Boy Soldier: Coming of Age During World War II (Hardcover)

~ P.E. Russell E. McLogan (Author) "I never expected to be in the Army-especially as a combat soldier..." (more)
Key Phrases: defective color perception, replacement depot, World War, Camp Hood, United States (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

...a fascinating account of an 18-year-old rifleman who joined K Company, 63rd Infantry Regiment during some of the 6th Infantry Division's bitterest fighting...Read this story by putting yourself in the place of this patriotic, dedicated youth who was motivated to perform his duty in this battle hardened rifle company...Russ McLogan was a member of the few among millions of soldiers--the combat infantrymen who spearheaded the war--dragging along behind them the huge, often cumbersome superstructure of the reat of the Army. [This] is the story of the elite, the combat infantry, and he was one of those who survived to tell us about it. Colonel Arndt L. Mueller, USA (RETD) 3rd Battalion Commander during World War II

On April 14, 1945, Russell E. McLogan joined Company K of the 63rd Infantry...one of the many youngsters coming into the company...to fill the void left by casualties. Many of these boys, hardly out of high school, were soon shot. McLogan himslf got it on June 21, but fortunately survived to return home, have a family and in retirement write a history of his war experiences....He is a born researcher, a peruser of archives, an historian. John L. Munschaer, K Company Platoon Leader and Author in World War II Cavalcade: An Offer I Couldn't Refuse, Sunflower University Press, 1996

Many people have been aspiring writers, but few have become real writers. Russell McLogan is a real writer. John Klein, Publisher, Community Plus+ Magazine upon awarding him first prize for the best short story in the 1996 fiction contest. -- Publisher Comments

Product Description

It is said that in order to completely understand a man you should probe the world as it existed when he was 19 or 20 years old--at the moment he became mature and autonomous as a man. Russell McLogan has done just that in this well-written autobiography. Drafted out of college at age 18 in 1944, he was trained as a rifleman and then sent to the Philippines as an infantry replacement. There he joined the battle hardened 6th Infantry Division on the Shimbu Line near Manila. Wounded in combat in northern Luzon, he spent 89 days in Army hospitals on Luzon and Leyte. When the atomic bomb abruptly ended the war, he was returned to duty just in time to sail off to Korea where he served in the Army of Occupation. Boy Soldier is about a young man's coming of age during this period of tremendous historical change. It includes much well-researched history of the Army's replacement training system, the Liberation of the Philippines, the dropping of the atomic bombs, the American-Russian occupation of Korea, and the Army's post-war demobilization--the people, places, and events that shaped a young life. Although written in a scholarly mode with endnotes, bibliography and index, it is very readable with the humor, violence, sexual situations and sometimes raw language as it actually happpened. Text is supplemented with 72 illustrations and 15 maps.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 432 pages
• Publisher: Terrus Press (December 7, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0966344405
• ISBN-13: 978-0966344400
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #857,410 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Book Does A Great Job, May 1, 2000

By	Bud Vear (Hillsdale, MI) - See all my reviews

I just finished reading "Boy Soldier by Russ McLogan and I recommend it to anyone who is from that generation, anyone who has been in the service or anyone interested in history. Russ worked nine years on the book, although he denies that it was work. He has always enjoyed history, so he says the was merely doing what he enjoys. The book is a remarkable review of the Pacific Theater in World War II, especially the Philippine Liberation and his persistent research has uncovered interesting campaign strategies by both the United States and Japan, while weaving through this war-history the feelings and experiences of a young, naive high school graduate who is trained as a foot soldier and sent to muddy foxholes thousands of miles from his Detroit home to help win the war. Russ reflects on the atomic bomb from the honest and innocent viewpoint of a 19-year-old soldier who longs for home - without all the moral theology of post-war classroom discussions. He has done an amazing job of recalling his feelings, his experiences and his fellow soldiers 50-plus years later. I was concered that the book would be cumbersome (potential publishers had wanted to significantly shorten it), but I found it both interesting and compelling reading, and I highly recomment it.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Boy Soldier is well written and realistic., March 11, 1999

By A Customer

Boy Soldier vividly gives the reader insight into the thoughts and emotions of an eighteen year old boy thrust into the infantry in World War II. The author is remarkable in his ability to recall the feelings of the "Boy Soldier." Each chapter flowed into the next chapter connecting the events of this great war in the Pacific and capturing the interest of the reader.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Phenomenal account of a life caught up in the whirlwind!, March 12, 2001

By	Paul H. (Michigan) - See all my reviews

I had the honor of meeting Mr. McLogan at a book signing where his reading honestly convinced me to buy this book. I now cherish the signed copy I own. This book is exceptionally well written which honestly surprised me, Mr. McLogan is an engineer by trade (so am I). The writing is dynamic, captivating, vivid and sensory. This is an exceptional autobiography combining memories and official documents. This is a phenomenally written book about the life of a young man caught up in the turbulent 40's. That being said, this is not a war book, this is a book about a man's life. Mr. McLogan does not dwell on the time he spent in combat, but does cover that period as well. This book details his life before he was drafted, what training and traveling with the army was like, his wounding, recovery, and as an occupational soldier in Korea after the war and finally going home again. Mr. McLogan does not try to make himself a hero, and in my opinion, he doesn't have to, he simply is.
I have found no better written personal account of a young American's life during the war. This book took my breath away literally; especially the parts where the author reminisces about walking hand in hand with a high school sweetheart while sitting in a foxhole in the Philippines. Mr. McLogan was lucky enough to survive the ordeal and went on to be truly one of the heroes I have always looked up to. Not a war monger or a violent person, but simply a young man who answered his countries call, did his duty, stood his ground and came back and built a life for himself. I only wish my grandfather had written this book!