All roads lead to Rome : searching for the end of my father's war / Bill Thorness.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Thorness, Bill, 1960- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Thorness, Erick G. (Erick Gabriel), 1912-1969.

Thorness, Erick G.

Thorness, Erick G. (Erick Gabriel), 1912-1969--Family.

Thorness, Bill, 1960---Travel--Italy.

Thorness, Bill.

Allied Forces. Special Service Force, 1st.

Allied Forces.

Monte La Difensa, Battle of, Italy, 1943.

World War, 1939-1945--Commando operations--Italy.

World War, 1939-1945.

Soldiers--United States--Biography.

Soldiers.

Veterans--North Dakota--Epping--Biography.

Veterans.

Epping (N.D.).

Genre:

Electronic books.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xiv, 255 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates) : illustrations, maps

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

[Lincoln, Nebraska] : Potomac Books, Incorporated, 2024.

Summary:

"What happens when a seasoned journalist and travel writer takes on his most challenging assignment yet--crossing not just continents but also history--by retracing his father's steps on the battlefields of Italy in World War II? When a slim packet of his father's letters came to light after his mother's death, Bill Thorness began a quest to rediscover his father. Thorness traveled to the World War II battlefields where America's first team of commandos fought. The youngest son of one of those commandos, Thorness gained a sense of the horror his father had kept from his family on the mountain where the First Special Service Force fought. Then, standing on a bridge in Rome, he reflected on the loss his father must have felt in not making it to the end of the campaign to liberate the Eternal City. In All Roads Lead to Rome Thorness considers his father's decisive moments in battle and beyond, and how he soldiered on as a disabled veteran through his life, raising a family and succumbing to an early death. Alternating between reimagined battle scenes and present-day travels, Thorness explores World War II and family history, the value and limits of memory, the attitudes of war, and our society's inadequate understanding and support of combat veterans, who may return with physical and emotional scars that change them deeply. Thorness steps into his father's shoes to revisit his story and finish that walk into Rome, weaving a story that is part travelogue, part history, and part memoir about the ravages of war"-- Provided by publisher.

"When a slim packet of his father's letters came to light after his mother's death, Bill Thorness began a quest to rediscover his father, who was an army commando battling in Italy to liberate Rome in World War II"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Difensa

From Helena to the Winter Line

Anzio

Postwar.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references.

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

9781640126428

1640126422

9781640126411

1640126414

OCLC:

1478215997