World War II Heroes

Ten True Tales

by Allan Zullo

Ten true stories of real-life heroes from World War II!

Pfc. Jack Lucas -- just a teenager -- is on patrol on Iwo Jima when two grenades land at his feet. Can he save his comrades' lives? Lt. Col. James Rudder and his Rangers are climbing a 100-foot-high cliff on a secret D-Day mission. Can they survive the Nazis' devastating firepower? Sgt. Forrest Vosler is blinded and wounded from an attack by German fighter planes on his crippled bomber. Can he make it home?
The world was saved by these and many more real-life heroes. You will never forget their incredible true stories.

The war and its heroes --
"We've got to fight back!" --
The stowaway --
American bushido --
Attack in the devil's sea --
Hero without a gun --
Flying blind --
Mission impossible --
The ghost --
From jerk to hero --
Buffalo soldier

Genres: Nonfiction, History, World War II, Short Stories, Childrens, World War I, 20th Century

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2014

About the author

Allan Zullo is an American non-fiction writer. He is the author or co-author of more than eighty paperbacks for adults and children.

A native of Rockford, Illinois, Zullo graduated from Northern Illinois University in 1969 with a degree in journalism. His books include The Baseball Hall of Shame and Baseball Confidential (both co-written with Bruce Nash), A Boomer's Guide to Grandparenting (co-written with his wife Kathryn), and the Haunted Kids series. Zullo has also written articles for The National Enquirer, The Christian Science Monitor, Ladies Home Journal, and The Palm Beach Post. His syndicated comic strip "The Ghost Story Club" ran in American newspapers from 1995 to 1998.

Zullo currently lives in Fairview, North Carolina.

Reviews

[Preston M.]

Pretty good book. It's a nice short read when you are raging at surviv.io and don't want to play it for a few. Pretty good stories, of the people in the book are lucky to be alive. Recommend it for anyone who needs a short read and likes war books.

[Amanda Matthews]

I very much enjoyed and appreciated this book. It covered ten men I had never heard of, was easy and enjoyable to read, and made me appreciate and admire the men who served our country in WWII even more. There were a few words I marked out, but I was surprised that the language was not too vile. It was, of course, not a Christian book. It was fairly clean, not too descriptive or gory, though as a war biography, it definitely detailed some of the injuries these men had. I'm glad I found this book.

[Mark]

I think i'm just the guy interested in World War ll History!

[Matt Hills]

This is a very educational book with wonderful thrilling stories that really show the patriotism of this country.

[Landon Buchholtz]

Personal Response: I really liked reading this book. This was one of the best war books I have ever read. The book had stories from different WWI veterans. All of the stories were true. Each of the soldiers who told a story in this book received a Medal of Honor.

Plot: The book had stories from 10 WWI heroes. They were from different military branches. The branches the stories were from are Army, Navy, and Naval Air Force. The soldiers explained what they went through during WWI. One of the stories was about Captain Eddie Rickenbacker, a pilot that flew in the 94th Aero Squadron. He shot down 26 enemy planes and was in 134 air battles. Eddie passed away in 1973 when he was 88 years old. My second favorite story was about Major William “Billy” Bishop. He fought in the dogfights until he died in a low flight fight. He got shot in the heart and crashed at the age of 62. He had the 3rd most victorious pilot in WWI with 72 wins.

Characterization: There were many characters in this book. The heroes were: Alvin York, William “Billy” Bishop, John Barkley, Edouard Izac, James McConnell, Samuel Woodfill, Eddie Rickenbacker, Abraham Krotoshinsky. They were all part of the fighting 8th Infantry. I had much respect for these soldiers and the author of this book for listening to the men who told their stories. All of the soldiers were brave and made sacrifices for their country.

Setting: The stories were all placed during World War One. The book had stories from land, air, and sea in Europe. Most of the stories took place in Germany because that is where most of the battles occurred during WWI. The WWI time period was important to the stories because there were only certain weapons and airships available to the soldiers during WWI..

Recommendation: I recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in war or history. I think both genders will enjoy this book if they like learning about war. Readers should be 12 years old or older to read this book, because it had some graphic descriptions of war. I gave it a, five out of five.

[Ike]

Personal Response
I was really surprised at how much I liked this book. I really like war related books, but this one is really cool. I like how the author has different stories about nearly every kind or position in the war.

Plot
The plot is kind of weird. There are ten different stories in this book. The ten different Men all served their country in the cruelest and bloodiest war known to man. Most of them received the Medal of honor and their jobs all ranged from submarine captain to paratrooper.

Characterization
Like I said before there are ten men that all served their country

Setting
The setting is from about 1941 to 1956. Most of the stories take place in the European campaign in the fight against Hitler. The others take place on the way to Japan in the Pacific ocean.

Thematic connection
The main theme in this book I would say is to stand up for what you believe in no matter what the cost. Like many of the men in this book put their lives on the line to save others. The sheer selflessness is admirable and is a great thing.

Recommendation
I would recommend this book to mostly high school student boys. If anyone enjoys history this book would be a good read also.

[Tristen Wieters]

Personal Response: I think this is a good book because it talks about the heroic men that fought in and lived through World War One. I also like this book because it draws me into finish the story of each person. I like this book because it is so short and easy to read, but it has interesting words and phrases in it too. I especially like one of the stories where the guy lights people’s shoes on fire. I think it is funny.

Plot: This book deals with ten different stories of heroes from World War One. The plot of each of the ten stories is different, but it makes me wonder if any of these brave men met each other and were either friends, fought by each other’s side, or both. The end of each story is interesting to me because it is describing what the men did after the war and how they died.

Recommendation: I recommend this book to anyone who wants to find out about the stories of ten men who fought bravely in World War One. I recommend it to both genders. It is not too gruesome and if someone is squeamish in any way it will not bother them. I recommend the book to anyone that is at least middle school age, so they can understand the war terminology in the book.

[Jake B]

World War 1 Heroes is about ten amazing stories about soliders for world war 1 that made it out alive but got some scars along the way. It said the amazing things they did to get the awards that they got some even got the medal of honor.

I thought this book is a very good book and would tell any of my friends that they should read this book

[Joseph]

This has 10 short stories of WWII hero's that is well written and interesting to read. This is for teens, but a good little read for anyone. I am giving it a 5 star because of its importance of the subject and for its target audience. I have heard of some of them in other books I have read and it is very inspiring to read about them all. While they were all good stories, I think Captain Matt Urban, Private First Class Desmond Doss and Sergeant Forrest "Woody" Vosler.

[Garrit Clark]

I like this book because it had lots of adventure, it included ten true stories about World War two.
The stories were about people that got medals of honor. Some people kept fighting after the have been
wounded severely. Some people dived on a grenades to save their team. I recommend this book to people who have interest in war.

[Remington Isaacs]

#good book

[Matt Brandt]

10 incredible short stories of War 2 hero’s. Good easy read. Good for everyone but great for younger kids to learn about America’s real hero’s.

[Amanda Jones]

It is very interesting and goes into detail with the tales

[EliJah MErriman]

i would definitely recommend this book to whoever loves war books.very inspiring book

[Kris L]

Short but powerful stories of WWII heroes!

[Leo]

Has a good story, but there are more facts than there is story. I recommend this book if you like military or world war 2 history.

[Reagan Anderson]

This book was pretty good I’m just not all that interested in nonfiction but if you are I definitely recommend.

[Angela]

It's so important that these stories are told so that history is not forgotten.

[Willy Billy]

This book was not very fun to read at all, there wasn’t anything that made me want to come back for more.

[Logan]

It was a okay book about ww2. I don’t like history that much so it wasn’t as good.

[Spine]

It was an amazing book.

[Wanda Torres]

Read this with one of my students. Has great context clues which make good lesson book. Always good to have history told in testimonial form.

[Jonathan]

This is a good book. I like learning about World War Two, so it was interesting learning about soldiers who fought in the war.

[Diamond Leipprandt]

It was decent. I liked American Bushido the best.

[Ryan]

I really liked this book, It showed true love to this country. this book also showed bravery and it made the book super interesting and very fun. These short story made it easy too read but they weren't long enough for a whole book.

[John R]

9/27/16
World War II Heroes
Allan Zullo

World War II Heroes is a book about America's soldiers who went above and beyond the call of duty. World War II Heroes features many stories but my favorite was a story about a man named Desmond Doss. In the book, Doss is depicted as a man who signed up for the Army as a medic. What made him different from the other soldiers is that he never fired a gun due to his religious beliefs. He was always treated badly because he did not want to use a gun and everyone else did. His commanders even hated him for not using a gun. This all changed when his division was sent into combat in the Pacific. He saved the lives of many and gained the respect he never had.


The book talks about America's most honored soldiers. For example, people like Vernon Baker the African American who led a group of men on a raid of a castle in Italy and Lt Col. Ruder who led Rangers up the cliffs at D-day are mentioned. It shows the hardships the heroes went through to achieve hero status. Some men had to face discrimination while others were hated because of their personal beliefs. Men also had to face starvation while others faced severe injury. Every man's story is unique and different from the others.

[Zachary Peeters]

Personal Response-I really enjoyed this book a lot. I can honestly say this is the best book I've ever read. This book contains stories from different guys that actually were in WWI. They all told there own story of what happens when they were in the war. Each one of these brave heroes received the medal of honor.

Plot- This book is about ten war heroes that tell their story. It includes stories from army, navy, and naval air force. It explains what they all went through to protect their country. Two of the ten stories in this book were about two men that were in the Air Force. Captain Eddie Rickenbacker was a pilot in thew 94th Aero squadron, that shot down 26 enemy planes, he was in 134 air battles. Eddie died in 1973 at the age of 83. The second war hero was major William "Billy" Bishop that fought in dogfights till the day he died. He had the third most victory's in all of WWI with a record of 72 wins. He later died in a low fight as he got shot in the heart and crashed, he was 62 when he died. He was awarded the Medal of Honor.

Characterization- The heroes in this book were, Alvin York, William Bishop, John Barkley, Edouard Izac, James McConnell, Samuel Woodfill, Eddie Rickenbacker, Abraham Krotoshinsky. The fighting 8th infantry, William Nice were all the ones that had there stories told.

Recommendation- I recommend this book to everybody who is interested in history. I think both girls and boys from middle school up would enjoy it. It does have some graphic details, but that is expected in war stories. I give it a 5 out of 5.

[American Mensa]

10 True Tales showcases the bravery and patriotism of several WWII Medal of Honor recipients.

10 True Tales, by nonfiction writer Allan Zullo, tells ten awe-inspiring tales of Medal of Honor recipients who served during WWII. Each account narrates a different scenario highlighting the military environment, influence of religious beliefs, and the state of the country during war time. Zullo’s level of detail provides a very surreal experience as you visualize the battlefield where the heroes were fighting and whom they were fighting against. These anecdotes include a captured soldier’s experience in a Japanese POW camp and the story of the first living African-American Medal of Honor recipient. Many of the events in the book are riveting and tear jerking, like the hero who selflessly threw himself on a grenade to save his fellow brothers or the solider who fought for 18 hours straight during the raid on Pearl Harbor. Each entry tells of truly amazing feats of luck and skill experienced by those who protected America during World War II. 10 True Tales is truly inspiring and allowed me the privilege of knowing more about these brave heroes. I give this book 50 American stars and stripes.
Reviewed by Zander H., age 13, Mid-America Mensa

[Kyle Rousu]

This book is based in World War 11, and it really is 10 true tales(obviously). There is a hero in every tale, and they don't always escape unscathed. The world was saved by these and many more real-life heroes. You will never forget their incredible true stories.

I really think this is a great, thrilling book. I am interested in books about war, and how it affects the world. I have read it already, and I still love it. Every single page brings a new danger, and it almost automatically turns the page for you. Now that doesn't mean they can always escape the danger like the hero miraculously does in most books. Actually, a lot of the time the hero ends up in a hospital for about a year. In this way, it makes you want to read because the author changes it up a bit every time. All in all, one of my top ten books.

I would recommend it to any age ten and up. Just as long as you can understand the vocabulary, because some of it is tough. Also, there are some really scary and graphic scenes. I used to not like reading because it was boring. But, now reading is one of my favorite activities to do when I have time.

[Jack]

Each tale has it’s own amazing story. This book by Allen Zullo will allow you to see amazing stories about each branch of the military and the heroes in them.

What I enjoyed most about the book was the amount of detail in each story, the detail was down to the square inch, every part had its significance in the story. I remember it talking about the exact location of every wound the person got.

My second favorite feature of this book was the fact that at the end of every story, it says where they live now, what awards they were given with their time spent in war, it talks about how they died if they had died.

10 True tales WW1 Heroes was one of those books that had me reading it more and more everyday just because of how interesting it was, some of the stories were more interesting to me other stories were. I would definitely recommend this book especially if you love books about war, because in this book you get a lot of different perspectives about war.