Somehow, World War II memoirs never really make it to the level of their Great War predecessors. The likes of Robert Graves, Edmund Blunden, Siegfried Sassoon and Ernst Junger are rarely to be found among their younger peers. The great exception to this admittedly vast generalization is of course E.B. Sledge and "With the Old Breed."

Robert Kotlowitz served as an infantryman in France. His book treads the well worn path: the circle of friends in the unit, the quirks of the officers and NCOs, the blunders of basic training, the journey overseas, the initial boredom, the final shock of battle, the many who did not live to write their memoirs. The intrinsic pathos of war redeems this story as it most others like it, and there are some memorable passages of descriptive writing. One concludes, however, that "Before Their Time" remains part of the herd.

In a society seemingly addicted (or at least benumbed by) on-line polls, the personal, written memoir is an all too often overlooked source of experience-- and wisdom. This compact volume is the wartime memoir of Robert Kotlowitz, who served with the 26th Infantry Division during the Second World War. Deeply (and appropriately) personal, it shares a place on my bookshelf with Mowat's, _And No Birds Sang_, and Sledge's _With the Old Breed_.

Even for those of us who have not served in combat, Kotlowitz's thumbnail word-sketches of his fellow soldiers and their dealings with one another have the hard edge of sometimes uncomfortable truth. Part of this story is untold, and cannot be told, but only lived. I deeply respect Kotlowitz as he tries, with each line, to be as scrupulously honest and accurate as he can be in conveying his experience.

Towards the end of this book, the author brings up the valid point that the majority of World War II veterans who survived the war have since died. As that generation passes, memoirs of the sort written by Kotlowitz are increasingly important. This is war, at the infantryman's level, and in our rush to embrace "smart weapons," we had best not neglect the voices, such as Kotlowitz's, that still resound from cramped, cold, filthy foxholes.

The candor Kotlowitz employs in this straight-forward narrative is in the best tradition of those combat veterans who, in the past 30 years, have tried to be forthcoming about their experiences.

Don't miss the point of this book, it is not about combat, heroism, patriotism and the tactical history of the war. The story here, the reason that this book is so compelling and important, is the realitively simple story that is one of hundreds of thousands of men like Kotlowitz who served during WWII.
These young men went to war from the security of home and high school during without knowing how the war would turn out. Many of them lost their lives, a very few became famous heros, most came home and lived their lives. What was it like to be an average GI? It was frustrating, frightening and difficult but worth it all in the end.
This is a real story, not a lionozation. Don't come here for the false inspiration of a sanitized account. read this book and be inspired by what the soldiers of WWII experienced on our behalf.