Monday, December 22, 2008

BestWWIIVideo.com

If you like World War II videos and books, check out http://www.bestwwiivideo.com. It's a fun little site with trailers and clips from some of the best WWII movies, including documentaries and dramatic films.

Be sure to browse the page on The Last Ridge, the PBS documentary about the 10th Mountain Infantry Division by Abbie Kealy and check out the recommended titles. ;-)

Ordinary Heroes: Six Stars in the Window isn't just about the 10th Mountain Infantry Division, but--as those who have read it know--the men of the 10th play a significant role in the story of the six Koski brothers. It makes a good companion to The Last Ridge.

7 comments:

  1. I was in Italy with Abie Kealy who filmed The Last Ridge, and the 10th MTN veterans in 06.

    Thanks for visiting my blog, Dan. Your book is similar to my late father's story, and perhaps so many others'. He was in the 10th, and all his seven brothers were in the war - no, that's not right. His youngest was draft age, but the Sullivan Act kept him out of WW II. Then, he got drafted for Korea, and served in the infantry!

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  2. Hi Casey.

    I wondered about your interest in Ordinary Heroes.

    It's nice to "meet" you as another 10th Mountain descendant.

    There weren't many families with six sons in the service. There were many with 3 and 4 sons in the service and I've run across a modest number with 5 sons, but so far, I only know of those two families who had six sons in the service--the Koskis and now your father's family.

    There is a family story that at one point during the war another miner was ridiculing Alfred Koski for having six sons in the service. He reportedly said something to the effect of "if I had more sons, I'd send them too." They may have been recent immigrants to America, bu they were determined to do their part in the war.

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  3. I am a big WW2 fan. I got my father's stories from him first hand, in the sixties. They were quite fresh for him, then. Also rare, i guess, as many combat veterans chose not to speak. I showed the interest, and my dad, in a humble, humorous and self effacing way, unpacked his stories to me one at a time over many years. When I went to Italy, it was a very moving experience.

    Remember that the Klahns (twelve children of German immigrant pioneers) had six boys, but only five served WW2 because of the Sullivan act being applied to my uncle Don - the youngest. So, technically not a six flag family.

    Dad was very proud of the Tenth Mountain Division, as anyone may guess the men felt special by virtue of their undertaking the hardest training regimen given to an army division in the war.

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  4. I beg your pardon, Dan. I went online to check my figures. My dad's brothers were Don, Carl, George, Theodore, Richard and Louie. My father was Kenneth. So, six served in WW@, so there you go. Don served as an inf. PLT SGT in Korea.

    From memory (already proven poor!) I will say that Richard was a truck driver in Patton's army, Carl was on railroads in Alaska, Louie was a special services guy, and that exhausts my knowledge! My father was in the pack artillery in the 10th Mountain from Camp Hale through Italy and to the disorganization of the division.

    My dad was the only combat arms soldier among his brothers in WW2, but then Don saw combat in Korea. My father won the Bronze Star and was a .50 cal. machine gunner, and I hope to post his stories some day as a blog.

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  5. One of the Koski brothers served with the 332nd Engineers. When they shipped out of Camp Claiborne the rumor was that they were being sent to Alaska, but "some other" Engineer outfit was sent there instead and the 332nd went to England, then on to Utah Beach and through France and Belgium.

    It sounds like maybe your uncle Carl may have been in that "other" Engineer outfit.

    Twelve kids with six sons in the serv ice--it sounds like the Koski family and the Klahn family had a lot in common.

    I don't know if you've had a chance to try the digital version of the book where photos come to life as videos. It's a very interesting way to present that sort of material as it allows inclusion of WWII footage, interviews with veterans and family members, etc. You might want to download the BookOnDownload for Mac or Windows and give it a try--maybe it will give you some ideas for an eventual project about the Klahn family. ;-)

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  6. I cannot imagine the effort involved in that! I admire you tremendously as an author. I am a little over my backlog on books, right now, but Six Stars is the very next purchase for me - and I am greatly looking forward to it.

    The downloadable version is a fascinating idea. Do you have a 2-fer where the hardcopy/old school print book and a downloadable can be purchased at the same time? One of the art business authors does that, with I think a little discount.

    I did count thirteen Klahn siblings after I told you 12. I am very curious now about the rarity of this, and your scholarship has opened that up to me. Maybe I'll at least write a newspaper article for the Forks Herald or something.

    Incidentally, I read An Army at Dawn and Day of battle this year, and now am into a two volume (big) set on another topic.

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  7. Hi Casey.

    The printed book includes a multimedia BookOnCD bound in the front cover. As is the case with the other digital versions, it defaults to running in "demo mode," limited to the first 8 chapters, but there's an automated purchase and activation process that unlocks full access to the CD for the princely sum of $4.95 (since the person has already purchased the paper book).

    For those who don't feel the need for the paper book, we feature the same digital book with multimedia content as a BookOnDownload. That costs a bit more to activate ($9.95), since the assumption is the user hasn't already purchased the book (or they'd be activating the BookOnCD.)

    HOWEVER--we're currently offering a special deal where anyone who posts comments about the book or the demo versions of the BookOnCD or BookOnDownload will receive a free activation code if they send in the URL where the comment is posted (so we can verify it). That reduces the prices to activate any of the digital versions to a flat $0.00--a pretty good deal by any measure.

    So, if you mention any version in your Blog, you'll get free activation of any digital version-what a deal. ;-)

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