Battling Buzzards
by Gerald Astor
reviewed by
Howard Ruppel
During this, the 50th anniversary year of D-Day, World War II buffs as well as anyone interested in knowing what goes into
making average men heroes will enjoy this insight into the human side of “the last, great war.”
Gerald Astor chronicles the 517th Parachute Regimental Combat Team’s participation in World War II. This team participated in
decisive battles in Italy, bore the brunt of the airborne invasion into Southern France, faced overwhelming enemy forces during
the bitter winter in the battle of the bulge, and then carried the fight across the Rhine River into the enemy’s homeland. During
these bloody campaigns, this elite force of 2,500 volunteers suffered a casualty rate of almost fifty per cent.
The author polled the aging “buzzards” to determine what breed of man would voluntarily jump out of an airplane into enemy held
territory. He then unites their tales of courage and sacrifice with historic narrative, making foxhole warfare come alive as told by
the men who made it happen. He found they were: “daring, aggressive, athletic…educated…motivated, and determined to excel,
with a desire to be better than the other guy.”
You will find it enlightening as well as saddening to hear the fascinating voices echo from the past vividly recounting how they
faced privation and hardship: “I opened a can of C-rations, chipped out a frozen chunk, held it in my mouth to thaw out, and that
was breakfast. He [a buddy] peeled a raw potato, sliced off a strip and cooked it over a candle.”
Readers will not forget the Buzzards’ first hand combat experiences nor their escapes from death which forged indelible
memories: One old soldier poignantly recalled, “He saved my life. I never got the opportunity to thank him, but I often do when I
look at my children and grandchildren.” Another remembered “looking at your friends whom you can’t help anymore and feeling
that you too have died a little.”
This book is a detailed profile of the brave, courageous young men of the 517th. They were fired up with confidence and
determination when they leaped out of the night sky carrying a puny defensive weapon with a couple extra rounds and driven by
nothing more than guts. Their personal accounts of day-to-day living, suffering, and dying are the missing elements of World War
II. This book provides the emotional, human element not usually included in a historian’s documentation of stale statistics and
cold reports. Battling Buzzards is about airborne forces in general and a few thousand paratroopers in particular. It is a worthy
addition to World War II history.
Look for Battling Buzzards—The Odyssey of the 517th Parachute Regimental Combat Team, 1943-1945 by Gerald Astor. Donald
I. Fine, Inc. 323pp. 16 pages of glossy photos. $23.95 hc, at your favorite book store.
Writer “Lived” the History
in Book He Reviewed
by
Jill Lindberg
You might say Howard Ruppel stepped right out of the pages of Battling Buzzards, the book he reviewed for BookLovers in this
issue. Battling Buzzards is the story of the men of the 517th Parachute Regimental Combat Team of which Ruppel was a
member during World War II. The book gives an “up close and personal” glimpse into the lives of the men who fought with this
unit. Ruppel’s name is mentioned in the book 14 different times, and there is also a picture of him wearing his jump suit—and a
big smile!
Ruppel was awarded the bronze star, and in an article about him and other awardees in The Milwaukee Journal in November,
1944, he is cited as follows: “He kept telephone line[s] between two American units in constant repair although under constant
enemy fire and menaced by German patrols. Once, trapped by three Germans, he killed two with a grenade and the third with his
carbine.”
Ruppel has written his own account of his experiences which he has titled Reflections of a Paratrooper, A Personal Account of
World War II. In the forward to these memoirs, he notes, “Most ordinary day to day soldier life, I plumb forgot about. The escapes
from destiny are as vivid today as the day they happened.” Ruppel stresses the value of sharing the day-to-day difficulties and the
personal trials of the soldiers who fought during the long days and nights of World War II. He notes that the freedoms and
comforts we enjoy today result from the sacrifices made on those battlefields, and those who sacrificed were flesh-and-blood
human beings who had hopes and dreams for their future. The men who paid the ultimate sacrifice forfeited those hopes and
dreams for the greater good.
Ruppel has other significant and very interesting things to say as a result of his experiences. These have been shared with
BookLovers via his writings and through an interview. Look for them in a future issue of BookLovers. ∆
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