A cliche, but this is a must read for those interested in military life.

books:


	• Once An Eagle Anton Myrer, 2002 - 1312 pages average customer review:based on 105 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

A cliche, but this is a must read for those interested in military life.

This novel follows Sam Damon, a decent-to-the-bone Nebraskan, over the course of a U.S. Army career stretching over much of the twentieth century. The major conflicts are between Damon and his wife, Tommy, who is thoroughly sick of the military, and between Damon and a self-promoting officer named Massengale.

There is not a cardboard character anywhere in this well-written work and its chapters are chock-a-block with memorable phrases. A reader's loyalties to the characters will likely change several times before the final page. The author's consideration of duty -- and conflicting duties -- and the costs is unsurpassed.

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Great Book

A book that regards morals and values is a rare commodity these days. It was an excellent and fast paced read. Highly recommended

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A military epic for all time

I just finished reading this book for the second time and loved it just as much as the first. This is definitely an anti-war book because it takes an honest look at war and its savage effects - and Myrer should know as a Marine who served in WW2 and got wounded in the Pacific.

Myrer does an amazing job of characterizing a military man and his family/friends in both war and peacetime.

Many of the military/political ideas continue to be valid as America finds herself in another ambiguous war.

Though Once an Eagle is a historical novel it packs a realism most histories (or even military novels) don't possess. It should be required reading for anyone in the military whether active or reserve, enlisted or officer.

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A Moving Experience

When you sit down to read this book by Anton Myrer, you may realize that you are reading one of the most memorable books of your lifetime, even though I found the beginning almost a different, less polished writing style from the rest of the book.

Myrer introduces us to a night clerk who has a gift for leadership and a photographic memory. He joins the infantry in time to search for a Mexican raider, with little realization that he is about to be caught up in the most turbulent decades of the century where he will succeed and also fail.

Through combat, a battlefield commission and being awarded the Medal of Honor, "Sad Sam" Damon, "the night clerk," experiences the excruciating trials of war and the loss of a best friend just before war's end in 1918. Determined to learn from the lessons and losses of war, Damon prepares himself for the next one while marrying and raising a family in the peacetime army of the 20's and 30's.

Courtney Massengale is his nemesis, an ambitious and heartless West Point graduate who is a veteran of many staff assignments. His personal success is more important than the lives of men, duty, honor, or country. He is always one rank ahead of Damon who is his counterweight. Massengale's ambition depends on Damon, and Damon and his troops will depend on Massengale.

Thirty years of checking and blocking are put to the test as Major General Sam Damon finds himself subordinate to Corps Commander Lieutenant General Massengale who masks the real purpose of his operations order to his generals, except Damon sees what his true purpose is. Massengale is after one of the most singular achievements of the Pacific in World War II. Damon exacts a promise from him. A promise kept will save Damon's division, or if broken, be the cause of its annihilation.

Will he succeed?

From the pursuit of Pancho Villa to the escalation of hostilities in a small Asian country called Khotiane in the 60's, we see through Sam Damon the struggle of one man to maintain honor and loyalty, prepare his country for war, and endure the revulsion and tragedy that war brings.

I have not read before or since an author who can bring the fear, and peril of battle and make it seem so threatening and so intense. You almost expect to smell the death, and feel the heartache of personal loss and grief. This is an anti-war story; it is not one of patriotism. It is a reminder that in the heat of battle, soldiers are not fighting for a cause, a flag, their honor, or pride. They are fighting for their friends and for their lives.

Although I read this story thirty years ago, the characters and the story stay fresh in my mind. The book is still on my shelf, and I don't plan on parting with it for any reason.

The story remains a moving experience.

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FIVE STARS FOR ONCE AN EAGLE

One of the best books in all categories I ever read, and the BEST book on leadership. I have a grandson who will enter NROTC (Marine Corps Option) this month, and I am hoping that his reading of ONCE AN EAGLE will lay out a pathway for him as to HOW to become a leader of men. In almost all instances Sam Damon, the hero-protagonist, reveals himself as a man who can make the hard choices, who has the courage and composure for coolness under fire, and who possesses the noble instincts to choose the right act at the right time almost always, and his recognition and acceptance and love for his enlisted men is a monumental and pivotal attribute of his character. Pretty simple: he loves them and they love him right back, and he is right there, wherever there is, with his men. There includes the absolute FRONT anywhere and everywhere.

Courtney Schuyler Massengale lll is the exact oppposite of Sam and is the slickest and most adroit officer in the Corps---a marvelous study in contrast to Sam.

We get to observe them both as they work their way slowly toward becoming general officers...three and four stars. Their pathways are so different, appallingly different at times...Hope my grandson chooses to be a Sam Damon. Calvin W. Atwood

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

Once An Eagle is the story of one special man, a soldier named Sam Damon, and his adversary over a lifetime, fellow officer Courtney Massengale. Damon is a professional who puts duty, honor, and the men he commands above self interest. Massengale, however, brilliantly advances by making the right connections behind the lines and in Washington's corridors of power.

Beginning in the French countryside during the Great War, the conflict between these adversaries solidifies in the isolated garrison life marking peacetime, intensifies in the deadly Pacific jungles of World War 11, and reaches its treacherous conclusion in the last major battleground of the Cold War -- Vietnam.

A study in character and values, courage, nobility, honesty, and selflessness, here is an unforgettable story about a man who embdies the best in our nation -- and in us all.

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