George Wilson (7)

A most excellent and vivid recollection of events by a man who's been through Hell and lived to tell the tale, If You Survive transports the reader from the comfort of their home into the frosty foxholes of the Battle of the Bulge, and the foggy, mine-ridden fields of Normandy with remarkable success.
Wilson grabs the reader’s attention from the get-go, and never lets it go. In a unique reading experience, the reader has a chance to follow Wilson and his company along their journey show more through Hitler’s Germany as they chase the soldiers of the Third Reich across the continent, and can’t help but imagine in terrible detail - thanks to the sparse, yet, poignant, and sometimes gut-wrenching prose of the author - the events that took place during those fateful months of all-out warfare. As it turns out, George Wilson not only showcased talent as a lieutenant in World War II, but also as a writer in its aftermath.
Full of horrible, gruesome scenes of war, and edge-of-your-seat thrill rides, this material is not for the faint of heart. Wilson drives home the point that Allied victory was made possible only by the courage and will of the individual soldier to carry out his order in the face of death, while emphasizing the added dimension of moral complexity that a commissioned officer had to face when he inevitably ordered his men to march into their own deaths.
A rather unexpected, but all the more welcome part of the book for me was the occasional well-placed, organically humorous passage depicting a scene out of the infantryman’s everyday life, tactfully interspersed in between chapters of some of the heavier material that the reader will probably encounter in their lifetime.
However unlikely - considering the subject material, - this book is as much about love and respect as about wrath and grudges, showcasing the full palette of human emotion. Above all, the author makes the reader think, and forces them to practice their sense of empathy. The book makes one wonder what they would do, if they were in the soldier’s shoes. Would they crumble under the pressure or hold fast?
The book sends you off with an important message; a reminder of the fragility and importance of peace, in hopes that in the future, no one will be forced to answer such questions to themselves. show less

"If you survive your first day, I'll promote you."

So promised George Wilson's World War II commanding officer in the hedgerows of Normandy -- and it was to be a promise dramatically fulfilled. From July, 1944, to the closing days of the war, from the first penetration of the Siegfried Line to the Nazis' last desperate charge in the Battle of the Bulge, Wilson fought in the thickest of the action, helping take the small towns of northern France and Belgium building by building.

Of all the men show more and officers who started out in Company F of the 4th Infantry Division with him, Wilson was the only one who finished. In the end, he felt not like a conqueror or a victor, but an exhausted survivor, left with nothing but his life -- and his emotions. show less

This is one infantry officer's memoir, from June 1944 to May 1945, from Normandy to Germany. George Wilson is unique in that he survived, most of his comrades who landed in Normandy never made it as they were killed or wounded along the way. Wilson has a lot of good stories (I was reminded of scenes from the movie The Big Red One). He often focuses on personal and tactical mistakes and so it's a useful book for those seeking battle lessons and consequences. I think he survived because he was show more always defensively considering the enemies next move and didn't let his guard down, and he let his mind control his emotions (standing straight up during tree-bursts for example when others naturally lay prone and became more exposed). Overall this is the best memoir of this theater I have read, it is obviously comparable to Band of Brothers which lacks the single POV cohesion this book has. show less

The personal story of Lt. George Wilson, one of the "Ninety-Day Wonders," who fought with the Fourth Infantry Division from July 1944 to the end of the war. He was in combat for so long eating K-Rations that during a stint in a hospital in England he had to be fed a soft diet until he readjusted to a normal diet. A man of exceptional character and responsibility, Lt. Wilson very quickly rose from the position of raw recruit to squad leader to platoon leader to company commander toward the show more end of the war. Inexplicably he was never granted the captaincy that he earned through eight months of continual frontline combat in Normandy, the Hurtgen Forest, the Battle of the Bulge and beyond. Lt. Wilson is a good storyteller and writes with modesty, graciousness and humor. show less