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Ridge Runner
Back cover description:
The Life Story of the Littlest Paratrooper
He ran the ridges of the Ozarks as a boy, helping his family survive the Depression by running trap lines and paddling johnboats on the Big Piney River. When World War II broke out, he joined the 101st Airborne and fought at Bastogne, where a small group of paratroopers were trapped in the snow and besieged by German troops in one of the nation's greatest and bloodiest battles. He returned to become a top-notch fishing guide and one of the Ozarks' most knowledgeable fishermen.
This is the story of one of the Ozarks' most colorful native sons...and this is a book filled with humor and nostalgia and a backwoods philosophy that will lift your spirits.
The Life Story of the Littlest Paratrooper
He ran the ridges of the Ozarks as a boy, helping his family survive the Depression by running trap lines and paddling johnboats on the Big Piney River. When World War II broke out, he joined the 101st Airborne and fought at Bastogne, where a small group of paratroopers were trapped in the snow and besieged by German troops in one of the nation's greatest and bloodiest battles. He returned to become a top-notch fishing guide and one of the Ozarks' most knowledgeable fishermen.
This is the story of one of the Ozarks' most colorful native sons...and this is a book filled with humor and nostalgia and a backwoods philosophy that will lift your spirits.
296 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 2002
30 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
July 30, 2017
I chose this book because the author is local and I happened to find a copy somewhere.
What I liked:
- I can't get enough of reading about the "Greatest Generation" of World War II and figuring out what made these people tick.
- Norten Dablemont, who has passed away since the book was published, had an indisputably interesting life. (Okay, the sizes and locations of various fish he caught might not have been that interesting, but those stats are mostly limited to the last couple of chapters.)
- While Ridge Runner contains quite a few curses, no blasphemy is repeated - and not, I feel sure, for lack of having been used in the army at the time.
What I didn't like:
- I wouldn't have objected if the author had bleeped the cussing as well as the blasphemy. It didn't offend me enough to DNF the book, but I dislike reading four-letter words again and again, and I don't feel it's necessary to spell those out in order to tell the story.
- As a Christian, it makes me sad that Dablemont doesn't seem to have had a robust understanding of the Gospel. His rural philosophy contains much common sense, but little in the way of redemption. From what he says in the book, he seems to have held the common view that people get to heaven by doing good or being kind, plus accepting a little help from Jesus to cover up major mistakes.
- Ridge-Runner, at least in this edition, is typo-ridden almost to the point of being distracting. It's not just misspellings and bad grammar, but stray words and phrases inserted frequently in the middle of sentences. Seriously, an editor is needed here.
Warnings:
- Apart from the cussing, don't read this book if you're sensitive to graphic war violence. And don't show this example, which is GRAPHIC: . Again, if you read that and it made you sick, don't read this book.
What I liked:
- I can't get enough of reading about the "Greatest Generation" of World War II and figuring out what made these people tick.
- Norten Dablemont, who has passed away since the book was published, had an indisputably interesting life. (Okay, the sizes and locations of various fish he caught might not have been that interesting, but those stats are mostly limited to the last couple of chapters.)
- While Ridge Runner contains quite a few curses, no blasphemy is repeated - and not, I feel sure, for lack of having been used in the army at the time.
What I didn't like:
- I wouldn't have objected if the author had bleeped the cussing as well as the blasphemy. It didn't offend me enough to DNF the book, but I dislike reading four-letter words again and again, and I don't feel it's necessary to spell those out in order to tell the story.
- As a Christian, it makes me sad that Dablemont doesn't seem to have had a robust understanding of the Gospel. His rural philosophy contains much common sense, but little in the way of redemption. From what he says in the book, he seems to have held the common view that people get to heaven by doing good or being kind, plus accepting a little help from Jesus to cover up major mistakes.
- Ridge-Runner, at least in this edition, is typo-ridden almost to the point of being distracting. It's not just misspellings and bad grammar, but stray words and phrases inserted frequently in the middle of sentences. Seriously, an editor is needed here.
Warnings:
- Apart from the cussing, don't read this book if you're sensitive to graphic war violence. And don't show this example, which is GRAPHIC: . Again, if you read that and it made you sick, don't read this book.
November 26, 2018
Absorbing autobiography of a man who grew up in the Ozarks during the Great Depression and fought in the Battle of the Bulge with the iconic 101st Airborne Division. There are some chapters mostly devoted to accounts of the author's fishing exploits, and not being a fisherman myself, I didn't find those all that interesting. Although some of the (presumably worse) profanity is "bleeped," there is quite a bit that isn't, which I personally find unnecessary and annoying. Overall, though, this was a good read, and especially eye-opening with regard to some of the struggles of the "Greatest Generation." Fellow millennials who read this sort of account will probably end up agreeing with me that we have very little to complain about.
March 2, 2024
A wonderful story that unintentionally teaches about Idaho history.
January 5, 2016
I wanted to share this book with my Grandad as soon as Norten began sharing his tales of growing up poor in rural Missouri. I've read my Grandad's account on growing up in harsh times and his opinion is that it makes for strong individuals. I can't envy him this, but I certainly appreciate the results. My Grandad is younger than Norten Dablemont and was part of what's termed The Silent Generation, maybe because they didn't complain so much.
Comparing poverty back-then to Dablemont's experience as a child during the Great Depression to poverty now in America is striking! I can't help thinking, "What can we complain about?" They may have had it better because even if they were often hungry, without shoes and eating bullfrogs or muskrats, they sure had the ability to live on almost nothing, mechanical skills to build their own home from scratch and a toughness that's come to dub them "The Greatest Generation."
I truly enjoyed following Norten from The Big Piney mud daubing upbringing to his personnel experience in the Ardennes forest at The Battle of The Bulge in WWll. Norten's sassy, no B.S.ing manner of speech entertained me to no end--just like my Grandad.
Comparing poverty back-then to Dablemont's experience as a child during the Great Depression to poverty now in America is striking! I can't help thinking, "What can we complain about?" They may have had it better because even if they were often hungry, without shoes and eating bullfrogs or muskrats, they sure had the ability to live on almost nothing, mechanical skills to build their own home from scratch and a toughness that's come to dub them "The Greatest Generation."
I truly enjoyed following Norten from The Big Piney mud daubing upbringing to his personnel experience in the Ardennes forest at The Battle of The Bulge in WWll. Norten's sassy, no B.S.ing manner of speech entertained me to no end--just like my Grandad.
June 28, 2013
A very true look into an interesting way of life gone by. I see it not only as just an interesting story, but as a small history buff it's a very good lesson. It was also a sentimental read for me because it reminded me of my grandpa who told us of the same pop gun incident, and who also went to war but never talked about it, perhaps I see why now. There are a few grammar mistakes but they are easily overlooked. Thank you Larry Dablemont (pronounced like table) for sharing your story.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews