Other Clay is a survivor's account of World War II infantry combat, told by a front-line officer whose 116th Infantry Regiment landed at Omaha Beach on D-Day and fought its way across Europe to the Elbe. Charles R. Cawthon joined the Virginia National Guard in 1940-to avoid being drafted and to spend his expected one year of service in officer training. When America entered the war, his division was among the first shipped out to England, where they spent two years preparing to spearhead the largest amphibious military operation in history. On the beaches of Normandy, on June 6, 1944, the...

Unlike most histories of the National Guard, Jerry Cooper's Citizens as Soldiers: A History of the North Dakota National Guard examines the Guard not merely in its wartime context or in terms of military actions in which it has engaged but also as an integral element in the growth and development of community in the American West. From the Guard's early incarnations as social clubs or lodges, where members dressed in uniform, paraded, and held dances, through its gritty service in the Philippines and beyond, Cooper shows how membership in the Guard and later in the Air National Guard helped...