Recon Trooper

Hugh Warren West was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1942, during the height of the Second World War. After nearly two years of intensive training, he went to Europe with the 14th Armored Division. This combat memoir covers fighting in Alsace, crossing the Rhine, breaching the Siegfried line, and battling throughout southern Germany. Based on official unit histories and exhaustive interviews with West, this soldier’s story is rich in personal anecdotes that run the gamut from humor to horror.

Hugh Warren West is a highly decorated combat veteran of World War II. Following the war, he resumed his career as a school teacher in Ontario, California, and now lives in Sherman Oaks, California.

John Scura, author and longtime television talk-variety show producer, was managing editor of the martial arts magazine Fighting Stars. He lives in Los Angeles.

Hugh Warren West with John Scura

Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 198
Bibliographic Info: 36 photos, notes, index
Copyright Date: 2010
pISBN: 978-0-7864-4812-8
eISBN: 978-0-7864-5565-2
Imprint: McFarland

Preface ( John Scura)      1

HATTEN—The Ordeal      3
ARIZONA—Family Beginnings      10
CAMP CHAFFEE, ARKANSAS—Basic Training      22
TENNESSEE—Advanced Training, Field Exercises      38
KENTUCKY—Further Advanced Training, War Games      43
NEW YORK TO MARSEILLES—The Difficult Atlantic Crossing      50
RHONE VALLEY TO ALSACE—Initial Fighting      58
BARR—Intense Battle      69
TO THE RHINE—Initial Attempt, and Failure to Cross      78
THE VOSGES—Fighting a German Counterattack      92
HATTEN—The American Stalingrad      96
NANCY—Hospitalized in the Rear      107
STRASBOURG—Allied Advance Renewed      113
ACROSS THE RHINE—Fighting through the Last Barrier      123
CREUSSEN—Another Deadly German Counterattack      143
MOOSBURG—Freeing Thousands of Allied POWs      157
THE DANUBE—Racing into Austria, VE Day      163
SOUTHERN EUROPE—Postwar Military Details      168
EDINBURGH—Stationing in Scotland      180
AMERICA—Home and Wife      184
EPILOGUE: THE RETURN—1990 Tour of ETO Battlefields      187

Index      189