Foot Soldier: A Combat Infantryman's War In Europe

What was daily life like for a lowly infantryman during the last year of World War II in the European theater? Foot Soldier, Roscoe C. Blunt's memoir, tells us with unadorned candor. "Rockie" Blunt, a front line soldier with the 84th Infantry Division, fought in the Roer and the Battle of the Bulge. He suffered frostbite, severe trauma, killed many enemy soldiers, and was, briefly, taken prisoner. Blunt concentrates on the quotidian: digging foxholes in frozen earth, sleeplessness, meager meals, shelterless winter bivouacs, and exhausting marches. By the war's end, Blunt is less disturbed by the sight of battlefield dead than he is elated by the discovery of fresh-baked baguettes. Foot Soldier, self-effacing and infused with a healthy skepticism about "the brass," is a rough-edged marriage of Studs Terkel's Working and Stephen Crane's The Red Badge of Courage. --H. O'Billovitch