On Time, on Target: The World War II Memoir OS a Field Artillery Paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne

LOOKING FOR A QUICK REVIEW?: Great book, written by an airborne vet that fought in every major 82nd campaign from June 6, 1944 to VE Day.LOOKING FOR DETAIL?: The author was a forward artillery observer whose job it was to hang with an infantry platoon and direct shells into enemy concentrations. He was therefore always in harms way and has many death defying stories to tell. He fought in all of the major campaigns from D-Day to Market Garden to the Bulge to the Rhine, was captured by the SS..and still lived to tell the world what he had seen. This fact alone should justify purchasing this book. But for an added bonus there is more...Not only does McKenzie tell his story but he adds the feelings and sentiments of the times so that the reader gets an idea of what life was like during the 'greatest generation'. Although the writing style is sometimes laborious and he has a tendency to jump around, this does not take away from the effect of the book. In fact it gives you the feeling that this is just a normal guys story...which is in fact the most important story of all.

Having read John McKenzie's book, about how he experienced his days in the U. S. Army during World War II, I felt like I was there with him. His descriptive style kept me captivated and almost feeling what he felt. I have been a paratrooper and have been in combat and know that it is not constantly being under fire nor is it like "a bed of roses". As John indicates, times can seem very miserable and at times horrific. While at other times, a person can find some enjoyment when the occasion rises. I highly recommend this book to everyone, because John and his comrads are the ones that helped make this world a lot better for all of us! My heartfelt thanks go out to him and the others that put it on the line for our freedom!

"On Time On Target" (The World War II Memoir of a Paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne) is a wonderful book with the unimpeachable smack of reality on every page. John MacKenzie gives us the stench of bodies, the terror of peering up from your mud-filled foxhole as your own planes drop 500-pound bombs on you, and the freaked-out reveille of waking to one of your deranged buddies holding a .45 to your head, threatening to shoot you because you know he's the one who shot a horse. And on and on, the telling nitty-gritty details of the paratrooper's life in the soup. But he also gives us keen, witty and insightful digressions, not only of his feelings and assessments then, when he was a twenty-year-old in the midst of action, but his later evaluations after fifty years of rumination. The chapter entitled, "Reflections on Elite Units" is worth the price of the book alone. This is the real deal, from a guy who was there, the best type of American fighting man, a good and decent citizen who wouldn't have gone unless they dragged him, but once there did his job and kept his eyes and ears open (not an easy task)and whose observations and memories now reward us and add significantly to the history of works on war. Outstanding and indispensible!

Author John McKenzie, veteran of the 82nd Airborne's enlisted ranks from Normandy through the Battle of the Bulge and on across the Elbe River, has written a marvelous, highly-readable and scrupulously honest account of his personal experiences of war. An artillery forward observer, he literally had the best possible views of engagement after engagement, and his range of experiences ran from a glider assault through capture by and escape from SS panzer troops, to cracking the Siegfried Line. Among the many contributions made by this classic account of history's greatest war, are the soldier's details, from the embarrassing nature of field latrines, to ration comparisons, to the painful lack of winter uniforms and equipment as the 82nd dug its heels into the snow and ice to halt the German offensive in the Ardennes. As a career soldier myself (though of far lesser experience than John McKenzie), I valued this book for its truth. As a reader, I found it a delight that passed by swiftly and ended too soon. Strongly recommended for soldiers, civilians and students of history's harsh realities.

Above all, this fine battlefield memoir is distinguished by clarity and honesty. John McKenzie's tale takes him from university student through wartime military training, the invasion of Normandy, Operation Market Garden, the Battle of the Bulge--and on into the cold peace and confrontations with our Russian "allies." McKenzie never strives for effect or spares himself. He describes his reactions to combat unsparingly and has a special knack for capturing the mundane aspects of a military campaign. He seems a man of great fairness and sound judgement, which makes his enlisted-man's view of the greatest battles of the allied campaign in the west especially valuable. Whether describing ad hoc paratrooper training in England or missions as a field artillery observer behind enemy lines, the brutality and fanaticism of SS officers or the human bonds that turn individual soldiers into a real unit, McKenzie has done a fine job. This is an excellent, highly-readable addition to the literature on World War II from a thoughtful, quietly-heroic man who embodies the traditions of the American citizen-soldier. Very highly recommended!