Description

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The history of combat and culture in a celebrated National Guard unit from the Midwest 

Red Arrow across the Pacific reveals the long-overdue story of the Thirty-Second “Red Arrow” Infantry Division and the crucial role it played in the Pacific during World War II. Discover how this National Guard unit from Wisconsin and Michigan became one of the first US military units deployed overseas in World War II, eventually logging more combat hours than any other US Army division.

Far more than a traditional battle narrative, Red Arrow across the Pacific offers a cultural history of the Red Arrow’s wartime experience, from its mobilization in 1940, to its deployment across New Guinea, Australia, and the Philippines, to its postwar occupation of Japan. Drawing from letters, memoirs, and interviews, author Mark D. Van Ells lets the soldiers speak for themselves, describing in their own words the terror of combat, their impressions of foreign lands, the struggle to maintain their own humanity, and the many ways the war profoundly changed them.

Nuanced and remarkably thorough, this book explores the dramatic evolution of the Thirty-Second Infantry Division and reveals how the story of the Red Arrow reflects the experience of the US military during World War II.
 

About the Author

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Mark D. Van Ells is a professor of history at Queensborough Community College of the City University of New York. He received his PhD in history from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and is a native of the Badger State. Van Ells is the author of To Hear Only Thunder Again: America’s World War II Veterans Come Home and America and World War I: A Traveler’s Guide. His website is markdvanells.com.