These two volumes contain stories about American veterans from World War I to present. Each chapter is a different story. These books were written by a home-schooled teenager whose hobby of collecting these stories resulted in his getting these two volumes published. Each volume contains over 100 biographical sketches of America's military men and women, past and present.

Many of the stories are only a paragraph long, giving basic information of where the person served, what he or she did, and what he or she is doing now. Others are longer and tell of things that happened during the war, tales or heroism, tales of loss, tales of injury or military honors/awards. One soldier related that he and his platoon were on the way back to leave Viet Nam for good to go back to the States. They were seven miles from their goal when they were attacked. He ended up with 27 wounds and spent a lot of subsequent time in hospitals. Others told of close calls where, by the grace of God, they barely missed injury.

One soldier from WWII told of being at Dachau at the end of the war. He and his fellow soldiers saw what they thought were stacks of wood, but they were actually dead bodies with snow on them. He also said he gave food away to the children in Germany that were digging through the Americans' garbage looking for something to eat. He got in trouble for giving away the food, but he continued to do it anyway. Once he was fined two months' pay for giving the food away.

I think these are valuable books, and they will be read and enjoyed in our homeschool. We are a military family, and we know first-hand the sacrifices made by soldiers and their families. The fact that these men and women served is, in itself, reason to honor them, and I have been deeply moved reading their accounts. I am also a genealogist, and I believe the families of these soldiers will value these accounts as a family history memento.

These books would be a great extra resource for an American history or world history study, and I recommend them for any homeschool.

Product review by Christine Hindle, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, January 2010