EVERY MAN A HERO

The vast majority of World War II veterans have died in recent
decades, but at 98, Lambert, who earned a Silver Star and multiple Bronze Stars
and Purple Hearts, is still around to tell his story. Readers will be grateful.

Born in rural Alabama in 1920, Lambert joined the Army in 1939
because it offered a steady income. Learning that he had once assisted a
veterinarian, the recruiter assigned him to the medical corps. Nearly three
years passed before he saw action, and Lambert and co-author DeFelice (West
Like Lightning: The Brief, Legendary Ride of the Pony Express, 2018, etc.)
deliver a lively account of his training and maneuvers in America and then in
wartime Britain. By this time, Lambert was a noncommissioned officer in charge
of a unit. He landed with the first wave on North Africa in November 1942 and
then again with the first wave attacking Sicily in July 1943. Medical units
worked at the front, enduring as many casualties as infantry, and the narrative
features plenty of action and suffering, including several of Lambert’s own
nasty, if minor, injuries. After Sicily, everyone returned to Britain to train
for the invasion of France. For the third time, his unit landed with the first
wave, this time on Omaha Beach, an experience far worse than the others. Within
hours, Lambert received life-threatening injuries—ironically, from the ramp of
an American landing craft that crushed him as he was helping a soldier in the
water. Thanks to outstanding American medical care, he survived and, despite
not finishing high school, went on to a prosperous career and extremely long
life. Veteran ghost writer DeFelice admits to a great deal of research
filling in details of the training and fighting, and Lambert’s narrative flows
smoothly throughout, clearly showing the author’s heroism.

One of the better recent World War II memoirs.