A Private in the Texas Army

A Private in the Texas Army PDF Author: John A. Pearce
Publisher: Texas A&M University Press
ISBN: 1649670060
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 411

Book Description
Sulphur Springs native Frank Webster Pearce was a soldier in Texas’ own 36th Infantry Division and the 111th Engineer Combat Battalion. The Division’s story has been told before, but never from start to finish by a combat engineer, whose footprints stirred the sands of three invasion beaches, wallowed through the mud, and trudged in the snow of every battle. From training in the United States to the war’s end in Austria, Pearce chronicled it all.. With the combination of diary, numerous letters home, and official division reports, this is the most complete look ever produced on the 111th Engineers and their war against Hitler’s Germany. This is a primary account written daily as the events unfolded. It was the war years. Here you find out how to properly bury a man in the water soaked Italian soil, a fool proof way to smuggle liquor from the US to the soldiers overseas, the foul stench of death reeking across the battlefield, and the beauty of exploding artillery shells in the night sky. These are his thoughts and letters as he wrote them—raw and unfiltered.

A Private in the Texas Army

A Private in the Texas Army PDF Author: John Pearce
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781649670052
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 300

Book Description
Sulphur Springs native Frank Webster Pearce was a soldier in Texas' own 36th Infantry Division and the 111th Engineer Combat Battalion. The Division's story has been told before, but never from start to finish by a combat engineer, whose footprints stirred the sands of three invasion beaches, wallowed through the mud, and trudged in the snow of every battle. From training in the United States to the war's end in Austria, Pearce chronicled it all.. With the combination of diary, numerous letters home, and official division reports, this is the most complete look ever produced on the 111th Engineers and their war against Hitler's Germany. This is a primary account written daily as the events unfolded. It was the war years. Here you find out how to properly bury a man in the water soaked Italian soil, a fool proof way to smuggle liquor from the US to the soldiers overseas, the foul stench of death reeking across the battlefield, and the beauty of exploding artillery shells in the night sky. These are his thoughts and letters as he wrote them--raw and unfiltered.

Halliburton's Army

Halliburton's Army PDF Author: Pratap Chatterjee
Publisher: Bold Type Books
ISBN: 0786743697
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 306

Book Description
Halliburton'sArmy is the first book to show, in shocking detail, how Halliburton really does business, in Iraq, and around the world. From its vital role as the logistical backbone of the U.S. occupation in Iraq -- without Halliburton there could be no war or occupation -- to its role in covering up gang-rape amongst its personnel in Baghdad, Halliburton'sArmy is a devastating bestiary of corporate malfeasance and political cronyism. Pratap Chatterjee -- one of the world's leading authorities on corporate crime, fraud, and corruption -- shows how Halliburton won and then lost its contracts in Iraq, what Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld did for it, and who the company paid off in the U.S. Congress. He brings us inside the Pentagon meetings, where Cheney and Rumsfeld made the decision to send Halliburton to Iraq -- as well as many other hot-spots, including Somalia, Yugoslavia, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Guantámo Bay, and, most recently, New Orleans. He travels to Dubai, where Halliburton has recently moved its headquarters, and exposes the company's freewheeling ways: executives leading the high life, bribes, graft, skimming, offshore subsidiaries, and the whole arsenal of fraud. Finally, Chatterjee reveals the human costs of the privatization of American military affairs, which is sustained almost entirely by low-paid unskilled Third World workers who work in incredibly dangerous conditions without any labor protection. Halliburton'sArmy is a hair-raising exposéf one of the world's most lethal corporations, essential reading for anyone concerned about the nexus of private companies, government, and war.

Soldiers of the Old Army

Soldiers of the Old Army PDF Author: Victor Vogel
Publisher: Williams-Ford Texas A&M Univer
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 144

Book Description
The all-volunteer army served the country as professional soldiers for reasons of patriotism or adventure or even economics, since monthly pay of twenty-one dollars was to some men better than nothing and better than charity. Many men reenlisted time and time again. Whether a private was stationed in Texas or New Jersey for his three-year hitch, he first had basic training, the length of which varied according to how long it took each soldier to master the fundamental skills of the infantryman. If an enlisted man grew tired of the disciplined life where he had no responsibility except to follow basic orders, he could purchase an honorable discharge. If he couldn't come up with the cash from his twenty-one dollar pay envelope or winnings from poker or dice, he could go AWOL and after ninety days the army would simply remove the soldier from the rolls with a court-martial in absentia and a dishonorable discharge.

Mr. Polk's Army

Mr. Polk's Army PDF Author: Richard Bruce Winders
Publisher: Texas A&M University Press
ISBN: 9781585441624
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 308

Book Description
Drawing on numerous diaries, journals, and reminiscences, Richard Bruce Winders presents the daily life of soldiers at war; links the army to the society that produced it; shares his impressions of the soldiers he "met" along the way; and concludes that American participants in the Mexican War shared a common experience, no matter their rank or place of service. Taking a "new" military history approach, Mr. Polk's Army: The American Military Experience in the Mexican War examines the cultural, social, and political aspects of the regular and volunteer forces that made up the army of 1846-48, presents the organizational framework of the army, and introduces the different styles of leadership exhibited by Zachary Taylor and Winfield Scott.

Arsenal of Defense

Arsenal of Defense PDF Author: J'Nell L. Pate
Publisher: Texas A&M University Press
ISBN: 0876112580
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 310

Book Description
Named after Mexican War general William Jenkins Worth, Fort Worth began as a military post in 1849. More than a century and a half later, the defense industry remains Fort Worth’s major strength with Lockheed Martin’s F-35s and Bell Helicopter’s Ospreys flying the skies over the city. Arsenal of Defense: Fort Worth’s Military Legacy covers the entire military history of Fort Worth from the 1840s with tiny Bird’s Fort to the massive defense plants of the first decade of the twenty-first century. Although the city is popularly known as “Cowtown” for its iconic cattle drives and stockyards, soldiers, pilots, and military installations have been just as important—and more enduring—in Fort Worth’s legacy. Although Bird’s Fort provided defense for early North Texas settlers in the mid nineteenth century, it was the major world conflicts of the twentieth century that developed Fort Worth’s military presence into what it is today. America’s buildup for World War I brought three pilot training fields and the army post Camp. During World War II, headquarters for the entire nation’s Army Air Forces Flying Training Command came to Fort Worth. The military history of Fort Worth has been largely an aviation story—one that went beyond pilot training to the construction of military aircraft. Beginning with Globe Aircraft in 1940, Consolidated in 1942, and Bell Helicopter in 1950, the city has produced many thousands of military aircraft for the defense of the nation. Lockheed Martin, the descendant of Consolidated, represents an assembly plant that has been in continuous existence for over seven decades. With Lockheed Martin the nation’s largest defense contractor, Bell the largest helicopter producer, and the Fort Worth Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Federal Medical Center Carswell the reservist’s training pattern for the nation, Fort Worth’s military defense legacy remains strong. Arsenal of Defense won first place in the Press Women of Texas Communications Contest (2012).

Texas Aggies Go to War

Texas Aggies Go to War PDF Author: Henry C. Dethloff
Publisher: Texas A&M University Press
ISBN: 1603440771
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 473

Book Description
When their country calls, Texas Aggies go to war. From the Spanish-American War and World War I to Operation Iraqi Freedom, Aggies have been in the forefront of America’s armed forces, producing more officers than any other school outside the service academies. More than 20,000 Texas Aggies served in World War II, for instance, including more than 14,000 as commissioned officers. Trained in leadership and the knowledge required for warfare, Aggies have served with distinction in all branches of the military service. In this first-ever compilation of the impressive war record of Texas Aggies, stories of individual soldiers, airmen, sailors, and marines are displayed with an abundance of statistics, maps, and tables. These narratives include • First-person accounts of Aggie heroism in battle in all the wars in which A&M former students have fought; • The horrific experiences of some of the eighty-seven Aggies who were stationed at Corregidor and Bataan; • The perils of five Aggies who participated in the raid over Tokyo with Jimmie Doolittle; • The heroics of the seven Medal of Honor recipients from Texas A&M during World War II; • James Earl Rudder’s leadership of the Ranger assault at Normandy on D-Day; • Examples of vigorous support and devotion to duty given by Aggies in Korea, Vietnam, and the Middle East. Texas Aggies Go to War celebrates the school’s distinctive Corps of Cadets and its military contributions while honoring the individual sacrifices of its members. Those who fought and those who remember them will find here a comprehensive account of the distinguished war record of this school. This book was initiated and sponsored by a group of former students who provided funding through the Texas A&M Foundation. All proceeds from the book will be used to benefit the Texas A&M Corps of Cadets.

The Texas Navy

The Texas Navy PDF Author: United States. Naval History Division
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Ships
Languages : en
Pages : 44

Book Description


Sagebrush Soldier

Sagebrush Soldier PDF Author: Sherry L. Smith
Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
ISBN: 9780806133355
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 182

Book Description
Sagebrush Soldier is an account of military life during the Indian Wars in the late nineteenth-century West. Private William Earl Smith describes daily camp life, battle scenes, and the behavior of famous men - Ranald Mackenzie and George Crook - in public and private poses. His diary covers the war from the enlisted men’s viewpoint, as he worries about what he will eat and how he will keep warm in freezing conditions, and how he will keep calm when bullied by the sergeant major, of whom he says he would give "five years of my life to [have] walked up to him and smacked him in the nose." To complete the picture of the Sioux War, and particularly the Powder River Expedition, Sherry Smith frames Private Smith’s narrative with contemporary accounts written by other participants in these events. She assembles a balanced, comprehensive history by also incorporating the testimony of officers, their Indian scouts and allies, and their enemy, the Northern Cheyennes. In camp on Christmas Eve, 1876, Smith bought a can of peaches, which cost him two dollars, to share with his bunkmate. Meanwhile, he sees another man give ten dollars for a bottle of whiskey. His own words best convey the feelings of a young man far from home at Christmas: "We had a regular Old Christmas Dinner, a little piece of fat bacon and hard tack and a half cup of coffee. You bet I thought of home now if ever I did. But fate was a gane me and I could not bee there. My Bunkey bought some candy and we ate it." Christmas candy and thoughts of home; some things never change, as readers will learn in this picture of military life unique in its eloquent honesty.

Texas Civil War Artifacts

Texas Civil War Artifacts PDF Author: Richard Mather Ahlstrom
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Antiques & Collectibles
Languages : en
Pages : 598

Book Description
One of the most popular literary subjects worldwide is the American Civil War. In addition to an enormous number of history buffs, there are tens of thousands of collectors of Civil War artifacts. In the last fifty years, several books have been written concerning the equipment associated with soldiers of specific Confederate states, but no book until now has ever chronicled the military equipment used by Texas soldiers. Texas Civil War Artifacts is the first comprehensive guide to the physical culture of Texas Civil War soldiers. Texas military equipment differs in a number of ways from the equipment produced for the eastern Confederate states. Most of the Texas-produced equipment was blacksmithed, or local-artisan made, and in many cases featured the Lone Star as a symbol of Texas. Contemporary Civil War literature frequently mentions that most soldiers of Texas displayed the Lone Star somewhere on their uniform or equipment. In this groundbreaking volume, Richard Mather Ahlstrom has photographed and described more than five hundred Texas-related artifacts. He shows the diverse use of the Lone Star on hat pins, waist-belt plates, buckles, horse equipment, side knives, buttons, and canteens. In addition, the weapons that Texans used in the Civil War are featured in chapters on the Tucker Sherrard and Colt pistols; shotguns, rifles, and muskets; and swords. Rounding out the volume are chapters on leather accouterments, uniforms and headgear, and a gallery of Texas soldiers in photographs. This book will prove to be a valuable reference guide for Civil War collectors, historians, museum curators, re-enactors, and federal and state agencies.