Warren R. Jackson

His Time in Hell, A Texas Marine in France, George B. Clark, editor, Presidio Press, 2001, 249 pages, maps and photos ISBN 9-780891-417514

This is one of the best autobiographies of a soldier (actually a Marine) that I have read recently.
The book is a memoir written by Warren R. Jackson prior to 1930 and found in the1990s. The book was edited by George B. Clark, who made great efforts to research the author and his unit. Little is known of Mr. Jackson before or after the war and where he died and is buried is unknown.

Mr. Jackson's writing style was engaging and he used subtle humor throughout. His choice of words and sentence structure was interesting and to me, showed an engaging intelligence and command of the English language. He used now archaic terms from the era and and scattered the occasional pun throughout.

He related day to day travails of the Marine infantryman and unintentionally painted a vivid picture of how inadequately the US was for war. The men were mistreated in training and in combat and their daily life outside actual combat was difficult at best. Frequently he mentioned going without food for days, even in quiet areas and when they would be supplied with food, it would be hard French bread or biscuits (US usage), and cold coffee. His comments illuminated the differences in food supply between the wars. While it was monotonous, the GI of WWII at least has nutritious food mostly available, where the Doughboy seemed to be on the verge of starvation often, especially when in close contact with the enemy, with what food provided, was cooked in the immediate rear areas.

The editor provided chapter-end notes that I think would have been better served as footnotes, to keep the reader from having to flip back and forth while reading. There were a few crude maps and several pages of photos, though none of Jackson. I suspect the editor tried to find some, but with so little known of Jackson, that proved an impossible task.

10/10 Well worth reading.… (altro)