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Never Give Up the Jump: Combat, Resilience, and the Legacy of World War II through the Eyes and Voices of the Paratroopers, Wives, and Families of the 508th PIR
The daughter of a D-Day paratrooper and her husband, a PTSD therapist, discover a family legacy of love, trauma, and resilience when they set out to explore a vast trove of WWII correspondence, official military documents, personal effects, and unique militaria found in closets and basements after her father’s death.
Young Sue Gurwell had always known that her father had been a paratrooper. An old camo parachute from Holland served as her backyard tent, and high on a shelf she mustn’t touch, eight red devils in parachutes grinned from the front of mysterious drinking glasses Dad had sent Mom during the war. And then there was the special poem in his roll-top desk she sometimes snuck a peek at, written by a member of Dad’s regiment. This poem was a premonition of the sergeant’s death. “Yes,” her dad told her, “He was right—he died on D-Day.”
But it’s not until 2016, after her parents had both passed away, that Susan Gurwell Talley and her husband Jack L. Talley begin to understand the true extent and significance of the wartime artifacts that had been staples of Sue’s childhood. The Talley’s discovered that Sue’s father, Lt. George L. Gurwell, Executive Officer, HqHq, 508th PIR, had silently squirreled away thousands of wartime documents in the family home.
Like most combat veterans, George was never one to talk about the war; but the historic collection of official records, correspondence, photographs, maps, memorabilia, cultural artifacts, and unique ephemera constitute quite possibly the most extensive, various, and complete documentation of the 508th held privately today.
This precious resource could not have passed into better hands than those of Jack and Sue Talley. Jack, a PhD psychologist specializing in PTSD, was the first to understand that George had PTSD symptoms that still lingered from the war years when he and George were introduced on June 6, 2001. That evening, the 57th anniversary of D-Day, George first opened up about the war, and preceded to talk late into the night. In that conversation lies the genesis of this book.
Young Sue Gurwell had always known that her father had been a paratrooper. An old camo parachute from Holland served as her backyard tent, and high on a shelf she mustn’t touch, eight red devils in parachutes grinned from the front of mysterious drinking glasses Dad had sent Mom during the war. And then there was the special poem in his roll-top desk she sometimes snuck a peek at, written by a member of Dad’s regiment. This poem was a premonition of the sergeant’s death. “Yes,” her dad told her, “He was right—he died on D-Day.”
But it’s not until 2016, after her parents had both passed away, that Susan Gurwell Talley and her husband Jack L. Talley begin to understand the true extent and significance of the wartime artifacts that had been staples of Sue’s childhood. The Talley’s discovered that Sue’s father, Lt. George L. Gurwell, Executive Officer, HqHq, 508th PIR, had silently squirreled away thousands of wartime documents in the family home.
Like most combat veterans, George was never one to talk about the war; but the historic collection of official records, correspondence, photographs, maps, memorabilia, cultural artifacts, and unique ephemera constitute quite possibly the most extensive, various, and complete documentation of the 508th held privately today.
This precious resource could not have passed into better hands than those of Jack and Sue Talley. Jack, a PhD psychologist specializing in PTSD, was the first to understand that George had PTSD symptoms that still lingered from the war years when he and George were introduced on June 6, 2001. That evening, the 57th anniversary of D-Day, George first opened up about the war, and preceded to talk late into the night. In that conversation lies the genesis of this book.
432 pages, Hardcover
Published February 14, 2023
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 31, 2024
Where to begin? Never Give up the Jump by Jack and Susan Gurwell Talley is a book anyone who ever had a person serve in times of war should read. It speaks to the reader on many levels - from that of the person who has ever been the one left behind when a parent, sibling or child goes to war to that of the soldier engaged in the brutality war can bring. We see the hardships of those left behind who lost a loved one, yet despite their pain "soldiered" on to support those whose loved ones were still in the fight. We also see the toll the war took on 1st Lt. George Gurwell of the 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, part of the 82nd Airborne "All Americans". Lt. Gurwell’s letters show us snapshots of a soldier's struggles in the continuous losses of friends and fellow soldiers in the seemingly endless missions he took part in. Many of us have read of the atrocious losses the airborne suffered during WWII in a narrative form, however, in Never Give Up the Jump, we are guided by Jack Talley through the signs of PTSD that were Lt. Gurwell's letters and his coping mechanisms as he tried to seek solace in his letters to his wife Jeane, and her attempts to put up a brave front hiding the struggles many faced at home. As a child of a WWII glider pilot, I witnessed some of the signs in my own father that I never recognized as such until now. For anyone who truly wants to understand the toll of war on the individual as well as the collective group this is a must read. It is also a book that has done a great service to those veterans who remained and still remain voiceless.
~Monique Taylor
Author of Suicide Jockeys: The Making of the WWII Combat Glider Pilot, 2023.
~Monique Taylor
Author of Suicide Jockeys: The Making of the WWII Combat Glider Pilot, 2023.
April 9, 2023
Books like this are more important than ever to see into the thoughts and desires of those who lived through and those who supported our greatest generation. For them, it was a daily struggle that so many today fail to understand or comprehend, and as we move farther from such times, it is essential to remember them. Well, worth the time investment to read. I would love to hear from more descendants who first-hand know their loved ones' struggle through letters or other artifacts.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews