Title
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.
ISBN
9780823292950
Published
New York, NY : Fordham University Press, [2022]
Copyright
©2007
Language
English
Language Note
In English.
Description
1 online resource (284 p.) : 30 color and black & white illustrations
Other Standard Identifiers
10.1515/9780823292950 doi
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.
Access Note
Access limited to authorized users.
System Details Note
Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.
Digital File Characteristics
text file PDF
Source of Description
Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 03. Jan 2023)
Series
World War II: The Global, Human, and Ethical Dimension
Available in Other Form
print 9780823226870
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
