[.ca] Other Clay: A Remembrance of the World War II Infantry (ISBN 0803264429)

Truly a Classic WW II Memoir:
Cawthon's Other Clay is one of the finest memoirs of World War II that I have read. The tone is serious without being pompous, the language precise but poetic, the organization exactly as events transpired. Anyone who wants to know how confusing events were sorted out by individual soldiers on D-Day, and how brave and inventive American soldiers were after the landing, should read Cawthon's description of his experience, finding his way back into action after everything transpired unlike it was planned. This memoir inspired the writing of my own Unsung Valor: A GI's Story of World War II. I only wish my own book matched its elegance in every respect.

A Gentle Classic:
I first became aware of this book when reading American Heritage's D-Day issue. They believed this work was one of the finest World War II memoirs. I found a beat up paperback and I have to agree. Cawthon served with the 116th Regiment ("The Stonewall Brigade") of the 29th Division and was in the second wave on Omaha Beach. That he survived that maelstrom is amazing as well as the siege of Brest and the Autumn fighting on the German border. His book is not even 200 pages long, but it's quiet, modest tone is wonderful and a welcome antidote to all "I did this," style memoir by most officers. His articles for American Heritage, especially the D-Day commemorative (June 1994) are worth looking for. His was a gentleman soldier and a gifted observer and a fine writer. If you add this book to Balkoski's "Beyond the Beachhead," and Glover Johns' "The Clay Pigeons of St. Lo," and you will have a superb trilogy on the Blue Gray Division in World War II.

A Gentle Classic:
I first became aware of this book when reading American Heritage's D-Day issue. They believed this work was one of the finest World War II memoirs. I found a beat up paperback and I have to agree. Cawthon served with the 116th Regiment ("The Stonewall Brigade") of the 29th Division and was in the second wave on Omaha Beach. That he survived that maelstrom is amazing as well as the siege of Brest and the Autumn fighting on the German border. His book is not even 200 pages long, but it's quiet, modest tone is wonderful and a welcome antidote to all "I did this," style memoir by most officers. His articles for American Heritage, especially the D-Day commemorative (June 1994) are worth looking for. His was a gentleman soldier and a gifted observer and a fine writer. If you add this book to Balkoski's "Beyond the Beachhead," and Glover Johns' "The Clay Pigeons of St. Lo," and you will have a superb trilogy on the Blue Gray Division in World War II.