Against All Odds: A True Story of Ultimate Courage and Survival in World War I

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The sacrifices made by this “greatest generation” are really brought out in Kershaw’s narrative and Americans should be grateful that we had men such as these who stepped forward in this hour of greatest need in the 20th century. Maurice "Footsie" Britt, a former professional football player, became the very first American to receive every award for valor in a single war. Daly and Britt achieved their own success after the war, Britt going into politics in his home state of Arkansas and Daly becoming involved in charity work at a local hospital before both men passed away.

Abandoned at two weeks old, Paul came of age in the infamous St Leonard's Children's Home in East London. Against All Odds achieves a pitch-perfect balance between a ground view of combat and the seismic forces that drew men like [Maurice] Britt and [Audie] Murphy to the killing grounds of Europe.The revelation unearthed painful memories of a childhood that, until this point, Paul had tried desperately to put behind him. I wasn't really expecting much when I first bought this audio book, but when I found the time to listen to this I could not put it down to pause. Walter's sporting prowess saw him play for top local amateur side, Clapton Football club, signing for them in 1908, but it was to be a short lived affair, as by the following year he had signed as a professional for the prestigious Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, making his first team debut against Manchester United. And yet just two weeks later, the police turn up on his doorstep due to an incident of road rage whereby Paul assaulted an off-duty police officer.

Pirates, smugglers, and Caliphate spies complicate the situation, and one captain with an old ship can't enforce the law, let alone stop anyone. Once the guns fell silent, the four would discover just how heavy the Medal of Honor could weigh, and how great the expectations associated with it could be. There were parts that I felt uneccessary repetition and the ending was very drawn out - the grittiness gone and the fact he is now doing well for himself is almost a little irksome. Edgar Hoover saw cracking these cases as a means of burnishing the reputation of the newly professionalized FBI.In Against All Odds, the renowned master of the battle narrative takes us right into the most perilous action in North Africa; Sicily, Italy; and France alongside Maurice Britt, Michael Daly, Audie Murphy, and Keith Ware, heroes all.

And in the case of an audiobook, if the narrator can’t deliver the ebb and flow of the story, while bringing the characters to life, even a great book can fall flat! In his latest book of popular World War II history, bestselling author Kershaw tells the stories of four Americans who won the Medal of Honor and lived postwar lives that sometimes kept them in the public eye.

I say “pretty much” because even a great storyline can fall short if the author can’t rise to the challenge. He has found happiness with his wife and children and now helps to heal broken bodies, build confidence and transform lives - but he will never forget his past and the unnecessary victims of broken society.

The Interceptor is a mess though, having been left in dock for nearly 3mths due to a missing part, and a dead CO, the crew’s morale is terrible, the ship is in disrepair and falling to bits as it has not been cared for, and of course, everyone knows who he is and his reputation. It is vitally important in this sort of book that not only the science, but especially the combat is done well, and from the very first space combat, to the first of what is a brutal combat sequence with the marines (and is just intense, you feel like you are there with shots flying around you), Haskell does an extraordinary job describing these sequences. Just as important, Berkot not only creates individual characters, he also conveys the emotional state of each of his characters so that you understand how they are feeling at that time, whether happy, sad, angry or tired?

With the outbreak of war, Walter wasted no time enlisting in the British Army, initially as a Private in the newly formed 17th (Football) Battalion, Middlesex Regiment. The silence was unnerving after several days at sea, crossing from America with the constant grinding of the ship's engines, quiet now in the Atlantic waters off North Africa. I feel like I may need to repeat the word autobiography to myself often, just to remind myself that this really happened and that it wasn't just some gritty fictional novel that I was reading. The story of dramatic military actions where a few fought against many, often with unbelievable success. As the Allies raced to defeat Hitler, four men, all in the same unit, earned medal after medal for battlefield heroism.