World War II has been covered so extensively that there’s little left to add to the broader narrative. What remains are many personal stories—well-written accounts of a soldier’s or sailor’s daily life, often retold by their sons, daughters or grandchildren—that give us a deeper understanding of the men who did the grunt work to defeat the Axis Powers. The best to come out recently is “No Surrender” by Chris Edmonds.
Mr. Edmonds’s project begins with his daughter’s college assignment: What did Grandpa do during the war? Mr. Edmonds knows the broader details. His father, Roddie, enlisted in the Army before the U.S. joined the war, became a well-respected master sergeant, led his infantry unit in the early days of the Battle of the Bulge and survived three months’ captivity in a German prisoner-of-war camp. Motivated by both his daughter’s questions and his own sense of guilt, the author is driven to learn more. “I should know more,” he remembers telling his wife, “but I just don’t, and I can’t even tell you why I don’t.”
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