World War II Chronicles: A View of War From the Bottom. Wars are usually told of in terms of heros and generals, of great feats of derring-do, of battles large and small, of miles gained or lost. of snow or storm, or tropic heat, and of men, dead or dying. There is little of that in this book. We often speak of tank movements, of divisions deployed, of strategies, of air strikes and bombs, but seldom do we countenance the sole ordinary soldier. Rarely is the individual soldier, this single replaceable cog in the great war machine brought to account. This book takes the unusual perspective of looking at war through the eyes of a young volunteer soldier in the U.S. Army during World War II. We follow his travels through America to Europe and thence to the far East. We observe development of this maturing adolescent as war impinges on his unfledged mind. We look at officers from the perspective of those they lead. We see the foibles of command as seen by those who must carry out orders and directives. And we glimpse the off duty activities of an adolescent soldier overseas. Here we chronicle many actions that will never make the daily news. This book is indeed, a view of war from the bottom