The Fighting 69th: The most famous Irish outfit in First World War
DUFFY’S WAR Fr. Francis Duffy, Wild Bill Donovan
and the Irish Fighting 69th in World War I
By Stephen L. Harris
Publishers: Potomac Books
ISBN: 1-57488-651-7
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“Men piled in great heaps, the dying with dead
– legs, arms, heads and torsos;
gray and blue, and khaki cloth intermingled;
blood, red or clotted black; torn, seared, crying flesh
– all in a labyrinth of mutilated trenches
as though old Mars himself had planned the scene
that would shock the world for all eternity.
There were searchers carrying odd ghastly sacks
slung over the shoulder as one would carry grain.
But of these bags, each one contained
all the human remains of some comrade
and whatever pieces of his clothing
might be clinging to those fragments
of flesh and bone.”
– A medic in the field from Duffy’s War.
Reviewed by Sharon Greer
Just the thought of the trenches in the First World War sends chills down my spine. None of us can possibly begin to understand the hunger, cold, endless illnesses, loneliness and depths of despair these courageous men underwent fighting through the horrific conditions of warfare.
My own great-uncle, Charles Alonzo Farrell, died young at Passchendaele during the First World War. I thought a great deal about his senseless death while reviewing this latest book.
Stephen L. Harris’ Duffy’s War: Fr. Francis Duffy, Wild Bill Donovan and the Irish Fighting 69th in World War I is monumental in its scope and coverage of the legendary “Fighting 69th.” Known in the U.S. army as the 165th Infantry, it took part in five major engagements during WWI.
The unit served on the front lines for nearly 170 days, with hundreds killed and thousands wounded. The company itself was highly decorated and greatly inspired by its chaplain, the distinguished Father Francis Duffy whose statue stands today in Times Square in New York City.
It was commanded by Major (Colonel by the end of the war) William “Wild Bill” Donovan, the future leader of the OSS (Office of the Strategic Services – forerunner of the CIA). One of the famous people who died in that unit during the war was the poet, Joyce Kilmer.
This unit still has a strong name recognition in the U.S. due to the the immortal 1940 film, The Fighting 69th, which starred James Cagney and Pat O’Brien. And Harris deserves much credit for being the first writer to give a detailed description of the whole story of this famous Irish outfit in the First World War.
Although fascinating and sorrowful in parts, the book was bogged down by the minutiae of men’s names/ranks and their numerous comments in reference to the 69th.
At times it felt like slogging through volumes of futile information that could have been more efficiently edited. Aside from the mishmash of detailed information colliding over the pages, the tome has some heartrending, memorable sections well worth the read.
Fortunately for Harris it has been published during a resurgent interest in the doughboy (WWI name for American soldiers) experience. This is the last in a trilogy honouring a cross section of New Yorkers who took up arms for their country.
Stephen L. Harris is the author of two other books about New York City’s National Guard regiments in the Great War. Duty, Honor, Privilege: New York’s Silk Stocking Regiment and the Breaking of the Hindenburg Line and Harlem’s Hell Fighters: The African-American 369th Infantry in World War I. He is a native New Yorker living in Vermont.
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