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Second Chance: In Combat with the Us 'Texas' Infantry, the OSS, and
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Second Chance: In Combat with the Us 'Texas' Infantry, the OSS, and the French Resistance During the Liberation of France, 1943-1946 Paperback - 2011

by Stephen J. Weiss; Introduction by Richard J. Overy

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Reader reviews for Second Chance: In Combat with the Us 'Texas' Infantry, the OSS, and the French Resistance During the Liberation of France, 1943-1946

From the publisher

Despite the huge proliferation of books about almost every conceivable aspect of World War II, few accounts manage to recreate the personal experience of war in a combat zone. Each veteran brought his own memoir with him, ricocheting around in his head, but few have had the combination of literary skill, self-knowledge, and desire to get it down on paper. Private Steve Weiss of the 36th "Texas Infantry, U.S. Army, is one of the few who had that elusive combination, and even so, it took him almost a lifetime to put it all together. In "Second Chance: In Combat with the US "Texas" Infantry, the OSS, and the French Resistance during the Liberation of France, 1943-1946," Weiss, a psychotherapist who possesses a doctorate in War studies, sheds much of that aspect of his life to explore the kid who hit the beaches of Southern France in 1944. Although this part of the memoir could easily make a rousing adventure story - Weiss and his buddies, separated from their unit, spend time with the French Resistance and the OSS and Weiss winds up with a Croix de Guerre from the former and a silver plaque from the latter - the author is too honest to make it just a series of clips from a Hollywood movie. Almost constant anxiety, clumsiness in operating among dangerous men who speak a language he speaks and understands imperfectly, participating in a botched execution of a French collaborator - all of these stories come across the authentic voice of a kid trying to be tougher and more worldly than he was - or is. Once transferred back to the infantry and sent to the killing grounds in Germany, Weiss lives through a nightmare rather than an adventure - he and others desert, he gets court-martialed, sent to prison, is helped by a sympathetic psychologist, and winds up as an Army photographer. All of these decidedly un-heroic actions receive the same unblinkingly honest treatment, as do his post-war peregrinations as a photographer of generals and movie stars and a poignant love affair with a French woman. At the end of "Second Chance," the older Weiss, by now the only American to have received the Medaille de la Resistance Francaise and hold the rank of Officier in the French Legion of Honor, looks up many of the people he met during the war, from Resistance comrades to the officers whose incompetence contributed to his decision to desert. Some are changed and some are dead, but all are bound by a shared experience of war that transcends the decades and even mortality itself. Few memoirs convey both the sordidness and exaltation of life in war more honestly than "Second Chance." It succeeds as an historical and psychological study, one of value to any serious student of the human side of war.

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  • Title Second Chance: In Combat with the Us 'Texas' Infantry, the OSS, and the French Resistance During the Liberation of France, 1943-1946
  • Author Stephen J. Weiss; Introduction by Richard J. Overy
  • Binding Paperback
  • Edition 1st Paperback Ed
  • Pages 408
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Military History Publishing, U.S.A.
  • Publication date 2011-09
  • ISBN 9781780392325 / 178039232X
  • Weight 1.25 lbs (0.57 kg)
  • Dimensions 9.21 x 6.14 x 0.84 in (23.39 x 15.60 x 2.13 cm)
  • Category History - Military / War
  • Dewey Decimal Code 940.53

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Second Chance: In Combat with the US 'Texas' Infantry, the OSS, and the French Resistance during...
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Second Chance: In Combat with the US 'Texas' Infantry, the OSS, and the French Resistance during the Liberation of France, 1943-1946

by Stephen J. Weiss

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Military History Publishing, 2011. Paperback. New. 404 pages. 9.02x5.98x0.83 inches.
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Second Chance : In Combat with the U.S. 'Texas' Infantry, the OSS, and the French Resistance During the Liberation of France, 1943-1946

by Stephen J. Weiss

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Military Studies Press, 2011. Paperback. Very Good. May have limited writing in cover pages. Pages are unmarked. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less.Dust jacket quality is not guaranteed.
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Second Chance: In Combat with the Us 'Texas' Infantry, the OSS, and the French Resistance...
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Second Chance: In Combat with the Us 'Texas' Infantry, the OSS, and the French Resistance During the Liberation of France, 1943-1946

by Stephen J. Weiss

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Brand: Military History Publishing, 0000-00-00. 1st Paperback Edition. paperback. Used: Good. 6.14x0.84x9.21. Buy with confidence. Excellent Customer Service & Return policy.
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Second Chance: In Combat with the Us 'Texas' Infantry, the OSS, and the French Resistance During...
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Second Chance: In Combat with the Us 'Texas' Infantry, the OSS, and the French Resistance During the Liberation of France, 1943-1946

by Stephen J. Weiss

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paperback. Good. Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items. May be an ex-library book.
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Second Chance: In Combat with the Us 'Texas' Infantry, the OSS, and the French Resistance...
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Second Chance: In Combat with the Us 'Texas' Infantry, the OSS, and the French Resistance During the Liberation of France, 1943-1946

by Stephen J. Weiss

  • New
  • Paperback
  • first
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New
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1st Paperback Edition
Binding
Paperback
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9781780392325 / 178039232X
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Brand: Military History Publishing, 0000-00-00. 1st Paperback Edition. paperback. New. 6.14x0.84x9.21. Buy with confidence. Excellent Customer Service & Return policy.
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Item price
NZ$97.49
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Second Chance; In Combat with the US 'Texas' Infantry, the OSS, and the French Resistance during...
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Second Chance; In Combat with the US 'Texas' Infantry, the OSS, and the French Resistance during the Liberation of France, 1943-1946

by Weiss, Stephen J.

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  • Good
  • Paperback
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ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9781780392325 / 178039232x
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Essex, United Kingdom: Military History Publishing, 2011. First Paperback Edition, First Printing. Trade paperback. Good. x, 396, [2] pages. Figures. Maps. Signed by the author on the title page. Some wear and corner creases. Dedication, List of Figures, List of Maps, Acknowledgments, Introduction (by Richard Overy), Prologue, and Chapters: My Journey into War, Ducks in a Shooting Gallery, Desolation an Betrayal, Night Attack, The French Resistance and The OSS, Court-Martial, Prisoner, Living the Prison Sentence, Reprieve, A Free Man, Life in Postwar Paris, The Consequences of Meeting Colonel Binoche, I Miss My Rendezvous with General Patton, My Return to Civilian Life Begins in Paris; Photo Missions Accomplished; The Most Satisfying Dinner I Ever Had!; Normandy Revisited; Combat Fatigue Intrudes; Adventures Across the Italian Landscape, Suzanne, Norway and Dead Bodies, I Lead a Group of Poles Across France; Barber's Itch; An Intercontinental Romance; Farewell to an Ambulance in Paris; To the… Read more
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Second Chance
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Second Chance

by Weiss, Stephen J.

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NZ$176.70
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UK: Military History, 2011. Hardcover. As New/As New. Author inscribed on the title page. Sub-titled: "In combat with the U. S. "Texas" Infantry, the OSS, and the French Resistance during the Liberation of France, 1943-1946". Blue covers in a white & brown pictorial dust jacket. 8vo, 396 pages.
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NZ$176.70
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