Week 2 Post A

Vocab
Anointed (55) - choose by or as if by divine intervention

Screaming Meemies (72) - German multibarreled, electrically fired rocket launchers called Nebelwerfers

Appeals
1. "Once fear strikes, it spreads like an epidemic, faster than a wildfire. Once the first man runs, others soon follow. Then it's all over; soon there are hordes of men running, all of them wild-eyed and driven by fear" (51). I would say this is a very much emotion appeal because it shows that there are the new recruits that have been pushed into combat and when they see their friends they start doing it too even if they don't know what's going on.

2. "Some of our men were armed with nothing more than a trench knife. On e trooper marching with us had only a stick-a tree limb he had picked up from the ground. He waved it menacingly and declared that he would replace it with a German weapon by nightfall" (53). I would say this is a logical and emotional appeal because it does have the fact but I would say it is more emotional because it shows the reader how truly under-equipped they were and how they had to pretty much use anything that was available to them to stay alive.

3. "Bastogne and it's seven roads had to be taken or the entire German offensive would fail. They would not be able to move their mechanized armies or the supplies needed to maintain their momentum without it." (67). This is a logical appeal because it gives the really important fact of why Bastogne was so important and that they were going to do anything tit took to hold it.

Quote
"Who could blame those men for being scared? Many of them were fresh from the States, pumped up with the idea that the war would be over by Christmas. Then thirty-eight heavily armed and armored German divisions had suddenly broken through their lines in a pre-dawn surprise attack in a last fierce attempt to save their country from defeat. Many Americans and their units were obliterated before they even knew they were under attack. These men had found themselves in the valley of death, and their faces showed it." I think this is a important quote because it connects with with theme in this part of the book. It shows that the Allies pretty much thought the war was over so a lot of new recruits joined for the glory and honor but they experienced something totally different.

Theme
A theme for this part of the book was that things can and are different than they seem and fear plays a huge role in events people partake in. So even if a person doesn't know what's going on but he sees his friend running away for example or putting away their stuff in class then there's a big chance that they will do it too and it will lead to a domino effect.

Week 1 Post B

For post B I thought I would talk about the author Donald R. Burgett. First off I just have to say that I’m really enjoying the book because of his attention to detail and I quote, “I wrote this account shortly after World War II while it was still fresh in my mind. Then I set it aside in a cardboard box, where it remained until just recently. It is not the time-fogged memories of an old paratrooper, but rather the recollections of a young man just home from the war transferred to crisp, clean paper from the time yellowed pages in which he first wrote them” (xi). So like I was saying because of this the book is very detailed from the setting to the men in his platoon and even the vehicles and other things.

Now into the actual book, Donald writes the book not like this is a old, old event but as if it just happened yesterday so there’s a unique feeling to it as you read it. Also he makes it interesting because it isn’t just a book with a timeline per se but it has his reactions and even his emotions to certain things like when they are getting reinforcements for their wounded he talks about this guy Speer who joins his group and he comments, “I didn’t like him when I first saw him. He was too short, too friendly, and he was homely” (10). He later goes on to explain how Speer was too willing to do the tasks assigned to him and how he never complained and it’s things like these little details that Donald puts thoroughly throughout that really catches the readers attention and keeps them hooked. He is an excellent writer with not only historical events and facts but also a personal and emotional side to the book as well which makes it a stupendous read.

Outside Reading Post A

Seven Roads To Hell: A Screaming Eagle At Bastogne by Donald R. Burgett

Vocab
Bastard Units (5) - military term for a unit not permanently assigned or attached to a higher field headquarters

Inexorably (7) [Inexorable] - grim: not to be placated or appeased or moved by entreaty


Appeals
1. "At the onset, when others abandoned the front, we stood voluntarily in defense of Bastogne, just as our forefathers did at Bunker Hill and the Alamo. We stood against overwealming enemy manpower, firepower, and armor-and we held" (xi). This is an emotional appeal because it relates to the reader that they want to find out more and get more deep into the actual events.


2. "Ragged, cold, hungry, battered, low on ammunition and short of weapons, the men of the 101st Airborne Division held as ordered... We held as ordered one against nine, until our forces could gather themselves to enter the fray" (xii). I would consider this a logical and emotional appeal because it has facts, examples, and also it shows what kind of state they were in, which reaches out to the reader.


3. "Boots stayed soggy on our feet and trench foot prevailed. Our jumpsuits were filthy, ragged, and torn. We didn't have a real bath in all the seventy-two days we were in action" (6). This is a emotional appeal because it has incidents in it and it relates to the reader what they had to experience.


Quote
"Time after time I would see these same men at mail call, standing at the outer fringes of the group, looking, listening, waiting, eyeing each letter as a name was called and the letter was passed back from hand to hand to the recipient. But these few troopers, good men all, never received a letter. I knew one of those men pretty well and asked him one day if he ever received any mail. "Nope", he replied.
"Then why do you come to each mail call?" I asked.
"I don't know. It's just that someday, maybe . . ."
I thought this was a really important and significant quote in this part of the book I read because these paratroopers were so far away from home and family and friends they didn't really have anything to enjoy. They had to constantly worry about being attacked and the horrible conditions but little things even like packages from home were really important to all of them and so I thought it was an excellent quote.

Theme
I haven't really gotten into the core of the book yet but a very strong emerging theme seems to be all the emotional appeals about the actual events in the book but not only that but the conditions and all the hardships the soldiers had to go through just to survive another day.

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