Honor Untarnished: A West Point Graduate's Memoir of World War II

by Donald V. Bennett

What the bestsellers Flags of Our Fathers was to Iwo Jima and Duty to the mission of the Enola Gay, Honor Untarnished is to the World War II tour of duty of young graduate of a West Point.

Whether it was fighting Rommel's fierce Afrika Korps hitting the beaches of Normandy on D Day, surviving the Battle of the Bulge, or just being in the next room during the infamous "slapping incident" of Blood-n-Guts General George Patton, Donald Bennett experienced the fiery crucible of World War II and survived to tell about it.

As a recent graduate of West Point, First Lieutenant Bennett was given the charge of training inexperienced and scared recruits, and leading them into battle against the Axis forces. From orientation at Fort Sill, Oklahoma through the fiercest battles of the war right up to the liberation of the death camps and our complicit confrontation with the Soviet Union over Eastern Europe, Don Bennett, not yet thirty, preserved the honor of the corps, and the liberty of the free world.

Lindbergh, Patton, Bradley, and Eisenhower are just names in a history book to most-but to Don Bennett they were personal acquaintances.

Genres: Military Fiction, Nonfiction, War, History, Memoir, Biography

304 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

Reviews

[Pete · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my father's memoir of the time from his youth through the end of WWII. I'd heard parts of the story, but much of it I learned for the first time.

[Sydney von Rosenberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Honest and emotional memoir of a WWII officer who, after graduating from West Point and marrying his college sweetheart, experienced some of the most thrilling and dangerous battles of the European theater: arriving in Casablanca for the North Africa campaign & defeating Vichy French and Italian forces; landing on the beaches of Normandy on D-Day and being the only surviving man to make it off of his Higgins boat; winning the Battle of the Bulge, which squashed the last major German offensive campaign; and finally, the end of the war, when tensions over the Soviet Union’s civilian atrocities/purges nearly plunged the US into another conflict.

[Wenzel Roessler · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent first hand account of such battles as Normandy and the Ardennes. Nothing is held back you learn the good along with the bad. And learn I did, this is the first I heard about the attack at Fort Mears in Alaska and the attack at Ellwood Field in California. Sometimes the authors repeat themselves in the book but overall this was an interesting telling of one person's view of WW2.

[Mason McCune · Rating 5 out of 5]

General Bennett has been a world of inspiration for me ever since I first heard of him. My grandmothers uncle, he passed a couple of years before I was born, but the inspirational story of his service lives on in our family. He proves even more inspiring to me in particular, since I want to work in international affairs in the future, something that Bennett knew very well in his service overseas, as well as domestically in Washington, DC. His story told in this book is unique since it depicts firsthand the story of a field officer in one of the most important and consequential moments in modern history. Taking you from his Depression-era youth in a sleepy Ohio community, to West Point in the early days of the War, scorching sands of Tunisia, movie-like scenes of Sicily, and beyond. General Bennett is a one-of-a-kind source on the Second World War that I whole heartedly recommend!

[Erin Marchant · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really worthwhile read. He writes very clearly and makes the story accessible to frequent readers of military books as well as newcomers. I really enjoyed the information about the start of the war as well as his time at West Point. If I have a complaint, it's that the story ends somewhat abruptly. Bennett puts lots of hints in the book about his life after the war and it sounded exciting; would have been interesting to read more about some of it.

[R. · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting memoir, but limited in scope to WWII. I liked it, and it lived up to the promise of the title, but I can't help feeling Bennett could have written about his career more broadly.

[Arthur Gibson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pros:
•Told from first person
•Stayed exciting throughout the book
•Overall imagery and sensory details to guide you along.
Cons:
•Repeated information/sentences way to many times.

Really enjoyed the story and because of that I give it an overall rating of 8 out of 10

[Becca · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful biography from an incredible member of the Greatest Generation. Humorous, honorable, personable.

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such a great book. It felt like I was sitting down with my grandfather and listening to his experiences.

[Leonard Romney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent. A memoir of a true hero of WWII. He writes well.