Command Of Honor

April 14, 2008
Jeffers (Onward We Charge
), a former broadcast journalist and prolific author, chronicles the career of one of the forgotten heroes of WWII in this informative and sprightly popular biography. Born in Texas and raised in Oklahoma, Lucian Truscott (1895–1965) joined the army when war was declared in 1917, and though he spent the war on the Mexican border as a second lieutenant with the 17th Cavalry, he remained in the postwar army, acquiring a reputation as “a hell-raising cavalryman.” He also was a prime mover in turning the postwar horse cavalry “into a mechanized force.” After Pearl Harbor, Truscott went to England, where he set up an American-style commando unit, the First Ranger Battalion. He served as General Patton’s deputy for the invasion of North Africa, and as a commander in the invasions of Sicily and Anzio. Since most of his wartime service was in Italy—the “forgotten front”—and the “unpretentious” General Truscott didn’t seek attention, his crucial role in the Allied victory has been overshadowed by others. Students of military history will welcome this first—and long overdue—biography.

July 1, 2008
The distinguished Lt. Gen. Lucian K. Truscott Jr. has long needed a biography for general readers, and that is what this readable, if rambling, volume is. Raised in the Southwest, Truscott joined the army as a 90-day wonder in 1917 and remained in the cavalry during the interwar period. A colonel at the outbreak of World War II, he successively organized the first Ranger battalion, led a combat team ashore in French North Africa, commanded the Third Infantry Division in Italy and a corps in southern France, and after the war succeeded Patton in command of the Third Army during occupation duty in Germany. Retired for medical reasons, he finished out his public service as chief of operations for the CIA and the rest of a long and happy family life. A fine supplement to Truscotts memoirs, Command Missions (1954), and a useful, agreeable addition to WWII shelves.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)