Book for VeteransBooks for Veterans

Looking for your next great book that combines heroism, action, and the pain and triumph of war? Check out these five great reads that Veterans will especially enjoy.

The Forgotten 500
by Gregory A. Freeman

In 1944, during a bombing campaign over Romanian oil fields, hundreds of American airmen were shot down in Nazi-occupied Yugoslavia. Local Serbian farmers and peasants risked their lives to give refuge to the soldiers while they waited for rescue. When the rescue operation was launched, the starving Americans had to construct a landing strip large enough to land cargo planes, in total secrecy, without tools and without endangering the villagers. Classified for over half a century for political reasons, the full account of this unforgettable story of loyalty, self-sacrifice, and bravery is now being told for the first time.

Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption
by Laura Hillenbrand

Hailed by Time as the top non-fiction book of the year and now a motion picture, Unbroken tells the story of Louis Zamperini, a juvenile delinquent-turned-Olympic runner-turned-Army hero. During a routine flight in 1943, his bomber was shot down over the Pacific, where he would face a struggle of survival against the elements that would only worsen when captured and imprisoned in Japanese P.O.W. camps for three years. He would become the target of extensive torture by one notorious guard, and only his determination and resilience kept him alive until his liberation. The story follows his troubled return to society and eventual reckoning with memories, vengeance, forgiveness, and peace.

George Washington’s Secret Six: The Spy Ring That Saved the American Revolution
by Brian Kilmeade and Don Yaeger

When George Washington realized in 1776 that he couldn’t defeat the British with military might, he recruited a sophisticated and deeply secretive intelligence network to infiltrate New York. Now known as the Culper Spy Ring, the little-known group was comprised of a reserved Quaker merchant, a tavern keeper, a brash young longshoreman, a curmudgeonly Long Island bachelor, a coffeehouse owner, and a mysterious woman. An intriguing and entertaining read, this book offers fascinating historical narrative.

A Higher Call: An Incredible True Story of Combat and Chivalry in the War-Torn Skies of World War II
by Adam Makos and Larry Alexander

In December 1943, a badly damaged American bomber struggles to fly over wartime Germany. At the controls is twenty-one-year-old Second Lieutenant Charlie Brown, half his crew lays wounded or dead on this, their first mission. Suddenly, a Messerschmitt fighter pulls up on the bomber’s tail, piloted by German ace Franz Stigler, able to destroy the young American crew with the squeeze of a trigger. What happens next would later be classified by the U.S. 8th Air Force as “top secret,” and could have placed the German pilot in front of a firing squad. The extraordinary encounter would haunt both Charlie and Franz for 40 years until, as old men, they would search the world for each other.

American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History
by Chris Kyle, Scott McEwen, and Jim DeFelice

Now a motion picture directed by Clint Eastwood, American Sniper tells the story of U.S. Navy Seal Chris Kyle who, from 1999-2009, recorded the most sniper kills in U.S. military history. During the Iraq war, the enemy feared him so much they named him al-Shaitan (“the devil”) and placed a bounty on his head. Kyle, who was tragically killed in 2013, writes honestly about the pain of war (including the deaths of two close SEAL teammates) and the strains of war on the family and on a soldier himself. Gripping and unforgettable, the extraordinary battlefield experiences rank as one of the great war memoirs of all time.

Megan Hammons lives in the Central Texas countryside just outside of Austin, pursuing her love for copywriting after a career in high-tech marketing. She is part of a large, diverse family and enjoys spending time with the multiple generations living in her community.

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