It is all but impossible to convey the depth and virulence of racism against African Americans and Japanese Americans that was common in that generation. I’ve used the word Nigra throughout, a term I learned when I lived in the Florida Panhandle in the sixties. It was how the better class of racist referred to black people, especially when talking to a Yankee like me, a slight masking of a more overtly vile word. I’ve used that masking throughout this series because I thought it necessary to avoid the book being rejected out of hand by libraries. But it weighs on me. I don’t like masking. We all know what the Frangie Marrs of this world were called in 1942 and 1943 and 1944 and beyond.
It is useful though painful to remember that at times white defense workers would go on strike, stop making the sinews of war, simply to resist working alongside blacks. The Ku Klux Klan remained active even as black soldiers died fighting against the white supremacist Nazis. German prisoners of war shipped to the US were often given preferential treatment over black civilians and returning black veterans. And the best available data reveals that during the war years, twelve black men were lynched.
Japanese Americans were allowed to join all-Nisei battalions and limited to the European theater since it was feared they would switch sides and join the Japanese if they were sent to the Pacific. The all-Nisei battalions fought with awe-inspiring bravery in Italy, becoming some of the most decorated units in the war. The parents of those soldiers read their children’s letters, and all too often their death notices, under bare bulbs in remote desert detention camps.
While many people were doing all they could to avoid the fight, African American and Japanese American leaders were fighting for the right to fight—fighting for the right to die for a country that despised them. I don’t know of a more moving example of patriotism.
I have taken some liberties with history in service to narrative. I’ve moved black soldiers into earlier battles. I’ve invented a mission for Rainy that, to the best of my knowledge, did not take place, though US intelligence did in fact reach out to elements of the Mafia. And of course, the central premise of women in combat did not occur in the US Forces at that time, though many brave women fought in Russia and in captive lands. American women, denied full equality, joined the WACs (Women’s Army Corps) and the Navy and Coast Guard equivalents, the WAVES and the SPARS. Four hundred thousand women. They worked in support jobs, ferried planes, and worked as nurses. Four army nurses earned the Silver Star. And at least two hundred died.
Some readers may roll their eyes at my use of a young British princess by the name of Elizabeth Windsor. But the royal family refused to be evacuated from London, even during the worst of the Blitz, and young Elizabeth—now referred to as Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II—did in fact hold the rank of second subaltern, and did in fact drive a truck. The Silver Star ceremony that ends this book is fictional, but I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch to believe that Second Subaltern Windsor would have been there, had the opportunity arisen.
—Michael Grant
GLOSSARY
B-17 Flying Fortress—American four-engine heavy bomber. The Germans called it “the Flying Porcupine” for its bristling guns. Their American crews called them Queen of the Skies.
Brass—The brass, also known as brass hats and various less G-rated terms, refers to officers, especially high-up officers such as majors, colonels, and generals.
C-47—The Douglas C-47 Skytrain was an amazingly versatile twin-engine plane used for carrying high-value freight, officers, paratroopers, and more.
C-47
Deuce-and-a-Half—The GMC CCKW was the workhorse truck of the US Army. The name refers to the fact that the truck could carry two and a half tons of men or supplies, despite the relatively pitiful ninety-one-horsepower engine.
DUKW (Duck)—The Duck was a modified deuce-and-a-half, designed to be a boat in the water and a truck on dry land.
DUKW—Duck
Focke-Wulf 190—Single-engine German Luftwaffe (air force) fighter. They were superior to early versions of the British Spitfire.
Focke-Wulf 190
Half-track—Half-tracks are trucks with wheels at the front and treads at the rear, enabling them to steer as easily as a wheeled vehicle, but cope with mud like a tank. The idea was American, and the Germans liked it so much they made their own version.
German half-track
Jerry can—A simple but extremely useful five-gallon can used to haul fuel or water. It was initially designed by the Germans, hence the name. An interesting feature is that it cannot be filled completely, meaning it will always have some air space and hence be able to float.
LST—Landing Ship Tank. At 347 feet long, 55 feet wide, they were shallow-draft vehicles with a hinged door at the front through which tanks could drive directly out onto the beach.
M1 Garand—Perhaps the best rifle carried by any army in World War II. General Patton called it “the greatest battle implement ever devised.” Powerful, accurate, and durable.
Me 109—The Messerschmitt 109 was the most ubiquitous of German single-engine fighters.
Mess—Mess halls (or mess decks on ships); the mess was where meals were served and soldiers socialized.
NCO—Noncommissioned officer. NCOs are the sergeants whose job it is to carry out an officer’s orders. NCOs were often more experienced than junior officers, and were (and still are) the backbone of the US Army.
Pinup—Pinups were risqué pictures of beautiful women,often in bathing suits. The most famous model was Betty Grable, whose “million-dollar legs” adorned many a barracks wall.
Betty Grable
SS (and Waffen SS)—The Schutzstaffel were Germany’s elite troops. The Waffen SS were SS troops organized into combat units. The SS were brutal, sadistic, fanatically loyal to Hitler, and as vile an organization as the human race has ever known.
Shelter half—Each was half of a two-man pup tent. The two sections would be buttoned or snapped together.
Spitfire—If it is possible for a machine to be a hero, the Supermarine Spitfire definitely qualifies. This is the British single-engine fighter that saved England.
Supermarine Spitfire
Stuka—The fearsome but slow German dive-bomber. They were often equipped with air sirens so as they dove on their targets they would make a terrifying whine.
Vichy—After the Germans overwhelmed the French defenses, they occupied the northern two-thirds of the country (Occupied France) and established a puppet government of French collaborators in the southern third. Vichy controlled French colonies abroad.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Blackwell, Ian. Battle for Sicily: Stepping Stone to Victory. South Yorkshire, UK: Pen and Sword Military, 2008.
Blumenson, Martin. Salerno to Cassino: United States Army in World War II: Mediterranean Theater of Operations, 50th Anniversary Commemorative Edition. Center of Military History, United States Army, 1993.
Caddick-Adams, Peter. Monte Cassino: Ten Armies in Hell. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2012.
Cowdry, Albert E. Fighting for Life: American Military Medicine in World War II. New York: The Free Press, 1994.
Deane, Theresa M., and Joseph E. Schaps. 500 Days of Front Line Combat: The WWII Memoir of Ralph B. Schaps. Lincoln, NE: iUniverse, 2003.
D’Este, Carlo. Bitter Victory: The Battle for Sicily, 1943. New York: Harper Perennial, 1991.
———. Fatal Decision: Anzio and the Battle for Rome. New York: Harper Perennial, 1991.
Follain, John. Mussolini’s Island. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 2005.
Ford, Ken. Cassino 1944: Breaking the Gustav Line. Oxford, UK: Osprey Publishing, 2004.
Forty, George. Battle for Monte Cassino. Shepperton, UK: Ian Allan Publishing, 2004.
Hapgood, David, and David Richardson. Monte Cassino: The Story of the Most Controversial Battle of World War II. Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press, 2002.
Israel, David L. The Day the Thunderbird Cried: Untold Stories of World War II. Medford, OR: Emek Pr
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Kemp, Paul J. The T-Class Submarine. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1990.
Konstam, Angus. Salerno 1943: The Allies Invade Southern Italy. Oxford, UK: Osprey Publishing, 2013.
Linklater, Eric. The Campaign in Italy. London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1977.
Mitcham, Samuel W., and Friedrich von Stauffenberg. The Battle for Sicily: How the Allies Lost Their Chance for Total Victory. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2007.
Murphy, Audie. To Hell and Back. New York: Henry Holt, 1949.
Newark, Tim. Mafia Allies: The True Story of America’s Secret Alliance with the Mob in World War II. Minneapolis, MN: Zenith Press, 2007.
Parker, Matthew. Monte Cassino: The Hardest-Fought Battle of World War II. New York: Anchor Books, 2004.
Pyle, Ernie. Brave Men. Mattituck, NY: Aeonian Press, 1943.
Romeiser, John B. Combat Reporter: Don Whitehead’s World War II Diary and Memoirs. Bronx, NY: Fordham University Press, 2006.
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Rottman, Gordon L. World War II Infantry Assault Tactics. Oxford, UK: Osprey Publishing, 2008.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
MICHAEL GRANT, author of Front Lines, the Gone series, the Messenger of Fear series, and the Magnificent Twelve series, has spent much of his life on the move. Raised in a military family, he attended ten schools in five states, as well as three schools in France. Even as an adult he kept moving, and in fact he became a writer in part because it was one of the few jobs that wouldn’t tie him down. His fondest dream is to spend a year circumnavigating the globe and visiting every continent. Yes, even Antarctica. He lives in California with his wife, Katherine Applegate, and their two children. You can visit him online at http://www.harpercollins.com/cr-103563/michael-grant.
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BOOKS BY MICHAEL GRANT
Gone
Hunger
Lies
Plague
Fear
Light
Messenger of Fear
The Tattooed Heart
The Snake
Front Lines
Silver Stars
Soldier Girls in Action
CREDITS
Cover art © 2017 by Matt Murphy
Cover design by Joel Tippie
COPYRIGHT
Photo credits for glossary: C-47, DUKW—Duck, Focke-Wulf 190, Betty Grable, Supermarine Spitfire: public domain; German half-track: ShareAlike 3.0 (CC BY-SA 3.0 DE)
Katherine Tegen Books is an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
SILVER STARS. Copyright © 2017 by Michael Grant. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
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Library of Congress Control Number: 2016938948
ISBN 978-0-06-234218-8
EPub Edition © January 2017 ISBN 9780062342201
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FIRST EDITION
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Michael Grant, Silver Stars
(Series: Front Lines # 2)
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