My War

My War is a blunt, funny, idiosyncratic account of Andy Rooney’s World War II. As a young, naïve correspondent for The Stars and Stripes, Rooney flew bomber missions, arrived in France during the D-Day invasion, crossed the Rhine with the Allied forces, traveled to Paris for the Liberation, and was one of the first reporters into Buchenwald. Like so many of his generation, Rooney’s life was changed forever by the war. He saw life at the extremes of human experience, and wrote about what he observed, making it real to millions of men and women. My War is the story of an inexperienced kid learning the craft of journalism. It is by turns moving, suspenseful, and reflective. And Rooney’s unmistakable voice shines through on every page.

Pretty compelling, although could have used a better copy editor. ( )

You have to like his snarky, crotchety style to really enjoy this book. He relates an event where, as a member of a 155mm howitzer load crew during training in England, he disobeys orders from the artillery officer. He deliberately loads incorrect numbers of powder charges into the breech to ensure that the shell misses it's target. Thus, the gun crew's inaccurate performace would reflect poorly on the officer he did't like and somehow damage this officer's reputation with the command staff. Andy seemed to find this incident humorous and crowed about it for a bit. As a veteran, I found this to be unconscionable especially under war time conditions. Nothing remotely amusing about it at all. This really jaundiced the rest of the book for me.

His experiences were real, many dangerous but his opinionated writing style wore me down. I couldn't wait to close the cover. ( )

Andy Rooney was a Sergeant during World War II. He was detailed to the military newspaper, The Stars and Stripes. He reported from England, France and Germany. At the end of the war he spent a short time reporting from India and Burma. He reported the events when our forces captured the bridge at Remagen and crossed the Rhine. I enjoyed reading his impressions of Ernest Hemingway, other reporters and some of the high ranking United States officers. He often comments on how people he met during the war made their livings afterwards. ( )

War as only Andy Rooney can tell it. ( )