What Are You Currently Reading? 2008

[George L. Singleton]

Currently:

- Chesty: The Story of Lieutenant General Lewis B. Puller, USMC by LTC Jon T. Hoffman, USMCR
- Police Sniper by Craig Roberts

In the queue:

- A Devil of a Whipping: The Battle of Cowpens by Lawrence E. Babits
- Cracking Cases: The Science of Solving Crimes by Dr. Henry C. Lee

I have two in person exposures to guys who worked for up close Chesty Puller.

One was a Marine Corp. Lieut. Norton (cannot reliably recall Norton's first name) who was his aide-de-camp in Korea, after he, Lt. Norton was shot seven times and left for dead at the Yahlu Reservoir. A company of retreating Turks who had run out of ammo picked up still alive body of Lt. Norton and using bayonettes only fought their way through the Chinese surrounding them and saved Lt. Norton's life. Mr. Norton who then earned a law degree from Vanderbilt, was my Nashville, TN Woodmont Baptist Church Sunday School teacher when I was in about the 6th grade as best I can recall.

The other Marine I knew well was retired USMC Major General Big Foot Brown (Wilbert S Brown) who was a legend in the Marine Corp. Dr. Brown (he earned his incomplete from Annapolis, where he was kicked out for blowing up the Admiral's commode) BA, then his MA and PhD, all in History, also my major, at the Univeristy of Alabama where he also taught me history.

One story on General Brown (a USMC artillery school building at Ft. Sill, Oklahoma today is named after Brown). He commanded as a Brigadier General a Marine outfit sent to destroy a RR train full of US weapons and ammo abandoned by the Nationalist Chinese as Communist Chinese Army advanced along the coast of Mainland China. He was told under NO circumstances to engage the Communist Chinese Army.

However...then B/Gen. Brown while blowing up the train full of US weapons saw the approaching Communist Army, turned his men around and chased the Communist troops for miles, killing many of them.

Ordered by to the US to what he was a sure court martial, B/Gen. Brown was met at the DC area USAF base where he landed by his Uncle by Marriage, Senator John Stennis of Mississippi, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee and the Commandant of the US Marine Corp, who promoted Big Foot Brown on the spot to Major General. Brown then retired from Pentagon duty a few years later.

George Singleton
BA in History and Political Science
College of A&S, Univeristy of Alabama, 1962

PS - Excuse spelling and grammar errors. George.

[George L. Singleton]

CORRECTION: Colonel (06) Wilbert S. [Big Foot] Brown, USMC, was spot promoted at the DC Air Base where he landed to 07, Brigadier, following the incident in China. He was tomb stoned as an 08, Major General, USMC. My memory error. Sorry. George.

[davidbfpo]

Taken from another thread contributed by George S., regarding books by Canadians in WW2:

The late Canadian Brigadier General Denis [Denny] Whitkaker [Toronto area] was my late first cousin, Jim Singleton's, father in law. Have you, Rex, read any or all of Denis Whitaker's six books on his experiences in WW II? As you know, Whitaker as a Captain, Canadian Army was involved in and managed to somehow escape from the fiasco at Dieppe on the French coast in 1942.

Here are B/G Whitaker's six books in case any other SWJ followers may be unaware of or interested in reading all or some of them:

- Normandy: The Real Story of How Ordinary Allied Soldiers Defeated Hitler by Denis Whitaker, Shelagh Whitaker, and Terry Copp

-Victory at Falaise: The Soldier's Story by Denis Whitaker and Shelagh Whitaker with Terry Copp

- Tug of War: The Allied Victory That Opened Antwerp by Denis Whitaker and Shelagh Whitaker

- Dieppe: Tragedy to Triumph by Denis Whitaker and Shelagh Whitaker

- Rhineland: The Battle to End the War by Denis Whitaker and Shelagh Whitaker

- The Battle of the Scheldt by Denis Whitaker

[Umar Al-Mokhtār]

First off we lean more towards dating sheep.

Second, we can write poetry that has no reference to Nantucket in it. To whit:

Steve Metz, an expert on insurgents

His writing it borders on pure vents

He penned quite a book

It’s sure worth a look

To see the extent of his dissents

Anyways, to get back on thread

Just finished:

How Can Man Die Better: The Secrets of Isandlwana Revealed
by Col Mike Snook

Zulu Victory: The Epic of Isandlwana and the Cover-up by Ron Lock

Working through:

The Vietnamese War: Revolution and Social Change in the Mekong Delta, 1930-1975 by David Elliott

The Battle of Ap Bac, Vietnam: They Did Everything but Learn from It by David Toczek

Triumph Forsaken: The Vietnam War, 1954-1965 by Mark Moyar