Combat Engineer

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Combat Engineer

The Life and Leadership of Colonel H. Wallis Anderson, Commander of the Engineers at the Bulge and Remagen

With service along the Mexican border, World War I, and World War II, Colonel H. Wallis Anderson, Army Corps of Engineers, commanded troops in the most critical actions of his generation.

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.

Combat Engineer tells the well-known stories of the Bulge and Remagen from a new and different perspective, that of the commander. In both desperate actions, the senior engineer officer provided the steadying hand that inspired the troops to succeed. The narrative will read like it was imagined in Hollywood, but no fictional account can compare to the real-life drama of Combat Engineer.

 

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."
"What began as a labor of love and proceeded to become a five year journey for John Racoosin has culminated in the literary tale of Wallis Anderson, an unheralded, but historical hero. John’s descriptive account of COL Anderson’s rise from humble beginnings to exemplary leader in the most tumultuous of situations is a captivating page turner that I highly recommend for all military history enthusiasts. John has artfully crafted this narrative that does justice to the valiant protagonist in this story, his grandfather."

Amazon book review

John Racoosin
2021-05-01T17:40:04+00:00

Amazon book review

"What began as a labor of love and proceeded to become a five year journey for John Racoosin has culminated in the literary tale of Wallis Anderson, an unheralded, but historical hero. John’s descriptive account of COL Anderson’s rise from humble beginnings to exemplary leader in the most tumultuous of situations is a captivating page turner that I highly recommend for all military history enthusiasts. John has artfully crafted this narrative that does justice to the valiant protagonist in this story, his grandfather."
"Not your typical war story about the heroic foot soldier. Instead, this book puts into detailed perspective the effect of support personnel on the outcome of a battle or war. Indeed, there are heroes amongst the likes of engineers who sweep the mines, build the roads so that supplies and munitions can reach the troops, construct the bridges for friendly troops to advance, and destroy bridges, sometimes the same ones they had previously built, to stop the advance of the enemy. I found this perspective fascinating!

Also, 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 which ultimately turned the tide of the battles in which they were engaged."

Amazon review

John Racoosin
2021-05-03T15:18:43+00:00

Amazon review

"Not your typical war story about the heroic foot soldier. Instead, this book puts into detailed perspective the effect of support personnel on the outcome of a battle or war. Indeed, there are heroes amongst the likes of engineers who sweep the mines, build the roads so that supplies and munitions can reach the troops, construct the bridges for friendly troops to advance, and destroy bridges, sometimes the same ones they had previously built, to stop the advance of the enemy. I found this perspective fascinating! Also, 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 which ultimately turned the tide of the battles in which they were engaged."
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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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