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Combat Engineer

Combat Engineer tells the well-known stories of the Bulge and Remagen from a new and different perspective, that of Colonel H. Wallis Anderson, Army Corps of Engineers.

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A tribute to an unsung American hero

This biography weaves through Anderson’s life as a Pennsylvania railroad engineer and as an army combat engineer. Throughout, he endured tragedy and triumph as a shining example of the uniquely American concept of a citizen-soldier.
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Resolute Valor

Isolated and under the harshest winter conditions, Anderson and the combat engineers under his command confronted and thwarted the advance of the most powerful force in the entire German Army: the Waffen-SS.

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Mexican Border. HW Anderson, commanding Company ‘K’ is center (Racoosin family collection)

Captain HW Anderson, Infantry, 28th Division, Augusta, GA (Elizabeth R. Racoosin collection)

HW Anderson probably Camp Bowie Texas 1942 (Elizabeth R. Racoosin collection)

HW Anderson, post-WWII (Racoosin family collection)

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Read the Reviews

"...a deeply moving story of an American citizen and hero, an honest and unusually realistic look at what it was like to serve on the ground in World War II, and a fascinating description of the role of a combat engineer."

Joe Weisberg, Emmy Award winning creator, writer, and producer of The Americans, and author of An Ordinary Spy

John Racoosin
2021-04-01T19:11:02+00:00

Joe Weisberg, Emmy Award winning creator, writer, and producer of The Americans, and author of An Ordinary Spy

"...a deeply moving story of an American citizen and hero, an honest and unusually realistic look at what it was like to serve on the ground in World War II, and a fascinating description of the role of a combat engineer."
"Not your typical war story about the heroic foot soldier... this book showcases the specific leadership qualities of H. Wallis Anderson that had such a profound effect on the morale and effectiveness of his combat engineering units ..."

Amazon review excerpt

John Racoosin
2021-05-03T15:39:00+00:00

Amazon review excerpt

"Not your typical war story about the heroic foot soldier... this book showcases the specific leadership qualities of H. Wallis Anderson that had such a profound effect on the morale and effectiveness of his combat engineering units ..."
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John Racoosin

Meet the Author

John Racoosin is the author of Combat Engineer, his first work. He is a transplanted westerner to the Virginia Peninsula, where he lives with his wife, Juliet and a hound dog, near his adult son and daughter. A retired Navy frogman and civil servant, John only belatedly felt compelled to write of his grandfather, the subject of his book. While family lore surrounding the gentlemanly patriarch hinted at the depth of his significance, only five years’ research revealed the full story of one of America’s unsung World War II heroes.

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