Customer Reviews

We Were Innocents: An Infantryman in Korea

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

First, this book is very well written and an enjoyable read. Dr. Dannenmaier's style is informal and engaging. It also offers a very good description of the many petty aspects of military life: the pointless regimentation, the boredom, the friendship, and the physical discomfort and depravation.

I would have given the book a five-star rating but for one serious flaw. I found the author reluctant to discuss the horrors of war that he surely experienced. Even his account of the battle for Outpost Harry is oddly detached, detached and vague in a way the rest of the book is whenever the subject is the violence of war. Although Dr. Dannenmaier is very articulate and detailed in his descriptions of the mundane aspects of military life and his judgments about the men he served with, he is almost silent about the experiences that so obviously traumatized him when he came home.

His life after the war offers what we would call today an instance of "post-traumatic stress syndrome." While he describes horrible headaches, concern over his irrational feelings of rage, and an almost sociopathic regard for human life that he dealt with after the war, he says very little about the experiences that led him feel this way. In one touching scene he describes being near to tears when confronted with the first hot meal of good food in a warm, dry, and safe environment in months as he prepared to come home. At the same time, he describes his feelings upon learning the war was over this way: "I never felt more desolate or empty in my life. My meaning was gone, my life was without purpose."

This is a fascinating contradiction. Dr. Dannenmaier was clearly damaged by his experiences during the war, and yet, at the time, he found those experiences exhilarating, a true source of meaning and value. Though I can't know, the explanation for this contradiction must lie in the horror of what he experienced. A book that purports to be an honest account of wartime experience should have dealt with this seriously and honestly. The author does not. For example, we never even learn whether the author killed anyone during in the war. Yet, we are regularly treated to detailed discussions of the minutia of daily life on the line.

I whole-heartedly recommend the book for what is does well. But I can't help but think that there's only half a book here. But what a half. . . .

Bravo!!! This is one good book. At one time I read a lot of the 'my personal point of view' vietnam books and this is better than those. They all had a discernable 'hook' or angle which was entertaining but also tried to masquerade as substance and didn't quite pull it off. Dannenmaier's story is substance. Innocents is a simple and straightforward account of a real experience in war and it rings so true.... I am not so much impressed as thankful for the enlightenment of this experience - one I came close to but didn't have.

Thanks to the author for writing it and sharing his life with us. It is a heroic thing to do - getting what is inside of you out and letting us all see it.

True to his generation, Dannenmaier provides a literary bridge between the selfless hero typified in books like Robert Graves' "Goodbye to All That" and the highly personalized horror of the Vietnam narratives. The steps in his transformation from innocent boy to warrior-killer are marked by reprinted letters sent to his sister, which become steadily shorter and more circumspect as the book continues, and process of war claims the author. Dannenmaier's story provides a transparent, touching, and often humorous treatise on the ancient subject of war and the young man.

This book is a must-read for anyone interested in history as told through the eyes of an individual. I have always found history texts very difficult to read because they tend to be just a presentation of facts. Mr. Dannenmaier weaves the Korean War and his personal experiences into a well- written book. And there's a lot to be said for comic relief!

The Korean War has sometimes been labelled the "Forgotten War," lying as it does between the titanic conflict of World War II and the contentious struggle in Vietnam. For many Americans today, the term "Korean War" only brings to mind episodes from the television series MASH--a fact deeply resented by veterans of this savage fight that cost almost as many American combat deaths in three years as the Vietnam War did in ten. True, within the past few years, the Korean War has begun to creep back into the public eye. From the belated dedication in the nation's capital of a Korean War memorial to a spate of books and a (most controversial) television series, the conflict is finally attracting attention as a watershed event in its own right. It remains the only occasion since 1945 in which the armies of two great powers have met on the battlefield. It is filled with military drama (e.g. the destruction of Task Force Smith; the United Nations drive to the Yalu) and an extraordinary cast of characters, such as Harry Truman, Douglas MacArthur, and Matthew Ridgway. Largely missing from the recent literature has been the story of the soldier, sailor, and airman--an absence all the more curious because one of the most prominent trends in recent military history has been a sharpened focus on the human being confronting the chaos of war. It is here that William Dannenmaier's manuscript promises to make a decided contribution. Based largely on letters that Dannenmaier wrote to family members during the conflict, the memoir skillfully weaves these primary documents with the author's later analysis to make an account that is often captivating in its immediacy and thought-provoking in its reflectiveness. A highlight at one end of this spectrum is the author's riveting description of the brutal fight for Outpost Harry. In the broader sphere, the author's observations on the reaction of fighting men to the challenges of combat and to the incredibly harsh environment present the reader with certain eternal verities. The fact that Dannenmaier's comrades came from a society that seemed largely unconcerned with or even dismissive of them --when coupled with the reality that even their own army was all too often indifferent to their fate--adds poignancy to this story. Transparently honest, occasionally touching, and frequently humorous, "The Korean War: A Citizen-Soldier's Reality" is war literature of a high order.

Having read several Civil War, World War II and Vietnam autobiographies (e.g Seven Roads to Hell) I found this one to be among the best. Easy to read and interesting from beginning to end. I wholeheartedly give it 5 stars and recommend it for any history buff.

Fantastic book.I passed this book to a friend and he loved it as much as i did.I would love talkimg to the author.