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Once An Eagle
In 1968, Anton Myrer, a Marine Corps veteran of WWII in the Pacific, wrote an epic war novel, "Once an Eagle," which became an instant best seller in the military. The two main characters represent two extremes of the types of people you meet in the military, with most of us somewhere in-between.
The hero, Sam Damon, is always being told to swallow his ethical code for the good of the service between bouts of physical and moral courage that we all wish we could emulate when the time comes. The villain, Courtney Massengale exemplifies the ticket punching careerist, climbing to the top of the army hierarchy over the dead bodies of his troops.
What no one seems to get is that ‘Sad Sam Damon’ failed his own code when he didn’t prefer charges against his corps commander, Massengale, who was responsible for the destruction of his division. Massengale broke his word when he took Damon’s reserve force and used it for a grandstand play while leaving Damon without the backup he was counting on. When Damon has a meeting with Massengale in the hospital after the battle, after some sparring, he asks him why, "Why did you do it?"
When Massengale claims it was all a misunderstanding, Damon fights back by saying that he has copies of the messages and witnesses. Massengale and he go back and forth, with Massengale threatening to ruin Damon’s career; then Massengale brings up the old bottom line, that Damon should drop it for the good of the service. Damon resists compliance until Massengale offers a unit citation for his division and reminds Damon that the war isn’t over.
Damon considers that his reconstituted division will have to fight again and if he is gone, who will lead them? Damon caves in and Myrer implies that in Damon’s doing so, we had Vietnam. I loved that book along with many other vets but it took three readings to see that Sam was just like the rest of us, willing to live with the lie and even tell it for the good of the service and his own career.179
I wrote this description of "Once an Eagle" in my book "Content with my Wages..."
The book’s author, Mr. Myrer said his combat service in World War II had the greatest impact on his life. ‘‘I enlisted imbued with a rather flamboyant concept of this country’s destiny as the leader of a free world and the necessity of the use of armed force,’’ he once wrote. ‘‘I emerged a corporal three years later in a state of
great turmoil, at the core of which was an angry awareness of war as the most vicious and fraudulent self-deception man had ever devised.’’ New York Times-MEL GUSSOW Published: January 23, 1996
- Paperback: 1312 pages
- Publisher: Harper Perennial Modern Classics; Reprint edition (March 12, 2013)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0062221620
- ISBN-13: 978-0062221629
- Product Dimensions: 5.3 x 2.1 x 8 inches
- Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
- Customer Reviews: 295 customer reviews
- Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #31,622 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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