Boy of “Greatest”

David W. Lawrie
Heritage Special Edition (2008)
ISBN 9781934696170
Reviewed by Danelle Drake for Reader Views (9/08)

 

“Boy of ‘Greatest’” is hands-down the hardest, emotion-filled book I have ever read.  This first-hand account of World War II reaches in and twists your heart in ways you never would imagine a book could do.

David Lawrie, at age 85, teaches those who do not serve exactly what those who do go through.  Nothing candy coated, just hell.  Unimaginable hell, that as he lay, “unbelievably dying like a wilting snowman in bed!” he wishes he could return to those he left behind.

Image after image of our young men and women defending our country fill my mind – are those serving now better prepared both mentally and physically than those David Lawrie fought with?  Are those injured taken care of when they return?  I keep thinking back to David’s description of the $10,000 life insurance provided by the military that was to go to his parents had he died.  A zero was left off of the form by administration thereby entitling them to only $1,000.  After being injured, spending 11 months in the hospital recuperating he requested the policy be corrected, but was refused due to him now being in unfit condition.  Are atrocities such as this happening today?

In David’s own words: “Now just a word to the reader.  Remember, I’m writing about my mind.  I’m not writing to impress you or looking for praise or sympathy.  My goal is to pass on to some future young man that may have to walk where I have just walked, to help preserve his life.  To love peace and liberty, we must always be ready to show our teeth, might and muscle, to assail any enemy with a professionally-trained armed force, a force that can be USED!  The greatest weapons in the world are worthless if you haven’t got the determination to use them!”

Borrowing from David Lawrie, I summarize this work as the only feeling I have ever felt like this was watching the Twin Towers collapse; my eyes were telling me something my brain could not accept.  With pencil in hand we are told what he wants to share.  No one has the right to consider writing technique or editing discrepancies, “Boy of ‘Greatest’” is raw, and with that….brilliant.

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