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    Forgotten: The Untold Story of D-Day's Black Heroes, at Home and at War
    Unavailable
    Forgotten: The Untold Story of D-Day's Black Heroes, at Home and at War
    Unavailable
    Forgotten: The Untold Story of D-Day's Black Heroes, at Home and at War
    Ebook510 pages7 hours

    Forgotten: The Untold Story of D-Day's Black Heroes, at Home and at War

    By Linda Hervieux

    4.5/5

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    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    "An utterly compelling account of the African Americans who played a crucial and dangerous role in the invasion of Europe. The story of their heroic duty is long overdue.” —Tom Brokaw, author of The Greatest Generation

    The injustices of 1940s Jim Crow America are brought to life in this extraordinary blend of military and social history—a story that pays tribute to the valor of an all-Black battalion whose crucial contributions at D-Day have gone unrecognized to this day.

    In the early hours of June 6, 1944, the 320th Barrage Balloon Battalion, a unit of African-American soldiers, landed on the beaches of France. Their orders were to man a curtain of armed balloons meant to deter enemy aircraft. One member of the 320th would be nominated for the Medal of Honor, an award he would never receive. The nation’s highest decoration was not given to Black soldiers in World War II.

    Drawing on newly uncovered military records and dozens of original interviews with surviving members of the 320th and their families, Linda Hervieux tells the story of these heroic men charged with an extraordinary mission, whose contributions to one of the most celebrated events in modern history have been overlooked. Members of the 320th—Wilson Monk, a jack-of-all-trades from Atlantic City; Henry Parham, the son of sharecroppers from rural Virginia; William Dabney, an eager 17-year-old from Roanoke, Virginia; Samuel Mattison, a charming romantic from Columbus, Ohio—and thousands of other African Americans were sent abroad to fight for liberties denied them at home. In England and Europe, these soldiers discovered freedom they had not known in a homeland that treated them as second-class citizens—experiences they carried back to America, fueling the budding civil rights movement.

    In telling the story of the 320th Barrage Balloon Battalion, Hervieux offers a vivid account of the tension between racial politics and national service in wartime America, and a moving narrative of human bravery and perseverance in the face of injustice.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateOct 27, 2015
    ISBN9780062313812
    Unavailable
    Forgotten: The Untold Story of D-Day's Black Heroes, at Home and at War
    Author

    Linda Hervieux

    Linda Hervieux is a journalist and photographer whose work has appeared in publications including The New York Times, the New York Daily News, and The Daily Beast. A native of Lowell, Massachusetts, she lives in Paris, France, with her husband. This is her first book.     

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    Reviews for Forgotten

    4.5/5

    17 ratings7 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Solid entry in an excellent series. A Jewish school is vandalized and the unlikely perp caught. One of Rina's boys becomes a key conduit into a college admissions ring that moves prep school boys into the best colleges. The bodies(5) pile up before the Decker and his team sort it out.
    • 4/5
      4.5 hours abridged. I found this book in a second -hand store. Story of a modern Jewish mother, Rina whose modest place of worship has been desecrated with anti-Semitic graffiti. Her husband, Lt. Peter Decker is on the case. The suspects end up missing or dead and the trail takes curves and has dead ends. .......The characters are well developed and very relatable. Because the version I had was abridged, I got lost with some of the dective co-hort names. It seemed like there were too many of them or I just missed information because of the abridgement. I listened to it two times because I enjoyed the narrator so much. I love a good narrator!! If you see his name on another story, you won't be disappointed. I could not find this book in ANY of the book searches. I entered my informaion by hand.
    • 4/5
      Fairly interesting book about an American battalion of black soldiers who handled the barrage balloons used during the invasion of Normandy. These brave men went in to protect the beaches from German aircraft who could get caught in the cables of these balloons floating over the beach, and if the cable smashes the balloon into the airplane, explosives in the balloon would destroy the attacker. Almost every photo of the beaches of Normandy show these barrage balloons, but the fact they were operated by black soldiers is not noted. Several of the men in the battalion are discussed, but like many black units from before the Korean War, their contributions have been forgotten as the book's title shows.However, at the 65th anniversary of the invasion of the Normandy beaches, William G. Dabney, the last known survivor of the battalion, was awarded the French Legion of Honor for their contributions. A good book to add to World War II collections, black history libraries, and the history of aircraft development.
    • 3/5
      This is the 13th of the Decker/Lazarus series and I have enjoyed each one. I have learnt a lot about the Jewish faith and have loved watching Peter and Rina's relationship grow.Back Cover Blurb:A place of worship is vandalised, daubed swastikas testifying to a hatred that, for a time at least, defies understanding.But the Deckers, Rina and her detective husband Peter, soon realise the violence done to their synagogue can be traced to one deeply disturbed adolescent, Ernesto Golding. Born into privilege but obsessed by the past, he is eventually charged, his case closed. But Peter Decker still worries that others were involved. And six months later Ernesto is found murdered.Suddenly Decker and his family are plunged into a ghastly world, of damaged youth, ruthless parents, and of secrets, their roots in the horrors of the last generation, that seem to demand ultimate retribution....
    • 4/5
      Absolutely gripping. Kellerman does not provide easy answers and she has a sympathetic but unwavering eye when it comes to family relationships. The Forgotten can be a heart-wrenching read at times as it deals with both the Holocaust and parents facing the loss of a child.
    • 4/5
      Though I've been reading her husband's books for years, I'd never read a Faye Kellerman book. I picked up this for cheap at the book fair and decided to give it a shot. I didn't realize it was the 13th in a series! There was obviously back story, but I don't feel like I was missing too much. The book itself was pretty good. I found myself fairly engrossed by the end. I wasn't expecting to finish it last night, but before I knew it, I was done!
    • 4/5
      One of the better Decker and Rina novels, Faye Kellerman still has what it takes to write a gripping mystery/police procedural. While character development continues to be her strong suit, Kellerman gets the details right too.This is the 13th installment in this series, but you don't need to read the first 12 to enjoy this story or understand the characters. Kellerman finds logical ways to re-introduce material from earlier stories that is needed for continuity. Even if you've never read a Decker and Rina book, you'll be able to follow this one.The story starts with the Deckers' synagogue being vandalized. Soon, the kid who vandalized the synagogue is killed, as is his shrink. Decker, with Rina's help, has to figure out what the connection is.A very enjoyable read.