Book Recommendations for Memorial Day Weekend - 2021

Memorial Day weekend is a time to barbeque, watch baseball, ride bikes, go for a hike, and generally spend time with the ones we love. But it’s also a time to reflect on at what cost these everyday freedoms come. It’s an unfortunate reality of Memorial Day that those we’re celebrating aren’t able to join us. They instead paid the ultimate price. As a salute to their sacrifice—I thought it appropriate to list some of my favorite books that have led to my own reflection on the bravest of the brave.

Navy SEALs by Dick Couch and William Doyle:

When it comes to sacrifice—the Navy SEALs have it in abundance. This book dives into how the SEAL Teams (Sea, Air, and Land) developed from the earlier Underwater Demolition Teams (Frogmen) to become the leaders of some of the country’s most dangerous special operations. From Omaha Beach to Saipan, Wonsan Harbor to The Isle of the Pines, and Vietnam to the War on Terror—this only begins to cover the areas where the “Teams” have put themselves in harm’s way, but it’s a good starting point. In Appendix E of the book, you will find a section, “Those Who Made the Ultimate Sacrifice,” 280 names fill the pages that follow. Those names and their families are the reason for Memorial Day weekend.

Flags of Our Fathers by James Bradley:

It has been just over 75 years since the Battle of Iwo Jima. Where a group of Marines raised our flag, claiming victory of the island in the Pacific. This book is written by James Bradley, the son of John Bradley (the most recognizable Marine in the photo). John Bradley hardly spoke about the war throughout his adult life, which led to James researching the events his father was reluctant to share—what he found turned into this interesting story about how six Marines and one photograph changed the momentum of the war in the Pacific. 

Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush by Jon Meacham:

Jon Meacham is both a great historian (my personal favorite) and storyteller. For more than a decade, he spent time at Walker’s Point in Kennebunkport, Maine interviewing our 41st President, whose life indeed was an American Odyssey. From the privileged begging in Greenwich, to becoming the youngest U.S. fighter pilot in World War II, to the oil fields of Odessa and Midland, to New York as ambassador to the U.N., to China, and back to D.C., where the former Congressman became director of the CIA, and on and on and on—the resume keeps going. It’s one of the most impressive in the last century—but what it doesn’t show is who President Bush the man really was. What drove “Poppy” Bush to pursue his storied life of public service? Many close to him believe it was the fact that he was the one who survived. Unlike his comrades lost to the waters surrounding the island of Chichi Jima—George Herbert Walker Bush was spared. Not a day would pass following the incident of September 2, 1944, that the future commander-in-chief wouldn’t think about his fellow airmen that would not return. 

Sources:

Bradley, James & Powers, Ron. Flags of Our Fathers. Bantam, 2000.

Couch, Dick & Doyle, William. Navy SEALs. Morrow, 2014.

Meacham, Jon. Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush. Penguin Random House, 2015.