Alamosa Public Library

History of life as it was lived during the Depression and Wold War II comes alive and is preserved in people's own words. Photographs and time lines also commemorate important dates and events. Starting with the Depression and Pearl Harbor, moving on through the war years in Europe, in the Pacific, and at home, this unique books preserves a people's rich historical heritage.

These writings create an unforgettable portrait of life in wartime that continues to resonate with truth and humanity.

They were called Easy Company, but their mission was never easy. Immortalized as the Band of Brothers, they suffered 150% casualties while liberating Europe, an unparalleled record of bravery under fire. Dick Winters was their commander, and this is his story based on his wartime diary. Only Winters was present from the activation of Easy Company until the war's end. On D-Day, Dick Winters parachuted into France and assumed leadership of the company...

"By the end of World War II much of Western Europe was in chaos. The future of our world had been contested here, in the hinterlands of France and across the German plains. But what's become of the battlefields now? Or the people that lived on them? And is there any trace of the 2.7 million Americans who smashed their way into the Reich (or the 12 million who followed)? With questions like these, the award-winning travel writer, John Gimlette, sets...

The thunderous roar of exploding depth charges was a familiar and comforting sound to the crew members of the USS Barb, who frequently found themselves somewhere between enemy fire and Davy Jones's locker. Under the leadership of her fearless skipper, Captain Gene Fluckey, the Barb sank the greatest tonnage of any American sub in World War II. At the same time, the Barb did far more than merely sink ships - she changed forever the way submarines stalk...

Following 9/11, a small band of Special Forces soldiers secretly entered Afghanistan and rode to war on horseback against the Taliban. Outnumbered forty to one, they pursued the enemy across the mountainous terrain and captured the strategic city of Mazari-Sharif. The bone-weary Americans were welcomed as liberators, and overjoyed Afghans thronged the streets. Then the action took an unexpected turn: the Horse Soldiers were ambushed.

In the Soldiers' Story, the author gathers the candid reminiscences of 76 men who survived combat in Vietnam. The oral history conveys the hardships, friendships, fears, and personal triumphs of Marine, Army, Air Force and Navy vets--each of them shares their memories that linger still to this day.

This true account follows twenty-three Marines of First Recon, in a platoon that spearheaded the blitzkrieg on Iraq. This elite unit, nicknamed "First Suicide Batallion", took the fight directly to the enemy by racing ahead of American battle forces, literally driving into suspected ambush points from the opening days of the invasion until the fall of Baghdad.

This anthology consists of 208 letters, poems, clippings, and diary entries written by American servicemen in Vietnam. Contains letters adn poems written to families and friends by soldiers expressingtheir homesickness and the horrors of war.