Memorial Day 2026: Voices from the Front LinesLike this list

10 items

• 82 Days on Okinawa

  One American's Unforgettable Firsthand Account of the Pacific War's Greatest Battle

  Shaw, Art, 1920-2020

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  The first American officer to land on Okinawa recalls the last great land battle of World War II.

• What It Is Like to Go to War

  Marlantes, Karl

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  Marlantes places his experiences in the Vietnam war in a context of the warrior ethos through the ages and what it means to the young men who must return to American civilian society after the crucible of battle.

• Diary of a Contraband

  the Civil War Passage of a Black Sailor

  Gould, William Benjamin, 1837-1923

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  The author is the great grandson of William Benjamin Gould, an escaped slave who served in the Civil War's Union Navy from 1862-1865. The diary is one of three known kept by black Union Civil War sailors and offers a detailed and race-conscious…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Valleys of Death

  a Memoir of the Korean War

  Richardson, Bill (William J.)

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  Sergeant Bill Richardson survived combat and years of North Korean captivity in America's "forgotten" war in Korea. Despite brutal treatment meant to break his spirit, his determination to live carried him through until he was freed by the war's end.

• Private No More

  the Civil War Letters of John Lovejoy Murray, 102nd United States Colored Infantry

  Murray, John Lovejoy, approximately 1830-1864 or 1865,

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  Murray was a literate Black soldier in the 102nd United States Colored Infantry of the Union Army. His letters were personal correspondence, not meant for publication, so he was free to express his personal opinions. In many ways, his letters were…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Japanese Eyes, American Heart

  Personal Reflections of Hawaii's World War II Nisei Soldiers

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  A powerful collection of reflections recorded in diaries and letters sent home to family and friends by Japanese-Americans who chose to fight for the country that treated them as enemies.

• Helmet for My Pillow

  From Parris Island to the Pacific

  Leckie, Robert, 1920-2001

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  Leckie's World War II memoir of his time in the 1st Marine Division is partly the basis for the harrowing HBO series "The Pacific".

• Alpha One Sixteen

  a Combat Infantryman's Year in Vietnam

  Clark, Peter,

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  A "grunt" details the day-to-day life of a soldier stationed in a rural area in the early years of American involvement in the Vietnam War. Initially a believer, Clark comes to understand the brutal futility of the American cause.

• Luck of the Draw

  My Story of the Air War in Europe

  Murphy, Frank, 1921-2007,

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  Murphy was one of the lucky ones - he actually survived service in the VIII Bomber Command, albeit as a POW for the last two years of the war. As such, Murphy experienced the training regimen, red-hot battle and captivity and describes it in great…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Last of the Doughboys

  the Forgotten Generation and Their Forgotten World War

  Rubin, Richard

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  Eighty-five years after it ended, Rubin tracked down WWI veterans, then over 100 years old, to preserve their stories. Most had never shared them, including the one considered the last living veteran, lending a particular poignancy to them.