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Overview
Required reading for West Point and Marine Corps cadets, Once An Eagle is the story of one special man, a soldier named Sam Damon, and his adversary over a lifetime, fellow officer Courtney Massengale. Damon is a professional who puts duty, honor, and the men he commands above self-interest. Massengale, however, brilliantly advances by making the right connections behind the lines and in Washington's corridors of power. Beginning in the French countryside during the Great War, the conflict between these adversaries solidifies in the isolated garrison life marking peacetime, intensifies in the deadly Pacific jungles of World War II, and reaches its treacherous conclusion in the last major battleground of the Cold War—Vietnam. Now reissued with a new foreword by acclaimed historian Carlo D'Este, here is an unforgettable story of a man who embodies the best in our nation—and in us all.
Editorials
George S. Patton - MG
“Beautifully written. ...A masterpiece. .... Myrer’s descriptions of firefights are by far the best I have read.”Hugh B. Hester - BG
“Accurate and appealing. The most brilliant and moving description of men in battle I have read... Truly a great book.”General H. Norman Schwarzkopf
“A classic novel...Sam Damon doesn’t preach, he lives his values and they are universal, not only military.”David L. Grange - BG
“Inspired me...the essence of being a good man, soldier, officer and leader...the standard, the pride, the motivation...We are all better men because of Anton Myrer.”R. Ernest Dupuy - COL
“Magnificent...word pictures of combat superb...a remarkable book.”Eugene A. Salet - MG
“Never read anything that depicts army life and the battlefield with such deep appreciation...superb account...artistry and sensitivity.”Robert H. Scales - MG
“Once An Eagle has been the literary moral compass for me and my family of soldiers for more than two generations. It’s ethical message is as fresh and relevant today as it was when Anton Myrer wrote it during the war in Vietnam.”Henry H. Shelton - General
“Once An Eagle is truly a classic. It caused us to reflect on core values...one of the key ingredients to the success we now enjoy. Sam Damon has been and will be a beacon of moral and physical courage for young American warriors.”Douglas V. Johnson I - LTC
“Required reading...at the Army War College...a classic of military literature and a guide to honorable conduct in the profession of arms.”David M. Shoup - General
“The author’s description of the military mind and muscle at work in combat and out are quite realistic...reading this book will be a great experience for those who haven’t experienced what the author writes about so colorfully.”SENATOR JOHN McCAIN
“A great generational story of our US military, warts and all.”General Martin E. Dempsey
“Once an Eagle is simply the best work of fiction on leadership in print.”BG
"Accurate and appealing. The most brilliant and moving description of men in battle I have read... Truly a great book."General
"A classic novel...Sam Damon doesn’t preach, he lives his values and they are universal, not only military."BG
"Inspired me...the essence of being a good man, soldier, officer and leader...the standard, the pride, the motivation...We are all better men because of Anton Myrer."COL
"Magnificent...word pictures of combat superb...a remarkable book."MG
"Never read anything that depicts army life and the battlefield with such deep appreciation...superb account...artistry and sensitivity."MG
"Once An Eagle has been the literary moral compass for me and my family of soldiers for more than two generations. It’s ethical message is as fresh and relevant today as it was when Anton Myrer wrote it during the war in Vietnam."General
"Once An Eagle is truly a classic. It caused us to reflect on core values...one of the key ingredients to the success we now enjoy. Sam Damon has been and will be a beacon of moral and physical courage for young American warriors."LTC
"Required reading...at the Army War College...a classic of military literature and a guide to honorable conduct in the profession of arms."General
"The author’s description of the military mind and muscle at work in combat and out are quite realistic...reading this book will be a great experience for those who haven’t experienced what the author writes about so colorfully."Senator
"A great generational story of our US military, warts and all."General
"Once an Eagle is simply the best work of fiction on leadership in print."George S. Patton
"Beautifully written. ...A masterpiece. .... Myrer’s descriptions of firefights are by far the best I have read."New York Times
"Remarkable . . . utterly engrossing. Myrer is a superb storyteller."The Atlantic
"An ambitious, magnificently vivid novel...compelling. The battle scenes are among the finest I have ever read."New York Review of Books
"Myrer was an excellent storyteller...Once An Eagle is that very rare thing, a genuine ideological novel. When one of these becomes standard issue to the Corps of Cadets we would be remiss if we ignored it."Cincinnati Enquirer
"A powerful, provocative and strongly-written novel...and an implied warning to the nation...One hopes that the Chiefs of Staff in Washington will read it with care."Harpers
"At long last we have what critics have been saying was lost to modern novels—an honest-to-God hero...a natural."Baltimore Sun
"I would pick up Once An Eagle rather than Norman Mailer any day for a clue as to what is going on in Vietnam."Chicago Sun-Times
"In ironic contrast, the story moves from jungle warfare to drawing rooms on the Potomac, and back again...Goes to the heart of our century."Providence Journal
"Inspects down to thier most elusive motives those who have to make the agonizing command decisions."Louisville Courier Journal
"Once An Eagle may be America’s War and Peace and Anton Myrer a contemporary Tolstoy."Denver Post
"Reflects skillful research in military areas as well as technical mastery of the writing craft...Through the gentle but courageous character of Damon, Myrer graphically describes the criminal, dirty, wasteful, savage immorality of war...The Army career man will look on it as a monument."Journal of the Armed Forces
"The most outstanding novel I have seen in long years. And it is far and away the best work of fiction with a military background I have ever read."Philadelphia Bulletin
"Too overwhelming, too awe-inspiring to keep to youself...magnificent,"Washington Post
"A classic."Elizabeth Becker
The book is on the Marine Corps commandants' reading list—making it required reading for all Marines. The U.S. Army War College holds an annual leadership seminar that uses the book. For West Point cadets, who are assigned the book in classes and seminars, reading Once an Eagle has become a rite of passage, much like discovering Catcher in the Rye as a teen-ager.—The New York Times
New York Times
Remarkable . . . utterly engrossing. Myrer is a superb storyteller.John W. Vessey
This classic novel of soldiers and soldiering ranks with Red Badge of Courage and All Quiet on the Western Front as time tested epics of war and warriors.Atlantic
An ambitious, magnificently vivid novel...compelling. The battle scenes are among the finest I have ever read.H. Norman Schwarzkopf
I fully understand why Once An Eagle has become a classic novel of war and warriors. Sam Damon doesn't preach, he lives his values and they are universal not only military.New York Times
A remarkable novel...utterly engrossing. Myrer is a superb story-teller, one of the few gifted novelists now writing who cares about the art of narration and is a master of it...A grim, exciting and almost overwhelming account of twentieth-century war. It is an astute study of the mind and character of a good general and a good man. And it is a brilliant inside views of the life of a career officer in peace and war.Armed Forces Journal
It is my firm opinion that Anton Myrer's Once An Eagle deserves to rank with, or perhaps above, any one of those three truly great pieces of military fiction—Stephen Crane's The Red Badge of Courage; Fix Bayonets! by Col. John W. Thomason, USMC; and What Price Glory, by Capt. Lawrence Stallings, USMC.Louisville Courier Journal
Once An Eagle may be America's War and Peace and Anton Myrer a contemporary Tolstoy.Denver Post
Reflects skillful research in military areas as well as technical mastery of the writing craft...Through the gentle but courageous character of Damon, Myrer graphically describes the criminal, dirty, wasteful, savage immorality of war...The Army career man will look on it as a monument.Chicago Sun-Times
In ironic contrast, the story moves from jungle warfare to drawing rooms on the Potomac, and back again...Goes to the heart of our century.Life
The work of a man who has thought long and hard about the nature of war, and has come up with something more than the simple truism that it's hell...one at last understands why the glibly optimistiic press releases about Vietnam have had so little relation to what is going on there.Harpers
At long last we have what critics have been saying was lost to modern novels—an honest-to-God hero...a natural.Journal of the Armed Forces
The most outstanding novel I have seen in long years. And it is far and away the best work of fiction with a military background I have ever read.Providence Journal
Inspects down to thier most elusive motives those who have to make the agonizing command decisions.New York Book World
Anton Myrer's battle scenes are among the finest I've ever read—they horrify, excite, frighten, and exult...the novel underscores the great agonized lesson of our century: that war's most terrible effects are on the survivors, not the victims...the validity and the urgency of Myrer's sentiments will not be denied.Cincinnati Enquirer
A powerful, provocative and strongly-written novel...and an implied warning to the nation...One hopes that the Chiefs of Staff in Washington will read it with care.Richard O'Connor
Once An Eagle tells more about the peculiarly American type of soldier - Pershing, Bradley, Van Fleet, Truscott - than a whole shelf of military biographies and regimental histories. Myrer not only makes the enclosed life of the American soldier in war and peace vividly real, but in passing tells us more about the American character and the way it has changed in the last half century than any book I've read in a long time.Baltimore Sun
I would pick up Once An Eagle rather than Norman Mailer any day for a clue as to what is going on in Vietnam.Philadelphia Bulletin
Too overwhelming, too awe-inspiring to keep to youself...magnificent.David M. Shoup
The author's description of the military mind and muscle at work in combat and out are quite realistic...reading this book will be a great experience for those who haven't experienced what the author writes about so colorfully.Henry H. Shelton
Once An Eagle is truly a classic. It caused us to reflect on core values...one of the key ingredients to the success we now enjoy. Sam Damon has been and will be a beacon of moral and physical courage for young American warriors.William Livsey
A superb and inspiring account of soldiers and soldiering. It's about service - service to the magnificent young men and women that this great nation has committed to our charge - selfless service to the nation and its values and the relationship between the two. This nation will survive only as long as we inspire others to emulate Sam Damon and to act with humor and hope and generosity no matter what...Sidney B. Berry
The best 20th century description of the American military professional that I know...emphasizes values and ideals...tremendous dramatic impact...Gernerals read Once An Eagle and think, 'I wish I could have been like that...' Lieutenants and captians read Eagle and think, 'I will try to be, maybe I can be like that...' Once An Eagle captured the heart, soul, spirit of soldiers and soldiering...will endure as long as there are soldiers.George S. Patton
Beautifully written...masterpiece...description of firefights by far the best I have read...Once An Eagle gave me a real life...closer to the real scene than any other I know.Eugene A. Salet
Never read anything that depicts army life and the battlefield with such deep appreciation...superb account...artistry and sensitivity.David L. Grange
Inspired me...the essence of being a good man, soldier, officer and leader...the standard, the pride, the motivation...We are all better men because of Anton Myrer.Hugh B. Hester
Accurate and appealing. The most brilliant and moving description of men in battle I have read... Truly a great book.R. Ernest Dupuy
Magnificent...word pictures of combat superb...a remarkable book.Douglas V. Johnson
Required reading...at the Army War College...a classic of military literature and a guide to honorable conduct in the profession of arms.Robert H. Scales
Once An Eagle has been the literary moral compass for me and my family of soldiers for more than two generations. It's ethical message is as fresh and relevant today as it was when Anton Myrer wrote it during the war in Vietnam.Book Details
Published
March 12, 2013
Publisher
HarperCollins Publishers
Pages
1291
Format
Paperback
ISBN
9780062221629