Normandy 1944: A Young Rifleman's War

This is the Battle of Normandy, neither glamorized nor sanitized, as seen from ground level during the bloody summer of 1944—the personal experiences of an 18-year-old 4th Infantry Division rifleman who joined his company shortly after D-Day. He quickly came to admire and respect the men of G Company, then was close by as one by one many of them died during the horrific fighting in the fields and streets of a normally beautiful and tranquil land. Here are the realities of that war: opening the casualty blanket rolls, seeing the dead being buried in mattress covers, the sounds, the smells and the fears of men in infantry combat. A glimpse, too, of the boys who fought the battles of World War II as they grew up or matured during the Great Depression, the rigors of infantry basic training, life in England in the weeks leading up to D-Day.