The General and His Daughter : The War Time Letters of General James M. Gavin to his Daughter Barbara / Starlyn Jorgensen, Barbara Gavin Fauntleroy; ed. by Gayle Wurst.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Fauntleroy, Barbara Gavin, Author.

Jorgensen, Starlyn, Author.

Contributor:

Broadaway, Rufus, Contributor.

Devlin, Gerard M., Contributor.

Gavin Fauntleroy, Barbara, Contributor.

Wurst, Gayle, Contributor.

Wurst, Gayle, Editor.

Series:

World War II: the Global, Human, and Ethical Dimension

World War II: The Global, Human, and Ethical Dimension

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource (284 p.) : 30 color and black & white illustrations

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : Fordham University Press, [2022]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

James Maurice Gavin left for war in April 1943 as a colonel commanding the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 82nd Airborne Division—America’s first airborne division and the first to fight in World War II. In 1944, “Slim Jim” Gavin, as he was known to his troops, at the age of thirty-seven became the 82nd’s commanding general—the youngest Army officer to become a major general since the Civil War. At war’s end, this soldier’s soldier had become one of our greatest generals—and the 82nd’s most decorated officer. Now James Gavin’s letters home to his nine-year-old daughter Barbara provide a revealing portrait of the American experience in World War II through the eyes of one of its most dynamic officers. Written from ship decks, foxholes, and field tents—often just before or after a dangerous jump—they capture the day-to-day realities of combat and Gavin’s personal reactions to the war he helped to win. And provide an invaluable self-portrait of a great general, and a great American, in war and peace. The book’s more than 200 letters begin at Fort Bragg in 1943 and continue to December 1945, as Gavin came home to lead the 82nd at the head of the Victory parade in New York. This correspondence constitutes the majority of Gavin’s private wartime letters, but except for rare appearances in regimental newsletters, it has never before been published. In her Introduction, Epilogue, and Notes, Barbara Gavin Fauntleroy gives a privileged glimpse of the private man. Edited by Gayle Wurst, the book features historical overviews by Starlyn Jorgensen, a preface by noted Gavin biographer Gerard M. Devlin, and a foreword by Rufus Broadaway, Gavin’s aide-de-camp.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Acknowledgments

Editor’s Note

Foreword

Introduction

Prologue

Chapter one. The Call to War

Chapter 2. Operation husky—North Africa

Chapter 3. Operation husky—Sicily

Chapter 4. Operation avalanche—Italy

Chapter 5. Operation overlord/neptune—United Kingdom

Chapter 6. Operation neptune—Normandy

Chapter 7. Command of the 82nd Airborne Division

Chapter 8. Operation market-garden—Holland

Chapter 9. The Battle of the Bulge—Belgium

Chapter 10. Cracking the Siegfried Line—Germany

Chapter 11. A Brief Respite—France

Chapter 12. Back on the Line—The Final Fight

Chapter 13. Victory, Russian Camaraderie, and a Visit Home

Chapter 14. Occupation Duty—Berlin

Chapter 15. The Call Home

Epilogue. Barbara Gavin Fauntleroy

Notes

Selected Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 29. Mrz 2022)

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

9780823292950

0823292959

OCLC:

1369659810