The Remains of Company D: A Story of the Great War

I loved this book. Now that we have gotten that out of the way, let me tell you why. I am a great fan of military history and have been reading books on battles, wars and combatants for more years than I care to remember. For a long time I stuck with the tried and true, Civil War and WWII. When I saw The Remains of Company D: A Story of the Great War, I was excited, I'm finally expanding my interests to other eras. I was not disappointed with this book. It tells the story of a company of US solders, from their recruitment to the lives they lived after the war. So many books don't give you the human element and Remains does this better than any other book I've read. Another aspect of the book that I found so interesting was the detail about the life of the doughboy at the front. I still can't even begin to imagine what it must have been like to go "over the top" and run towards the enemy trenches. The sacrifices that were made are almost incomprehensible and we certainly owe more gratitude than we can express to our veterans of the Great War and all the other wars our country has been involved with from the founding of our country to today. If you like military history, I can't recommend this book enough.

One of my best friends growing up was the grandson of a First Infantry Division rifleman who was badly wounded at Soissons. He rarely spoke of the war, and I vividly recall him breaking down and sobbing uncontollably as he tried to describe his experience in the battle sixty years after the summer of 1918. After reading this book, I can understand why. I think the author does an excellent job of presenting the First World War as seen through the sights of a rifle. The events recounted in the book are nearly a century in the past, but they are brought vividly to life by the many first person anecdotes presented in this fine book. The book is also valuable because of the insight it provides into the experiences of the soldier's families during and after the war, emphasizing the high price paid by everyone concerned. I enjoyed this book very much.

In a riveting narrative that puts diaries, letters and action reports to good use, James Nelson delivers a stunningly vivid history of the Great War. He is equally at ease and equally generous and sympathetic probing the hearts and minds of lowly soldiers in the trenches or examining the thoughts and motivations of leaders who directed the maelstrom. In the end, Nelson leaves us with a brilliant, panoramic portrait of an epic struggle that was at once noble and futile, world-shaking and pathetic.

Synopsis: The Remains of Company D, by James Nelson, is an account of Company D of the 28th United States Infantry Regiment and its ordeal on the Western Front in war torn France towards the end of World War 1. As the grandson of one of the soldiers of Company D, Nelson sought to find details of his grandfather's hidden life after his grandfather's death in 1993. What he found was the lives of dozens of men who lived and died in the trenches and life stories as profound as that of his grandfather. Nelson writes chronologically, first detailing his relationship with his Grandfather, a World War 1 veteran, then moving on to the world of the early 20th century and the actions of Company D in the war. He details some of the contacts he made and the research he did as he discovered the lives of his grandfather's comrades at arms. The book uses written accounts from memoirs, letters and newspaper reports to tell the very personal stories from before and after the war of many of the men of Company D who fought and died in France. Review World War 1 books are relatively rare these days. Overshadowed by the war that the children of World War 1 veterans fought, it's a mostly forgotten war that many seem only to know of because of the mere fact that to have 2nd World War, there must have been a first one. Nelson makes a profound statement in this book that really caught my attention, that it is through those that did NOT survive the war that the most information about it can be found. Those who died left behind grieving families who saved what mementos and treasures of their loved ones that they could. It's those things that make up a lot of the sources of this book and are referenced in its title. Those who survived often did not keep their history or talk about it. I can completely understand this statement. As a grandson of a World War 2 vet who died when I was young, I know the mystery that comes with having a loved one who had a profound experience in war and yet never shared it. Thankfully, unlike Nelson, I have letters and diaries from that time which let me get to know him. I've done some similar research of my own as well so I know full well the immense amount of work Nelson has put into this book. His research is outstanding. He has tied together countless newspaper articles, personal memoirs, recollections of relatives, letters, and divisional reports to give a sometimes day by day account of men who fought and died in France. He details their backgrounds in the United States and their fates, both before and after the war, and includes how those fates affected their families. An amazing level of research that undoubtedly took many years. He tends to jump around a bit as he writes, introducing a soldier and giving their background before launching into their story. It can be disconcerting at times, but it works well overall. Nelson is a solid writer, and he achieves his goal, making the men of Company people into men again, not just

We suffer from a lack of good World War I books. The majority of books, like the war, have thousands of men going "over the top" into massed machine guns. This is not a criticism of the authors but a statement of fact. Years ago, when they were inexpensive, I bought several "how to" books written by British officers for American officers. Reading them, I came to understand that No Man's Land was a varied place with multiple tactical problems. Most of the war was much more than a massed attack destined to end badly. The author's grandfather fought in the First Division in 1918 on the Western Front. What follows is not a history of the AEF or the First Division. This is a history of Company D, 28th Infantry Regiment and what combat in 1918 was like. Working with a combination of first person accounts, standard histories and newspapers the author constructs his story. We move from the front, to the rear, to home and back again quickly. Sometimes this can be jarring but it presents a more complete story, giving us a fuller understanding of why and how of things happening to D Company at the front. The maps are good, most at one mile to the inch, and allow the reader to gain an indertanding of where the men are. In addition to the war, we get a look at the American midwest during the war and life almost 100 years ago. The chapters "In the Interest of Humanity" and "To the End of Your Days" are worth the price of the book. This is powerful stuff dealing with loss and the impact of war on the following years. The men who fought are gone now. This book is an excellent tribute to them and the price they paid making "the world safe for democracy."