D Day with the Screaming Eagles

George is my father's uncle. He began writing this book a LONG time ago, and the results are impeccable. Without editorial content, without color or shade, tells the stories in a matter of fact voice. Yet, the book is gripping, and the stories themselves will all but overwhelm you with the reality of what happened that day and the days following. I now understand why my father refused to let me read the book when I was young. He never wanted the young and impressionable me to see the horrors he saw, and didn't want those images in my mind. However, the facts of history must be preserved and known to benefit us. Kudos to George Koskimaki for writing, preserving, and ultimately enriching the future for having so carefully preserving the knowledge of the past, knowledge that is so often colored or misrepresented or simply glorified. If you wish to know how it was and what happened, then this book is invaluable. If you're looking for a tale, written to entertain, this is not it.

As a member of the 101st who participated in the invasion of Normandy, George Koskimaki's insights are incredibly insightful--but George goes even further and collects first person accounts from dozens of participants in this crucial action. This is history by those who made it, and lived it. I agree with those who feel that a full understanding of the actions of the 101st cannot be realized without reading Koskimai's books!

George Koskimaki provides a great account of what the troopers experienced during the great invasion of France. It's a detailed account of action for the 101ST Airborne. Amust read for History buffs, and reenactors.

The author was a T/5 (Technician 5th Grade) of the 502nd PIR (Parachute Infantry Regiment) when he jumped as the 5th man in the 16-men stick in the lead plane of his serial on D-Day in Normandy serving as a radioman to Brigadier General Maxwell D. Taylor, the C.O. (commanding officer) of the 101st Airborne Division. A total of 518 former paratroopers and glidermen have told their firsthand accounts to the author, today aged of 85 and living in Northville, Michican. About the book from the backcover: "A TRULY AMAZING COMPENDIUM." - Gerald J. Higgins, major general, U.S. Army (ret.), from the Foreword "In the predawn darkness of D-day, an elite fighting force struck the first blows against Hitler's Fortress Europe. Braving a hail of enemy gunfire and mortars, bold invaders from the sky descended into the hedgerow country and swarmed the meadows of Normandy. Some would live, some would die, but all would fight with the guts and determination that made them the most famous U.S. Army division in World War II: the 101st Airborne "Screaming Eagles." George Koskimaki was part of the 101st Airborne's daring parachute landing into occupied France that day. Now, drawing on more than five hundred firsthand accounts - including the never-before-published experience of the trailblazing pathfinders and glidermen - Koskimaki re-creates those critical hours in all ferocity and terror. Told by those who ultimated prevailed - ordinary Americans who faced an extraordinary challenge - "D-Day with the Screaming Eagles" is the real history of that climactic struggle beyond the beachhead."

This book gives detailed information on each regiment and battalion of the 101st and its operations on d day. The storyteling is strictly informational, but keeps you excited. Some info and maps are very helpful, this book finally helped me to recreate the famous "jeep ride of Col. Sink", as it gives detailed maps of most important events of the 101st.If your interested in the 101st or D day or in WWII in general, buy it, it is packed with information.