us find our way. From Mr. Garn's book we learned that he was with the first battalion as he moved inland with the Rangers in North Africa. My copy is so much highlighted and dogeared that I'm thinking of getting another copy just to put on the bookcase. Great read for those that want to know about the 531st Engineers.