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0-89587-169-6
$8.95 paperback
5 x 7
269 pages
B-W photographs |
The rumblings of war are
ominous as A Boy's War begins. Davis's story begins as he enters
his harrowing "Rat year" at Virginia Military Institute--not
to prepare for war, but simply to continue a tradition among Davis men.
But the army soon beckons. Davis's early experiences with wartime
bureaucracy include the degradations of mass physical examinations, the
rigors of basic training, and the infernal boredom, where "Hurry up
and wait" is the ruling maxim.
Picked for the medics, Davis
describes his odyssey through a series of camps, his introduction to the
ways of the world in Juarez, Mexico, his needlessly secretive, tortuous
journey by troopship to India, then across India by train, as he and his
fellow soldiers are confined in close quarters for forty-five days
without a bath; his stay at his final destination, Burma, and his unit's
final assignment to carry out the oppressive task of disinterring the
remains of American soldiers.
A Boy's War relates
one writer's experience of how luck, fatigue, and fear played leading
roles in determining soldiers' fates during a war fought mostly by boys,
many of whom like Davis learned far more than they cared to about life
and death before reaching voting age.
about the author
Paxton Davis worked as a reporter for the Winston-Salem Journal
and the Roanoke Times & World News and taught journalism at
Washington and Lee University for 23 years. He was also the author of
twelve books, including his memoirs, Being a
Boy and A Boy No More.
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