It's this:
Dig In! An Infantryman's Journal is Bob (Mongo) Fallon's father's story of his journeys in World War II, from 1943 to 1946. An awful lot of it is funny, and a lot of awful bits are harrowing, and a lot of them are both.
There is (just for one part chosen at random) an account of an attack on the outskirts of Hagen, Germany, that turns bad quickly, "bogged down in a rain of heavy mortar fire." Timothy Fallon rushes off the road with the other men, taking cover in a cemetery, "behind a good thick headstone," just in time as heavy machine gun fire rakes the area.
The whole attack became a shambles. We couldn't move forward, and the shelling was obviously so well directed that it would follow us all the way in. Men were being hit right and left. The fellow next to me was spattered with fragments all through his legs and hips. I dragged him back of my headstone (and it was beginning to look as though it would really become my headstone), pulled his pants down, and tried to bandage him up a bit. His legs were drenched with blood.A Platoon is ordered to take out a building being used to direct fire for the enemy, and our hero's Platoon is sent. I won't give away the rest of this one story, except to say that one paragraph is a terrible example of what happens in war, and the very next is hilarious. Every bit of it has the ring of truth.
I highly recommend the book, especially with Memorial Day almost upon us. Don't let the day be all about the hamburgers and hot dogs -- although Mongo might insist that there be beans.
⭐🗽⭐🗽⭐🗽⭐
On another barely related note, Lileks commenters are familiar with the strange work of Flangepart, who regularly produces covers for books and albums that don't exist. I've been honored to be included, with a fictional band called the Fred Key Trio. My favorite so far:
Who wouldn't want to listen to that? Well, anyone, if you knew that my musical background is more checkered than the tablecloths above. And I can't lead a trio; even the dogs don't listen to me and I own them. Anyway, it's always nice to be mentioned on an album with Robot on the cover.
You gotta love Flangey but he's kind of an acquired taste. When I first encountered him at the Bleat, I wondered Who is this nut bent on taking over the comments with weird irrelevant memes? Someone would would make a serious comment and suddenly, there's John Cleese or Lloyd Bridges saying "Ha, this guy's an idiot!" He got better when he started making book and album covers. I consider it an honor every time I get Flanged! Also, I get some payback being an occasional spellchecker.
ReplyDelete"Dig In" is a fine read, & I enjoyed it immensely.
ReplyDeleteI suspect many Bleatniks get a charge from being name-checked in Flangey's creations.
"We've suffered for our music, & now it's your turn." - The Fred Key Trio
Thanks for the kind words, Fred!
ReplyDeleteFlangepart's stuff makes me smile more often than not.
Now you've done it ;-)
ReplyDelete"not mike" -- Don't you mean "naughty mike"?
ReplyDelete