Through the prism of ultimate victory, the greatest generation that fought World War II has been seen as triumphant. But the brutal reality of the war as endured by combat infantrymen has remained little documented. In Foot Soldier , Roscoe C. Blunt provides an all-too-rare glimpse into the experience of fighting at the Allied front. Nineteen-year-old "Rockie" arrived on the continent in November 1944, when burnt-out U.S. vehicles still littered the beaches. His 84th Infantry Division fought at the Roer, through the Battle of the Bulge, and at the crossing of the Rhine all the way to the Elbe; he was briefly taken prisoner by an SS Panzer unit. Drawing upon his numerous letters home and the journals he scrawled in foxholes and tents, he has given us one of the most detailed, immediate accounts of the Second World War ever written, a memoir sure to take its place among the classics of war literature. What was daily life like for a lowly infantryman during the last year of World War II in the European theater? Foot Soldier , Roscoe C. Blunt's memoir, tells us with unadorned candor. "Rockie" Blunt, a front line soldier with the 84th Infantry Division, fought in the Roer and the Battle of the Bulge. He suffered frostbite, severe trauma, killed many enemy soldiers, and was, briefly, taken prisoner. Blunt concentrates on the quotidian: digging foxholes in frozen earth, sleeplessness, meager meals, shelterless winter bivouacs, and exhausting marches. By the war's end, Blunt is less disturbed by the sight of battlefield dead than he is elated by the discovery of fresh-baked baguettes. Foot Soldier , self-effacing and infused with a healthy skepticism about "the brass," is a rough-edged marriage of Studs Terkel's Working and Stephen Crane's The Red Badge of Courage . --H. O'Billovitch Roscoe C. Blunt, Jr. , was the youngest soldier to be awarded the Expert Infantry Badge. He also received a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star. After the war, he became an award-winning investigative journalist and author. He lives in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts.