Jeffrey Badger

This book documents what Jeffrey Badger discovered when he started trying to find information about his grandfather’s life as a member of the US Army’s 978th Engineer Maintenance Company during World War II. It is a very personal account of his search and it includes the dialogue from numerous interviews, by phone, by e-mail and face-to-face, with many GIs who were in his grandfather’s unit.

Jeffrey’s narrative is very conversational and his method of reporting his interviewees’ words as they were given helps make the content very personal and gives the reader the impression that he/she is hearing these people’s stories at first hand.

The 978th Company was a support company, i.e. its primary function was not combat. As pointed out in the text (and supported by Sun Tzu’s “Art of War”), in any war, and WWII was not exception, there are about ten support personnel involved for every combat soldier. This book gives an insight into the war of the majority of service personnel involved in the war.

Reading this book I got a sense for Jeffrey Badger’s eagerness to learn about the grandfather he never knew, but I also witnessed the growing sense in the author that it was about more than his grandfather, that it was about all the men of the 978th and about how they have coped with the memories they have of a very terrible time in their lives.

This book is an honest presentation of the stories of ordinary people caught up in a terrible situation. It does not glamorize the war or make heroes of the soldiers. It presents the reality of ordinary people in an extraordinary situation where they are separated from family and friends, where they witness horrible things, and where they find themselves in a land where they cannot easily communicate with the local community.

Not only does the author tell the stories of the GIs that he manages to track down, but he includes the stories of ordinary civilians in The Netherlands and Germany who interacted with the personnel of the 978th and who were caught up in the war.

This is a fascinating book, well put together, honest, and accessible to all. While Jeffrey Badger is an American seeking information about his GI grandfather’s life during the war, his book contains information of interest for anyone thinking about the lives of their family members in years gone by.

“Finding Granddad’s War” is a fitting memorial to the members of the 978th and to all the ordinary people caught up in war everywhere.… (altro)