Making John A Soldier

It’s the moment we’ve been waiting for! Making John a Soldier is now available at Amazon.com! Click here to order your copy today! Be sure to leave your comments and reviews of the book on the Amazon.com page for Making John A Soldier.

Making John a Solider will be available at Amazon.com in just a few weeks! Leading up to its release, author John Malloy has been featured in a pair of cover features in the Omaha World-Herald and the Tucson Daily Star. The features tell the story of Malloy’s relationship with Brad Burks, the grandson of Malloy’s best friend throughout the war, Dean Lisienski. Click here to read their story.

Brad Burks sought out Malloy to honor his grandfather

Making John a Soldier provides a panoramic view of World War II describing the exploits of many of the units that fought in that conflict. Despite that broad perspective, it also focuses on the challenges facing the individual GI in the face of hostile fire.

It details also some of the three years I spent as an enlisted “Dog Face” doing what I had to do to survive.

American troops were introduced to war in Tunisia in 1942 when they invaded Africa. Later after making an ignominious start at Kasserine Pass, they rallied and helped win Africa. Next they helped conquer Sicily and followed with Italy’s invasion. During those battles the 1st, 3rd, 9th, 34th, 45th, 82nd Airborne Infantry divisions, and the 1st and 2nd Armored learned their battle skills.

In the Pacific, during 1942 and 1943, the 1st and 2nd Marine Divisions, plus the Army’s 25th, 27th, 32d, 41st, 43rd and the Americal Infantry Divisions, mastered the art of war. Major tests included those at Midway, Guadalcanal, New Guinea, New Georgia, Bougainville, and Tarawa.

During the third year of the Pacific war, 1944, the 2nd and 4th Marine Divisions, and the Army’s 27th Division subdued Saipan. Later that year the 1st Marine Division and the 81st Division subdued Peleliu. In New Guinea the 24th, 31st, 32nd, 43nd and 4n3d Divisions completed its conquest. The American Sixth Army’s 1st Cavalry and the 24th Division invaded Leyte at year’s end.

While 1944’s land battles flamed in the Pacific the American Navy vanquished the Japanese Imperial Fleet with a series of decisive victories. They are reviewed in Making John A Soldier and include the First Battle of the Philippine Sea, the Leyte Gulf Battle, Battle of the Sibuyan Sea, the Battle off Samar, Battle of Surigao Strait, and the Battle off Cape Engaño.

The Japanese Navy by the end of 1944 was only a shadow of its Pearl Harbor self. The Nipponese withdrew their remaining naval force to home waters and awaited America’s next move.

In Europe, in 1944, the United States won victories at Anzio, in Normandy, and in Southern France. Over twenty American divisions helped achieve those victories. Their individual role is described in Making John A Soldier.

Hitler shocked the Allies on 16 December 1944 when his armies launched a surprise attack in Belgium’s Ardennes Forest- the largest battle in Western Europe. Six chapters of the book are devoted to that six-week conflict that resulted in 80,000 allied casualties, the vast majority of whom were American.

It was during this battle that my own unit, the 75th Infantry Division, was thrust into the first of the three campaigns we fought in Europe. We teamed with   famed and tested American Divisions to inflict a fatal blow to Hitler’s hopes.

The group that fought the Sixth Panzer Army in the Bulge’s Northern Sector included the 99th, 2nd, 1st, 9th, 82d Airborne, 30th, 2nd Armored, 3rd Armored, the 84th, plus surviving elements of the 7th,and 106th^. Divisions.

In the Bulge’s Southern Sector the 106th, 4th, 28th, 9th Armored, 101st Airborne and the 10th Armored fought the German Fifth Panzer Army. The Germans drove to Bastogne surrounding there the 101st and the 10th Armored.  Patton’s Third Army 4th Armored Division led a counter attack that broke through enemy troops relieving that encircled bastion.

Victory in the Ardennes, in January, followed massive American counter attacks.

After the Bulge battle the 75th found more action in the Colmar Pocket on the Rhine River; this was followed by action in the Rhineland and Central Europe.

Germany’s surrender and the end of the Third Reich followed in May 1945.

The Pacific war, in spring 1945, saw the conquest of the Philippines and Iwo Jima’s invasion.  The number of Medals of Honor awarded gives some insight into the ferocity of the Iwo Jima battle: twenty-three to Marines and three to Navy sailors-fourteen posthumously.

The war’s last battle, on Okinawa, was a struggle second only to the Battle of the Bulge in American casualties produced.  One hundred thousand Japanese died rather than surrender.

‘Making John A Soldier” also examines the Soviet-German conflict from its beginning in 1941 until final victory in Berlin in April 1945. Several key battles are reviewed.

There then follows a brief history of scientific discoveries that helped pave the way for the development of the atomic bomb. The Manhattan Project produced two nuclear bombs that brought Japan to its knee’s.

The wind-down of the war effort now began and citizen-soldiers returned home.  Those millions, members of a great crusade, came home changed in a way unique to their generation.

I hope you will find as much enjoyment in reading the book as I did in writing it.

Try it-you’ll like it.

Available Nov. 2011 at Amazon.com

Making John a Soldier — A Nebraskan Goes to War describes the life and trials of some of the 16 million Americans who fought freedom’s battle in World War II – the group Tom Brocaw dubbed “The Greatest Generation.”

It relates how World War II engulfed the author’s life from his enlistment in 1942 until his discharge three years later. It provides highlights of his experiences from infantry training in 1943 to the role he played helping crush Hitler’s minions. The book, however, is more than a history of one person or one infantry division.

It describes key battles actions in both the Pacific and European theaters. It also examines selected Russian and German battles from Germany’s invasion of Russia in June 1941 to the Soviet’s conquest of Berlin in 1945. Thirty maps depict settings where crucial battles were fought in both Europe and the Pacific.

Making John a Soldier provides a view of the uncelebrated sacrifices and bravery of the ordinary American GI during World War II. It also recounts the heroic exploits of seven Nebraskans awarded the Medal of Honor.