Old Man in a Baseball Cap

Just into the second paragraph of his lively and fresh wartime memoir, Rochlin writes that "Everybody has a story. I believe everyone's story is important; should be told, retold, written and recorded." Thank God, Rochlin told his. The greatest generation is fading fast. 1,000 World War II veterans die each day. And with them they take the first hand recollections of a great crusade that made this world worth living in. Had it not been for the courageous youth like Rochlin, Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan may have won that war and a new age of barbarism would have swept across the Earth.What is so intriguing about Rochlin's memoirs is how fresh they are. One would have expected a book like this to have been written during, or immediately after, the war. Instead, he waited some fifty odd years to record his recollections. Instead of coming across stale, blurred by the cobwebs of time, they are as pristine and as fresh as if they had been lived just yesterday.Rochlin's book is an honest book. All are not heroes in his text. There are soldiers such as Bradley Duncan Belchore thirsty for power, as evidenced by his statement to Rochlin: "Don't you know the only thing in life that's worth a damn is power and you get it any way you can." There are moments of beauty amidst the horror such as when Captain Connor, the flight surgeon, and Rochlin help deliver an Italian woman's baby. And, there are youth, thrust into a battle more horrible than they ever could have imagined, who are terrified beyond belief - such as Shaunessey, the bombardier, who went catatonic every time the B-24 went into flight.Although these men are not billed as heroes, they in fact were - warts and all. For what was at stake in that war was different than all the wars that had come before it. God Bless, Fred Rochlin, for keeping those memories alive and for sharing them with us.If you haven't heard his story, you owe it to yourself. This is one old man in a baseball cap worth listening too.

The magic of Old Man in a Baseball Cap is not the marvelous people you meet or the enduring glimpse of humanity Rochlin provides. The magic is the images that you unknowingly absorb while reading this book, images that come back to you and provoke thought, laughter and reflection. Rochlin writes with incredible ease and grace about what he saw as a young man in Italy during World War II. Most of us, I fear, would lock those images away in the darkest closet we could find. But Rochlin shares them with us in such an accessable manner that when reading this marvelous book we're able to touch the highs and lows we're all capable of. And isn't that what good writing is all about? I had only one regret in reading Old Man in a Baseball Cap. It ended much too quickly. Which is why I'm going back to page one and starting again.

This is a wonderful book of stories, not so much about war, but about a young man's experiences in extraordinary cirumstances. Rochlin is funny and moving as he recounts bizarre tales of humanity in all its ugliness and beauty. I couldn't put the book down. I loved Rochlin's voice, his plain-talking, no-nonsense appraoch to love and war. This is a must-read for anyone interested in truth, memoir, and coming of age. A classic that will keep you laughing and crying, and unable to stop thinking about it for a long time.

After reading this book, I'm stunned by how easy us Gen-Xers have it these days. I thought about the life or death choices this poor guy had to make before he was twenty years old and it stunned me. The fact that Rochlin is so articulate, witty and charming is actually a bit disarming. He talks about war, fear, sex, survival and lust with such honesty and clarity that I wondered why he waited so long to put this book on the page. Whatever the reason, it's finally here for you to read and I highly recommend it. There's one more thing I'd like to add: some people create incredible stories...other people live them. Hats off to this incredible person.

This books SEEMS slim at first: justa collection of war stories. But within a page or two I was hooked. Rochlin is a spare, vivid story-teller, the WWII stories he tells based on his experiences as a pilot are jaw-dropping. This book scares you, makes you cry, arouses you (yes, it's true) and in the end sears itself in your mind. I idly thumbed through it in my car outside the bookstore and stayed in the parking lot reading it for two hours. What a gift he's given us!