Happy Thanksgiving

 

Currently

It's been a while since I've done one of these posts and what better time write one up then on my birthday. 30. I'm 30 people. I thought it would be awful as I'm still living at home, not married, no children, but to be honest, I'm really looking forward to entering my 30's. I'm not really considered a young adult and it's coming to a point where I'm not caring at all what people say or what I say to people. 

Goodreads Reviews: Parachute Infantry

Parachute Infantry: An American Paratrooper's Memoir of D-Day and the Fall of the Third Reich by David Kenyon Webster

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

After reading several other biographies of the Easy Company men, I noticed hardly any of them spoke about David Webster. Donald Malarkey considered him a terrible soldier and felt that his role in the mini-series was a waste. It is sad to read that there seems to be no love loss for David Webster who fought for his country and believed in the same ideals of freedom. Webster didn't sign up for the paratroopers for any general death defying purpose or to be with the best. Although an ardent patriot, Webster was a writer not a soldier. His part as a Screaming Eagle was to observe and record warfare and military, both of which he despised.

Born into a well to do family in New York, David Webster was enrolled in Harvard University studying literature and journalism when Pearl Harbor was hit. He signed up for the paratroopers and was sent to Taccoa to train. Actually, David wasn't originally in Easy Company. He seemed to be sent to whatever company needed him at the time. However, David spent a lot of time with the men of Easy Company.

Over the course of the war, Webster meticulously chronicles the events of a soldiers life in the 101st Airborne. From Georgia to England (where he was constantly getting into trouble), to the first jump in Normandy and the events of the disastrous Operation Market-Garden, where he was wounded and sent back to England for recovery. He missed out on Bastogne, but returned for Haguenau and then the eventual taking over of Hitler's Eagle Nest.

David's opinions on the military were less than positive. He despised the higher ranking echelons and the military rank that interfered with the real reason they were at war. However, he respected and revered the company of soldiers he fought with and held great admiration for Dick Winters.

After the war, David had tried to get his book published over the years, but it was constantly rejected. In 1962, David was killed in a shark fishing accident. Parachute Infantry was posthumously published in 1994, shortly after the publishing of Band of Brothers. In the mini-series, David was featured prominently in episode 8-The Last Patrol, where he returns from England, but due to missing Bastogne, he's treated like an outsider and must fight to win back the respect of his friends.

Possibly the most detailed of the Easy Company series, Parachute Infantry combines David's recollections of WWII while they were still fresh in a young man's memory. War in David's mind was not something to be celebrated. He wondered if people would ever truly understand the hardships, the fear, the sacrifice of the soldiers who left their homes and families. Dying at 39, David was young his whole life. He would never know the gratitude that generations hold for the men he wrote of.

LOTR Read-Along: The Fellowship of the Ring: Many Meetings

We're into book two!

Frodo's alive!

And he's finally made it to Rivendell!

Oh look...Gandalf is back. 

LOTR Read-Along: The Fellowship of the Ring: Flight to the Ford

We're halfway through! The book really does pick up the pace after the hobbits head into Bree and thank goodness for that. After Frodo is wounded by the Morgul blade, he begins to sink deeper and deeper into madness. He won't die, but he will become like the Ringwraiths. For the next several days, Aragorn and the hobbits race against the clock to get Frodo to Rivendell, which is still miles away.

Inklings Link-Up~November 2020

Yahh! The Inklings Link-Up has become a series that I always look forward too! Here are my link-ups from September and October. 

1. At any time during the month, on your own blog post a scene from a book or film that matches the prompt, including a link back here in your post.

2. Link-back to Heidi's blog in the comments section with a link to you Inklings prompt.

November Prompt

A character making an undignified splash in book or film (i.e. landing in the likes of mud, or water dumped over their head etc.)

LOTR Read-Along: The Fellowship of the Ring: A Knife in the Dark

A lot happens in this chapter! The evil of Sauron is beginning to seep into the once safeguarded borders of the Shire. The ever watchful and quick thinking Brandybucks (Merry's family), sound the alarm warning all the hobbits that evil is approaching. Soon all of the Shire is awake with the sound of horns and alarms and the little folk successfully banish the Black Riders from their land, if only for a little time.