"Once an Eagle"

Once an Eagle, novel by Anton Myrer,
NBC made this into a series in 1976.

This is a great war book and also a good study of people, their motivations and doing the right thing.

The book is long. Paperback is 913 pages. Myrer has a different format in the way he advances through this story. As one time periods comes  to an end he stops and jumps ahead into the next section beginning at some distant point and leaves it up to the reader to figure where he is. The reader gradually orients himself to the current location and characters.  I found myself on occasion thinking darn, what happened in the space between these sections.

The story of Sam Damon.  Born in Stuart Whitman Nebraska in the late 1800s. As a young man trying to figure out his future he found out early that he was gifted with a resolute ability to carry through with whatever the proper behavior is, both for him or for those people who were in his sphere of influence. 

Young Sam works as a night clerk in the local hotel. Night clerk becomes one of his nicknames throughout his life. On one occasion he is ordered the owner to not let Riley, a local troublemaker, into the hotel bar because he had caused a drunken ruckus earlier in the week. Sam is a little fearful since this guy is over 6 ft and 250 pounds.  When Riley is told by Sam that he is not allowed in the bar he says he is going in anyway.  After Riley tries to intimidate Sam with violent talk Sam vaults over the desk and slams into him with his boots and knocks him down the stairs. Riley comes back and sheepishly says he respects what Sam did and will comply with his order. This is where Sam molds this idea that he has the character to be a leader of people.

 He is a heavy reader of military tactics and decides that he wants to enroll at West Point. With this in mind he goes to Lincoln, the Nebraska capitol, and contacts his senator asking for an appointment to West Point. The senator says there is one young man ahead of him but if he does not make the test cut then Sam has a chance. It turns out that Sam enlists in the army shortly before his appointment was validated and he misses the opportunity.

The first of Sam’s army episodes takes place when the group he is in is sent out to find and return to Mexico a band of Mexican bandits which is running wildly in the lower US. It turns out that no real skirmish takes place -  more of a standoff to make them return without a real confrontation.

Now the war in Europe is in a critical stage and President Wilson sends US troops to help the French and English. Sam and his outfit are sent to France. They end up in Paris and are greeted by very welcoming crowds. Sam’s outfit then goes into training for the fighting they are about to engage in. In a confrontation with private Krazewski who is tagged for carrying the chauchat automatic rifle which is a heavy automatic rifle. Kraz is not going to get stuck with this heavy monstrosity and he tells sergeant Damon so. Sam doesn’t take this from him and Kraz tells him he won’t carry it and Damon can do what he likes. Sam tells him he will meet Kraz behind the latrine after duty without his stripes. Sam wins the fight and Kraz ends up respecting Sam and carrying the gun.  This is only one of the instances throughout the book that shows how Sam is able to project his will on people and not just by physical force. He also uses guile, common sense, logic, patriotism and humaneness.   Then they are shipped off to the western front.

The book takes place in historic times, and uses real historic people and places in backdrops of most the narrative. It does not, however, make use of actual battle sites and, I think, army bases where Sam and the fictional characters fight and reside.    

The first encounter with the Germans takes place as Sam’s unit is tasked to hold the line against the advancing Germans. Many in Sam’s unit are killed or wounded and the Germans penetrate. Sam tries to rally what’s left of his platoon and lead them back through the German advance to their own lines. He knows the rest of the American forces will be counterattacking and as his little group is making its way back he comes across a farmhouse that is in a strategic place.  He decides to take this farm house and hold it to help the American counterattack, assuming it will come, traverse this open terrain. Using sound tactics he is able to overpower the Germans who are holding it and set up a fire base.

While waiting for the advance of the Americans a platoon sized German outfit approaches and is decimated by Sam’s ragtag bunch. When the Americans do make an appearance Colonel Caldwell takes special notice of what Sam has done here and he is eventually awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. There is more fighting and Sam shows the same kind of smart, courageous leadership which causes his leaders to promote him to captain.

There is one, although not very important scene at the time, that sets the mood of a secondary theme through out the book and one which actual military leaders have taken note of, according to comments made by real military leaders. It has to do with the relation of two types of personalities in the command structure of the Army and is exemplified by this encounter. 

Sam’s unit has been pulled back and they are resting after several weeks in life and death struggles when a young captain from the rear echelon command staff approaches.  The men don’t take special heed of the captains presence and are, of course, disheveled after two weeks of combat. The staff captain angrily wants to know where their leader is.  When Sam comes forward he is chastened for the messy condition of  his men. Sam is in no mood for this and reads him off. At some point this captain is told he is talking to Sam Damon holder of the Medal and he changes his tone. This captain is a West Point graduate by the name of Messingale and he will be in and out of the story complicating Sam’s life.

At one point while they are pulled back one of his corporals, Devlin, decides he has had enough and deserts to his French girl friend’s house.  Sam goes there and persuades Devlin to come back and finish the war using his fine tuned ability to influence people and get them to conform to his wishes.  Of course it probably is the moral thing to do and Devlin goes back the  unit.  In the last battle of the war for his unit, Sam and Devlin are wounded; Devlin mortally.  Sam never quite forgives himself for coaxing Devlin to come back to the unit.

Now the war has ended and Sam is in Paris enjoying armistice.  He runs into Colonel Caldwell and his daughter, Thomas, or Tommy as she called.  She is a very beautiful lady who hates the army and thinks of it as a boys club for testing their courage for no good reason.  Again Sam uses his extraordinary ability to influence people and she agrees to marry him.  They marry and Sam, contrary to what Tommy wishes, stays in the army.  They are stationed to Camp Hardee in desolate country in the southwest. The living quarters are bad and Sam does the work to make it livable. Since this is now a peace time army rank is hard to come by.  Sam is demoted to his permanent rank of lieutenant.

While on maneuvers Sam’s company is tasked with blowing up a bridge. The charge is set and the fuse is lighted but nothing happens. One of the referees, Captain Townsend, questions Sam about the placing of the charge and ignition of it. He gets a little testy then tells Sam to disassemble the charge.  Sam says he will not let his people approach the charge for at least 30 minutes which is  according to the regulations for this procedure in case of  ‘hangfire’. Townsend tells Sam to go back and  consider himself under house arrest for  disobeying orders. Then the charge explodes by itself and of course the captain tells Sam he is no longer under arrest.      

While on this posting Tommy has a baby boy, Donny.  There are many descriptions of  the relation ships of the army wives that surround the Damons. Much is written about the parties and incidents that occur between the wives and between the wives and their husbands.  During this time period between wars Sam works with many enlisted and officer types.  He meets his best friend Ben Krisler who is  a West Point grad and a bit of  a loose cannon. He is younger and of less rank than Sam. Also, during this time period he runs into Courtney Massengale who is also a West Pointer and strictly a staff officer whose main purpose in the army is  to achieve higher rank and do it without getting his hands dirty, so to speak, with actual combat. He thinks Sam is good material for this kind of career and tries to push him in that direction. However Sam will have none of it.  He thinks a man should work with his fellow man and lead them and protect them as best he can for their own good – his career is about welfare of his country and command and fighting the good fight.

Sam is sent to the Philippines in the late 30’s.  While there he is offered a chance to go to China and work with the communist guerillas in their struggle with Chiang Kai-shek. Tommy abhors this but knows Sam will do what he thinks is the right thing to do. Sam is continually accumulating knowledge about his job and world conditions and he needs to know what motivations and resources are at play in the Chinese revolution. He spends two years in China with the guerillas, encounters battles and is wounded.

We next see Sam in a south pacific island, Moapora. He is now a light colonel.  The goal in this campaign, as is the case in most of the islands, is to take and secure the airstrip. The bird colonel that is in charge is old and not up to the poor conditions and lack of what he thinks should be the minimum amount of men and equipment. As the battle unfolds on the spot change of tactics are needed and the colonel is afraid and wants to pull back. Sam thinks they can attack and gain the airstrip if they outthink the Japs. The colonel by this time doesn’t have it together and is suffering from malaria. Sam takes over and does what the colonel said not to do. The air strip is taken. But technically Sam disobeyed orders. Nothing comes of this but somehow it gets back to Courtney Massengale and he brings this up at a later time when describing Sam’s personality to a state department official.

The next battle will take place invading Wokai and, you guessed it, secure the airstrip. Now a General, Massengale is in charge of this campaign and lays out the way it will be fought. According to Sam’s perception, having done some reconnoitering, Massengale’s plan is leaving Sam’s unit to go against the largest concentration of Japs. Massengale wants Sam’s unit to do a risky wheeling maneuver. Sam doesn’t agree with this but obeys the order. However, he thinks the reserve unit should be saved for his use should his unit run into serious problems. This is a contentious item between the two. Eventually Messangale agrees to keep the reserve available for Sam.

As the battle progresses, word comes from Ben Krisler, who is with the leading troops. He says they are being over run and needs help. Sam calls Massengale for release of the reserve but Massengale has already committed them to another mission. He tries to turn them around but it is too late and Ben’s group is over run – Ben is killed. Sam working with his men jury rigs some cannons and is able to hold the position and eventually win the struggle. Sam threatens to blow this action by Massengale up to the staff and court martial Massengale. But he backs off when Massengale agrees to give a unit citation to the group. Sam is now a General.

During this time his son Donny, who is a gunner in a B-17 is killed. When Donny was born Tommy made Sam swear that he would not persuade him to enter the armed forces. Though Sam did not help him enter the army, Donny, as most kids at that time, felt he should join up. Donny’s death was the last straw for Tommy. She distanced herself from Sam, and decided too starts a new life without him. She took up with a rich government official. Sam, knowing that Tommy blamed him for Donny’s death, made friends with a nurse on Wokai.

Eventually, the war came to an end and Sam went home to Nebraska to a parade through his hometown. In the meantime Tommy has split with her new amour and has some feelings yet for Sam. She flies into Nebraska to be with him. Sam retires and they move to California and life goes on albeit in a slower vain. And now comes a request from the Army requesting Sam to work with the army and state dept in dealing with the insurgency in Khotaine.

 There are Chinese groups invading and the army, under 4 star general Massengale, is working up plans to push them back and then to help Chiang Kai-shek battle the communists. Sam goes into Khotaine and travels into the boondocks and talks with Khotaine leaders. He leaves with the perception that we should leave these people alone. He returns to the US and tries to persuade the powers of this.  When the state department person goes back to Khotaine he is waylaid by Messangale who spells out Sam’s personality, as he sees it, to this man. He lies about the action in Wokai and tells him that Sam is of the same persuasion as the liberal thinking types. Sam, aided by Joey Kisler, Ben’s boy is waiting for the flight that brings the state department person to the airport in Khotaine. As Sam is sitting waiting for the plane to  land he takes note of a peasant wheeling a cart past the window. The cart explodes and demolishes the building, mortally wounding Sam.

 In his death throws Sam tells Joey Krisler not let this violence change anything. He still needs to pass on to the powers that Sam said the US should not be engaged here. Joey is angry at the insurgents and will try to get even. As the book ends it is apparent that Joey will try to persuade the officials to somehow get even for Sam’s death.  Massengale has won another victory.          

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