Two Heroes into World War II: With Cpt. Ralph Henderson, ret.

These two biographies describe the struggle of growing up poor in America, surviving the killer Spanish Flu epidemic of 1918-19, the dust storms, the Great Depression, only to serve in World War II. Capt. Ralph Henderson took the mechanized 17th cavalry into England before the Normandy Invasion to provide security for the channel ports. General Patton sent them onto Utah Beach and assigned them to lead the breakout into France and to liberate Brittany and Brest Harbor. They then went into Holland to provide security for Patton’s 9th army and lead the breakthrough the Siegfried Line and into Germany. He received the Silver and Bronze Stars, a Purple Heart, and the French Croix Daguerre with a silver star for valor. Mac McMaster work before the War as a cook with the CCC and the National Guard. He joined the Navy and was sent to Radar School. He served on the command ship of the 7th Amphibians in the Battle of Leyte Gulf and Lingayen Gulfs and as a Shore Patrol officer in the occupation of Japan. He lost everything but the clothing on his back three times, survived a kamikaze attack, and was awarded a pair of Bronze stars for his valor.