About this ebook
HE LIVED ON THE ABYSS OF DEATH
AS A RECON SCOUT IN WORLD WAR II.
From Africa’s Sahara Desert, where he met Churchill, to the plains of Tunisia, where he served under Patton, Fred Salter executed daring nightly solo missions, risking his life to gather the vital intelligence the U.S. Army desperately needed. After the battlefields of Sicily came the long, grueling effort to wrench Italy from the grip of the Nazis, and the bloody nightmare of Monte Cassino, the longest battle Americans fought during the war.
Salter spares no one, least of all himself, in this tough, clear-eyed account. Refusing to shy away from the horrors and fears of combat, he shares experiences–tragic and glorious–that will haunt him forever.
AS A RECON SCOUT IN WORLD WAR II.
From Africa’s Sahara Desert, where he met Churchill, to the plains of Tunisia, where he served under Patton, Fred Salter executed daring nightly solo missions, risking his life to gather the vital intelligence the U.S. Army desperately needed. After the battlefields of Sicily came the long, grueling effort to wrench Italy from the grip of the Nazis, and the bloody nightmare of Monte Cassino, the longest battle Americans fought during the war.
Salter spares no one, least of all himself, in this tough, clear-eyed account. Refusing to shy away from the horrors and fears of combat, he shares experiences–tragic and glorious–that will haunt him forever.
Ratings and reviews
4.8
13 reviews
Frank Matowitz
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September 26, 2013
My father was in Troop B with Mr. Salter and I grew up hearing these exact same stories. Of course, since it was my father telling his family they were sanitized versions but none the less just like Mr. Salters. The one thing I remember my father telling me when I got older was working with the Gurkahs. They had to put tape on their boots at night when they slept because those guys would sneak up on people sleeping and slit half the people throats and leave the other half alive to wonder if they were going to be next. The tape let them know they were allies. Another was when the scouts had to take the superior out with them. They had to be in basically the same place by the way it was described my father was to the west of Mr. Saulter. My father related that they were behind enemy lines and had come up to a ridge and my dad was all plastered to the ground and he looks over and this superior what standing bolt upright. My father said he rolled over on his back, pull out his sidearm. Pointed it at the guy and told him if he didn't lay the F down he was going to shoot him on the spot himself. My father did all 6 campaigns. Somewhere we have photos of Musilleni strung up.
1 person found this review helpful
Larry Harkey
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January 22, 2015
Great read!! One of the best about a soldier who fought from the very beginning until the bitter end. Must have for any serious military historian.
About the author
Fred H. Salter led a life after World War II almost as adventurous as the years he spent in the Recon. After wandering through nearly every state and province in the United States and Canada, he married and tried to settle down but to no avail. Eventually the young married couple returned to Fred’s beloved Alaska. When their three sons left home, he and his wife resumed their tumbleweed way of life. To fulfill a boyhood dream, the past few years he has lived on a mountain farm in the Swan Range of the Rocky Mountains, east of Kalispell, in northwest Montana. Every summer, he makes a trek back to his old log cabin on the shores of Auke Bay, Alaska. He still calls Alaska home.
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