One Soldier's Memories: World War II is the only accurate record
of the 1285th Engineer's combat battalion available anywhere.
One Soldier's Memories:World War II
by Steven E. Danish
ISBN: 0-913337-35-8
Trade paperback; 202 pages;
illustrated with 27 photos and 2 maps
Retail $20
 "Bone chilling...."--Baldwin Herald
                   "Move over, Saving Private Ryan."--Madeline D. Shelton
"...an interesting, concise and well written account..."
--E.J. McCarthy, Executive Editor, Presidio Press
 
 
One Soldier's Memories is a father's World War II memoirs written by his oldest son.  Steven Danish recounts
Jack Danish's story by letting the reader walk the war in his father's boots, an unsettling experience at best.
The book is filled with as much torment as it is with triumph and humor.
Jack Danish was one of only 21 out of his company of 150 men that survived the Battle of the Bulge.
He was part of one of the hottest and most accomplished Combat Engineer Battalions in Europe.
Ernie Pyle, the war correspondent , described these men best:
They "...were the unknown, unnamed engineers,
that had fought so valiantly..."
Jack Danish told his son about being part of the Battle of the Bulge:
"...the first light of the day brought a view of horror, dead American soldiers lay frozen in awkward positions,
their mouths filled with snow.  I closed my eyes and rubbed my temples as my mind raced.  Clenching my fists,
I tried hard to blank the images from my mind and maintain self-control.  Moments later,
gunfire erupted forcing me to change my focus."
"I had to fight the bitter cold, which was becoming more difficult without enough sleep or food.
I resorted to eating powdered lemonade and snow all day to help quench both my thirst and hunger.
It was so sour it made my mouth pucker and my body shudder."
In the 1940s, with a quiet resignation to duty, 16 million Americans served in the U.S. Armed Forces
with a unity of purpose that saved our homeland. It has taken decades for these
servicemen to come to terms with their experiences, and for the rest of us to truly comprehend their sacrifices.
Steven E. Danish had to do "some serious arm twisting" to convince his father, Jack, to share his old war stories.
"Everybody knows this stuff and nobody really cares," Mr. Danish would repeatedly tell his son. At
age 73, Jack Danish had told no one of his days as a combat engineer in Europe during World War II.
Jack was trained as a water supply technician and part of a team called upon to build pontoon or "Baily"
floating bridges at numerous locations on the Rhine River.
"But once I got him started, on and on he went. It was kind of like the flood gates broke," said Author Steven E.
Danish, an Oceanside, N.Y. resident, at a speaking engagement. Steven spoke about the book,
One Soldier's Memories: World War II, which chronicles his father's wartime experiences and
presents a realistic view of what the average soldier endured for his country.
The story begins on Sunday, Dec. 7, 1941 in the Bronx as 17 year old Jack Danish listens to reports
of the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor. The story takes the reader from basic training to the landing
on the beaches of France, where Jack first had to come to terms with taking human lives. Jack was one
of 21 men in his company of 150 to survive the Battle of the Bulge. At Rheinhausen, he helped build
the longest floating bridge in the world. He also fought in the Battle of the Ruhr,
the last major battle in Germany.
"I wrote the book in the first person so I had to learn to think like my father and put myself in his place,"
recalled Steven, who described feeling relief after he finished the book, as if he had fought the war
himself. "And I also had to fill in the parts that my father still couldn't deal with."
Jack Danish's war stories are bone chilling, according to the Baldwin Herald. Imagine waking up in the Black
Forest and discovering that the soldiers camped across the river from you aren't wearing the same helmets
as you and your men. Or imagine conducting a room to room search of a German occupied building,
and shooting a German soldier who was trying to kill your buddy.
"My father once told me that a HERO is nothing more than a soldier too frightened to be a coward,"
said Steven. By his son's account, Jack Danish was a true war hero. The book concludes in the United States,
where Jack Danish marries his sweetheart and in November of 1948, witnesses the birth of his first son, Steven.
 "I had to find some way to write myself into the book," quipped the author.
Jack Danish died on March 20, 1999, 4 months after the book's publication. "My father wasn't much on words,
but he liked the book, and he was proud of me," said Steven. "Walk the war in my father's boots.
It's a story you won't soon forget. It's a little piece of history put down on paper,
that unlike the man, will live on forever," added the author.
 
 

ONE SOLDIER'S MEMORIES
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