FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book. These are my honest thoughts.

This book was amazing. I had heard of some of the people or groups that were featured, but many were new to me. I learned a lot and felt moved emotionally. I was grateful that the tedious details of war crimes were stated factually instead of sensationalized. The author’s voice was inviting and very engaging. This is a book I’ll be purchasing for research and rereading over and over again. It’s one I’ve already recommended to people and will likely continue to recommend. It’s so good!

Triggers: rape, torture (prisoner of war)

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Invisible Heroes of World War II: True Stories That Should Never Be Forgotten by Jerry Borrowman is a book with mini-biographies about several heroes of the war, which are rarely talked about. Mr. Borrowman is an award winning author and speaker.

The general consensus around the people who fought in World War II is that they were The Greatest Generation, as coined by Tom Brokaw in his book by the same name. Invisible Heroes of World War II: True Stories That Should Never Be Forgotten by Jerry Borrowman is a poignant tribute to some of those folks who were brave as they were determined.

This is not a long book, it tells of ordinary people doing extraordinary things. Not all of the people the author talks about achieved much fame or were in the public eye, but they do deserve to have their story told.

The book touches on Pat Patton, a POW at Bataan, Nancy Wake of the French Resistance, Navajo Code Talkers, journalist Dickey Chapelle, African Americans at war, and the tip of the spear, the Combat Engineers.

My favorite part was that of Joseph Medicine Crow, an author, historian, and the last War Chief of the Crow Nation. During World War II, Medicine Crow completed the four tasks which were required of a warrior to become a war chief: touching an enemy without killing him (counting coup), taking an enemy’s weapon, leading a successful war party, and stealing an enemy’s horse.

This collection of short, but memorable stories is a great introduction to the varied subjects and contributions many people made to the war effort. Of course, several of those people were not “invisible” by any means, quite the opposite (Dickey Chapelle was, and still is, a published photojournalist and Joseph Medicine Crow has schools named after him), nevertheless they deserve to be mentioned as much as possible.

Well this was the perfect book for me. Anyone who served is a hero in my book. Everyone has a story to tell. Everyone's story is compelling in their own way. Thank you for your service.

#InvisibleHeroesOf WorldWarII #NetGalley

Very well written stories of WWII. My favorie, were about the Navajo Code Breakers, The Purple heart and Nancy who was with the French Resistance.. We owe our freedom to those who fought so valiantly.

Invisible Heroes of World War II is a collection of unique stories of WW2 heroes that we don’t hear so much about, or, as the subtitle more accurately conveys: “Extraordinary Wartime Stories of Ordinary People”. The first half of the book focuses on the stories of individuals, the second on groups of people who performed heroic feats together over the course of the war. The main focus is on people from the US on the battlefield, behind enemy lines, and at home.

I really enjoyed how Jerry Borrowman gave life to stories that are not so “popular” in WW2 historical fiction and movies nowadays. The story of Pat Patton, survivor of the Bataan death march, who hid in the Philippines for over a year, continuing to fight the Japanese until he was captured, and then survived capture, is incredible. The fact that the Navajo code talkers had to keep their wartime activities a secret until 1968, never mentioning how they basically helped turn the war around, is insane. The stories of the engineers, whose work was a huge part of the Allied victory were fascinating. I spent ages researching images of the Bailey Bridge and trying to visualize how amazing a feat it would have been to install one under enemy fire in the space of a few days. Incredible.

All of the stories are interesting: those missing in action, whose bodies have never been found, the woman photographer and journalist who found herself on the frontlines, the Nisei battalions whose courage saved stranded soldiers, despite the fact that their home country has incarcerated many other first and second generation Japanese-Americans. I could go on, as there are more in the book.

I personally think that there were some stories that were missing from the collection (I think all readers can probably think of their own missing stories), but as the book is mainly US-focused, maybe they wouldn’t have a real place in the book anyway. What comes to mind are the Polish Army in Monte Cassino, Italy, a huge deal especially when you know that many of the soldiers had spent time in Stalin’s gulags before being set free post German invasion of the USSR. Another story is that of the village of Oradour-sur-Glane, decimated by the Nazis in 1944, or maybe Jean Prévost, resistant in the Vercors. Obviously I would love to see these types of stories also appear more in mainstream media as they are part of my own personal heritage and legacy.

In any case, Invisible Heroes of World War II is a good read if you are interested in WW2 stories, stories of heroism, learning more about unsung heroes of war. I consider myself a bit of a know-it-all about Europe during WW2, but I learnt a lot from this book!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance copy!

This book is right up there with Jerry Borrowman's other titles. It is a superb read that brings to light the true stories of some behind-the-scenes warriors of World War II.
"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things: the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks nothing worth a war, is worse...A man who has nothing which he is willing to fight for, nothing which he cares more about than he does about his personal safety, is a miserable creature, who has no chance of being free, unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself." John Stuart Mill, The Contest in America, 30
This quote opens up the book. And in my opinion, it perfectly sums up the caliber of men and women that Jerry Borrowman talks about in this book. From reading about a female French resistance fighter, an MIA soldier, the Navajo Code Talkers, combat engineers, women working in the war industries and so much more we learn that courage and heroism come in many different sizes and forms. I learned a lot about these different people, but also about the terrible and amazing things that happened during WW II.
If you are interested in history, WWII, or stories of real heroes, then this is the book for you!

In a poignant, penetrating and pertinent work, Jerry Borrowman pays wholesome tribute to some of the indomitable heroes of World War II, heroes whose exploits have either been recognized long after such an act was due or have been acknowledged much later than even the lifetimes of the valiant protagonists.
“Extraordinary Wartime Stories of Ordinary People” is a rousing paean to the will of the common man which rose beyond its own determination and packed punches well beyond its expected weight. The chronicles of these selfless men and women not only induce a smile to the lips of the reader, but also brings forth a tear or two.

Nancy Grace Augusta Wake, known as “The White Mouse of French Resistance” by the Gestapo for her uncanny ability to evade the Axis Forces while wreaking havoc upon their infrastructure in tandem with the French Resistance Forces was forced to endure a harrowing experience of losing her well-do-to husband to torture at the hands of the German Forces. Nancy once “volunteered to ride a bicycle more than 150 miles (250 kilometers) through German occupied lines to ask a radio operator in a different zone to request a new radio and code book for Nancy’s area.” Nancy was, by the end of the war, the most decorated Australian in World War II. Her recognitions and honours resemble a string of pearls. The Companion of the Order of Australia, the George Medal from England, the Officier de Legion d’ Honneur and Croix de Guerre (three times) from France, the Medal of Freedom (with Bronze Palm) from the United States and the Returned and Services Association (RSA) Badge in gold from New Zealand.

If Nancy Grace’s case was one of celebration, the story of Joseph Hyalmar Anderson makes for some heart wrenching reading. Going Missing In Action (“MIA”) after his Lockheed PV-1 Ventural Patrol Bomber went missing whilst on a routine training patrol off Vancouver Island, British Columbia, his family was left waiting for a definitive closure for an inordinately long time before the puzzle of the missing aircraft was finally pieced together. Finally, in 2006 the 101st Squadron ‘erected a permanent marker at the site’ of the crash.

The contribution of indigenous and immigrant populace such as Native Indians and Japanese Americans respectively, to the Allied Cause in World War II have to a great degree gone unnoticed. Borrowman strives to ameliorate this lapse by chronicling the feats of this section of the military component.

Joseph Medicine Crow, the first member of the Crow Nation to receive a master’s degree was a post graduate student in anthropology at the University of South California when he was drafted into the armed forces. Crow distinguished himself admirably well in a few battles while posted in France and Germany. In true Crow Nation fashion, he also managed to stealthily divest from the possession of a band of fleeing SS Officers, their horses, thereby facilitating an easy capture of the officers forming part of one of Hitler’s most venomous and brutal military wings. As Borrowman patiently explains, “more than 25,000 Native American men served in the armed forces in World War II...”

The heroics of the ‘Navajo Code Breakers’, twenty-nine innovative “living code machines whose transmissions were never deciphered by the Japanese” is one for the ages. Rendering yeoman service to the American cause in the Pacific, these code breakers provided a viable and imaginative alternative to the Shackle protocol, a cumbersome method to transmit codes that usually took four hours to send and receive. The Navajo Code, on the other hand, took just two and a half minutes to send and receive messages – a virtually incredulous and exponential improvement over the Shackle method! However, it was not until the year 2000 that the bravery of the Navajo Code breakers was recognized. The Congressional Gold Medal was awarded to the code breakers. However only, five of the courageous men remained in flesh and blood to receive the awards.

Executive Order 9066 issued by then President Franklin D. Roosevelt on the 19th of February (coincidentally 77 years before this very day of reviewing Borrowman’s work), “authorized the relocation and internment of more than 120,000 people of Japanese descent into ten guarded camps deep in the United States interior.” Ironically, some of the bravest and most decorated armed personnel distinguishing themselves in the Second World War were Japanese Americans. The Purple Heart Battalion or just the 100th Infantry Battalion consisted of 1,432 men who demonstrated exemplary act of courage. The Purple Heart Battalion received the Presidential Unit Citation and sixteen Divisional Citations. The indiscriminate wrongs against this community was finally righted when first President Ronald Reagan announced a compensation of $20,000 to each surviving detainee and later when George H.W. Bush tendered an unconditional apology on behalf of the United States.

Borrowman also chronicles in a painstaking and refreshing manner the contribution of thousands of unsung engineers and African Americans. “For example, one battalion of US combat engineers, the 291st, replaced fourteen German autobahn bridges in forty-eight hours.” Subject to intense isolation and immense racial discrimination, the extraordinary achievements of these patriots warms the very cockles of the heart. Benjamin Davis Jr. the first black American to be honoured with the Brigadier General title had it extremely rough in his initial West Point Cadet dates. “The silent treatment was enforced on Davis for the entire four years he was in the academy. He lived without a roommate, was assigned to his own tent during field exercises, ate by himself at every meal, and was never spoken to by other cadets, except for official communications.” Overcoming such seemingly insurmountable odds, Davis Jr. rose to become a superb tactical airman and an integral part of the famous, Tuskegee Airman, nicknamed, “The Red Tails.” The airmen commanded by Davis Jr, “flew more than 15,000 sorties, shot down 111 enemy planes, and destroyed 273 on the ground. They lost 66 aircraft.”

However, the most stirring and inspiring story in the book is reserved for narrating the exploits of one of the greatest women war photojournalist, Dickey Chapelle. Posted or as the current prevailing military-journalistic terminology would state, embedded with the Marines during the battle of Iwo Jima, Chapelle covered the battle of Okinawa as well. When the dust settled on the greatest slaughter in the history of mankind, Chapelle’s zeal for truth and adventure remained unquenched. Crisscrossing the world, Chapelle was captured and jailed for over seven weeks during the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. Chapelle’s inspiring and singularly unique life came to an untimely and cruel end November 4, 1965 while on patrol with a Marine platoon during Operation Black Ferret, a search and destroy operation 16 km south of Chu Lai, Quang Ngai Province. The lieutenant walking in front inadvertently made contact with a tripwire booby-trap with a hand grenade attached to the top of it. Chapelle was struck in the neck by a piece of shrapnel which severed her carotid artery, and she died soon afterwards. Her last moments were captured in a photograph by Henri Huet. Chapelli was thus the first female war correspondent to be killed in Vietnam, as well as the first American female reporter to be killed in action.

Douglas MacArthur’s immortal quotes ring in one’s ears as the covers come down upon Borrowman’s splendid book. “The soldier above all others prays for peace, for it is the soldier who must suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of war.” The soldier who neither relents nor remonstrates; one who neither complains no criticizes.

"Invisible Heros of World War II" Book was published in 2019 (May) and was written by Jerry Borrowman. Mr. Borrowman has published a mix of 20 fiction and non-fiction books. 

I categorize this novel as ‘R’ because it contains scenes of Violence. The story is set in the years of World War II in both the European and Pacific Theaters. 

This is really a collection of short stories about those who generally did not receive the recognition they deserved for their contributions to the War effort. Each of the ten chapters focuses on a different individual or group. Some I had heard of before, but most I had not. This book gives a very different look at those who served in WWII, whether in the military or a civilian contributing to the cause. 

I thoroughly enjoyed the 4.5 hours I spent reading this 208-page WWII non-fiction book. I liked the approach taken with this book. The in-depth personal stories were very good. I like the chosen artwork for the cover. I give this novel a 4.4 (rounded down to a 4) out of 5.

Further book reviews I have written can be accessed at https://johnpurvis.wordpress.com/blog/. 

My book reviews are also published on Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/31181778-john-purvis).

I've always been interested in learning about the years of WWII so this book caught my eye. It was neat to read about specific examples of heroes. I especially was intrigued by the photographer's story. I cannot believe how brave she was.

Some of the other stories didn't capture my attention quite as much because I'd already read more about them.

Another aspect that surprised me in this book was that it wasn't really about WWII so much as it was about all the wars and conflicts the US was involved in. So I felt the title a little misleading.

But overall it was a good read and I did learn some new things.

I received a copy of this through NetGalley. This is my honest opinion.

This was an interesting compilation of WWII stories. Some I had heard of and others I had not. But all of them were well-written and from unique perspectives from the war. I constantly amazed at the "greatest generation" and what they went through. Their strength is unparalleled and these stories showcase that.

Thank you NetGalley and Shadow Mountain Publishing for an eARC.

Well-written, well-researched book about some unlikely heroes of world war II. Written after interviews from these people, it holds your interest and puts you in awe of what ordinary people can and will do when put to the test. Great read!!

Heroes are called such because of their self-sacrifice for the good of their fellow man. These were but a few of so many heroes that were unrecognized for their courage and determination to stop the horrors of war.

Thank you net galley for the advance reader copy of the novel. This book was filled with the short stories of unsung heros of WWII. My favorites were the first (Bataan death march) and forth (WWII photographer) stories. The author clearly spent a lot of time interviewing, searching records, and fact checking for this great work. I am so glad I was able to read this work. Highly recommend this for any history lover!