Four Stars of Valor: The Combat History of the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment in WWII
by Phil Nordyke 

List Price: $27.95 
Hardcover: 400 pages
ISBN: 0760326649
Publisher:  Zenith Press
Publish Date:  November 15, 2006 

 

New in Print

This is not only the story of the 505th Regimental Combat Team's great feats of arms on the battlefield.  It is a story of close combat, devotion to duty, remarkable courage, and tremendous sacrifice -- told as only frontline combat infantrymen can.
-- from the Introduction

Hailing from the big cities and small towns of America, these young men came together to serve their country and the greater good. Preparing for war, they came of age in what arguably became the best parachute infantry regiment to descend upon a Europe beset by World War II. They were the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, the only parachute regiment to make four combat jumps in WWII, and their story is told here by their official historian.

Drawing on interviews with surviving veterans and oral history recordings, as well as official archives and unpublished written accounts from over 300 veterans of the 505th PIR and their supporting units, author Phil Nordyke brings the history of the regiment to life, conveying with remarkable immediacy and power what it was like to be there: to liberate the first town in France; to spearhead the invasion of Sicily in the first American mass combat jump to fight at the forefront of six major campaigns (Sicily, Naples-Foggia, Normandy, Rhineland, Ardennes, and Central Germany); to jump into Normandy as the only U.S. parachute regiment with combat experience.

This is history as it was lived by the men of the 505th, from their pre-war coming of age in the regiment, through the end of World War II, when they marched in the Victory Parade up Fifth Avenue in New York, to the post-war legacy of having been part of an elite parachute regiment with a record unsurpassed in the annals of combat history.

About the Author

Phil Nordyke's first book, All American All the Way: The Combat History of the 82nd Airborne Division in World War II, was published in May 2005 by Zenith Press to wide critical and popular acclaim.  He has since also published The All Americans in World War II: A Photographic History of the 82nd Airborne Division at War , also published by Zenith Press.  Mr. Nordyke lives in McKinney, Texas.