Between North and South: The Letters of Emily Wharton Sinkler, 1842-1865 Book

First person memoirs provide some of the most informative and interesting insights into the nuts and bolts of serving in the Armed Forces in wartime. Spencer Wurst weaves such a compelling tale. Joining the 28th Infantry Division of the Pennsylvania National Guard at the age of 15 before the outbreak of hostilities, he had two solid years of military experience when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. In the rapid expansion of the Army that was to follow, he was made an NCO and training instructor in the 112th Infantry Regiment.

Disenchanted at the low quality of the draftees he was charged to train and the bureaucracy of the Army that prevented him from a desired transfer overseas, he volunteered for both the paratroopers and for OCS. He was determined to accept whichever transfer was approved first and thus became a paratrooper.

Wurst takes the reader through his training at the Parachute School at Fort Benning, Georgia and through his early assignments in various stateside paratrooper units. Still desiring an overseas assignment and making a nuisance of himself in the process, he was eventually transferred to the 82nd Airborne Division just as it shipped out to North Africa in 1943.

He was assigned to a "casual" unit that would serve as replacements for the first casualties suffered by the division. As such he missed the Sicilian Campaign but was ultimately assigned to F Company, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment. From that point on, Wurst was in the middle of the action. With three combat jumps and two Purple Hearts, he served bravely in Italy, Normandy, Holland and the Battle of the Bulge. He was an NCO and a grizzled combat leader before the age of 20.

This is a poignant story with a great deal of "inside baseball" about how the paratrooper brass and the men functioned throughout the War. It is also a tale of commitment, dedication and love of country. Only America can produce fine young men to fight its battles with the humility of the likes of Spencer Wurst.