Combat Engineer: A World War II Memoir

What was it like to be in a combat engineer unit during World War II? This memoir is a first-person account of the US Army 1308th Engineers written by James Louis Christopulos. He was with the unit from its formation in Fort Sutton, North Carolina through training in England, the Normandy invasion, the Battle of the Bulge and a lengthy voyage through the Panama Canal to the Pacific Front. The unit was in Okinawa, prepared to take part in the invasion of Japan, when the war ended. They then survived a typhoon at sea in a flat-bottomed transport ship between Okinawa and Korea. This is not a technical book, though it does describe some materials and events in detail. Instead, it is told as a story for a veteran's children and grandchildren. The author was a young man from Wyoming who was caught up in world events and proud to be an American officer. It is filled with stories of the people he met. Some were famous - like Gen. George Patton and future Korean president Syngman Rhee. Most were not. They were soldiers and civilians on three continents. He thought he was invincible, except when his forward unit was decimated by a surprise German attack in December 1944 (Battle of the Bulge) and when his unit's flat-bottomed transport ship started coming apart at the seams during a typhoon between Okinawa and Korea in October 1945. "Some of the most important WWII memoirs in recent years aren't from commanding generals and heads of state. They come from the perspective of the 'little guy, ' the participant not mentioned in the broader history books. James Christopulos was one of these - only one combat engineer in a massive war. But his insightful and perceptive recollections of WWII, in both Europe and the Pacific, add a needed voice to the historical record - one to which we should listen." John D. Long, Director of Education, National D-Day Memorial, Bedford, VA