American Lions: The 332nd Infantry Regiment in Italy in World War I

This is an incredible book, not only for the easy writing style but also for the scholarship that went into it. The accompanying maps, pictures, and charts are superb and the narrative style compelling. It is worth every penny paid out to learn about this remarkable group of men.My grandfather, Joseph B. Shea, served in the Second Batt., E Co. of the 332nd Regiment, the only US infantry unit to fight in Italy during WWI. Typical of any combat veteran (as I was to find out later) he only talked about those things that he thought were funny or annoying. My mother told me that they never had macaroni and cheese at their house while growing up because of Joe's experience in Montenegro after the war. This book has helped explain why he hated macaroni and a host of other questions I had about his service.I became more interested in the feats of the 332nd Regiment after finding a Ph.D. thesis on the unit and a google books account of their time in service. As I collected information and books on the unit I thought I had become more or less an expert on the subject. Reading "American Lions" has given me a totally new perspective on what occurred almost one hundred years ago in Italy.Robert and Rebecca Dalessandro have written a remarkable and easy-to-read account of this group of National Army recruits from Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Indiana slated to serve in the 83rd Division. They started out as young civilians under the tutelage of battle hardened officers and NCOs bound for France and ended up an elite unit the equivalent of Rangers. Their short combat experience was exemplary, but after the war they embarked on a unique peacekeeping mission that is still used as the model for such endeavors these days. Their training with American veterans of the Phillipines and Cuba and then with the Arditi, perhaps the most feared troops in WWI, gave them the ability and flexibility to stop a civil war and bring peace to the Balkans, for a short time at least.In the mean time they routed an Austrian enemy, starved, fought the deadly 1917 flu epidemic, were "lost" for a while, and came home heros to both the Italians and Americans. Later on they were praised by the Italian government and given medals and a written thanks signed by Benito Mussolini. Fiorello LaGuardia flew combat missions above them and Ernest Hemingway manned an ambulance in the same area.After ten months of hardship and triumph they returned to civilian life only to be forgotten in the ensuing years. This book makes sure that their story lives.I highly recommend American Lions: The 332nd Infantry Regiment in Italy in World War I.

This is an excellent book that covers a little-studied topic, American troops in Italy during World War I. In addition, Dalessandro covers some postwar duties of soldiers across the Adriatic. The book is a treasure trove of pictures of the soldiers, and uniform and militaria collectors will enjoy that aspect of the work.Highly recommended.Peter L. Belmonte Days of Perfect Hell: The U.S. 26th Infantry Regiment in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, October-November 1918 Italian Americans in World War II (IL) (Voices of America)

My mother's father, my grandfather who I never met, was a WWI veteran. I was raised by my grandmother and her second husband. Growing up every now and then my mom and grandma would talk about this man who had been a husband and father. I learned that "grandpa BOOTH" had been gased and lost a lung. There was a story about an Austrian rifle that was brought home as a keep-sake. I was told that he had served in Italy. I grew older and began to read lots of history books but never ran across any mention of U.S. troops fighting in Italy during WWI. Years went by and my grandma and mom passed. I was on vacation in Florida and paid my sister a visit. Seems she had managed to collect a bunch of family photos and some papers that had belonged to grandma, then mom and were now kept by her. Among the pictures and postcards was a business sized card with information for a reunion of the 332nd regiment. It was dated sometime during the early 1930s. I wrote down the "332nd" on a piece of paper, took it home after my vacation and promply misplaced the info for several years. When I ran across this paper while sorting a bunch of loose notes and such I decided to see if any info could be found on my computer. Well, I found some articles and a list of books on the subject. "American Lions:-" seemed to be a good choise so I purchased the book from Amazon. In the book was a list of the members of the regiment. I found his name listed there. Somehow I then felt close to this man who I never met. I also was proud.

Great book. Came slightly damaged. Amazon's fault.

Having purchased other titles by this author I was very pleased by the detail and layout. Great photographs as well.My only complaint involves the lousy packaging on both the original and return shipments. The original lack of packaging resulted in a lot of chafing damage on the covers - inexcusable on a book this (to me) expensive. I wrote a detailed explanation on the on-line return page and included a hardcopy with the original return. My second example arrived looking like it'd been dropped hard on the corner - clearly no one bothers to review return documentation prior to pulling and shipping a replacement. Very disappointing. I have a good bookshop within 50 miles - next time I'll go there for a more expensive book.