Final Salute: A Story of Unfinished Lives | Jim Sheeler | Final Salute

Final Salute: A Story of Unfinished Lives | Jim Sheeler | Well Done

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Final Salute: A St...

	Final Salute: A Story of Unfinished Lives Jim Sheeler Penguin Press HC, The, 2008 - 288 pages average customer review:based on 36 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Based on his Pulitzer Prize-winning story, Jim Sheeler?s unprecedented look at the way our country honors its dead; Final Salute Is a stunning tribute to the brave troops who have lost their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan and to the families who continue to mourn them

They are the troops that nobody wants to see, carrying a message that no military family ever wants to hear. It begins with a knock at the door. ?The curtains pull away. They come to the door. And they know. They always know,? said Major Steve Beck.

Since the start of the war in Iraq, marines like Major Beck found themselves thrown into a different kind of mission: casualty notification. It is a job Major Beck never asked for and one for which he received no training. They are given no set rules, only impersonal guidelines.

Marines are trained to kill, to break down doors, but casualty notification is a mission without weapons. For Beck, the mission meant learning each dead marine?s name and nickname, touching the toys they grew up with and reading the letters they wrote home. He held grieving mothers in long embraces, absorbing their muffled cries into the dark blue shoulder of his uniform. He stitched himself into the fabric of their lives, in the simple hope that his compassion might help alleviate at least the smallest piece of their pain. Sometimes he returned home to his own family unable to keep from crying in the dark.

In Final Salute, Pulitzer Prize?winning journalist Jim Sheeler weaves together the stories of the fallen and of the broken homes they have left behind. It is also the story of Major Steve Beck and his unflagging efforts to help heal the wounds of those left grieving. Above all, it is a moving tribute to our troops, putting faces to the mostly anonymous names of our courageous heroes, and to the brave families who have made the ultimate sacrifice for this country. Final Salute is the achingly beautiful, devastatingly honest story of the true toll of war. After the knock on the door, the story has only begun.

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Final Salute - A Former CACO's Review

As a former Marine Corps Casualty Assistance Officer (CACO) from 1968 to 1970 in Los Angeles, this book was very difficult for me to read as it brought back memories of nearly 40 years ago. During this period of time, it was my duty to notify over 75 families of their loss from combat actions in Vietnam. As the book was read, I could vividly recall the reactions of family members as I spoke with them and the book very accurately presents their wide range of emotions. Through this book, I can clearly recall each and every notification and funeral service during those years. A noted difference between notifications then and now is in the acceptance of the CACO as a family member.

As a young captain making these notifications, my emotions were held in check as I was performing a service for a fellow Marine. Now, as a grandfather of 4 boys, when reading this book, it is not as easy to not become emotionally involved.

I enthusiastically recommend this book.

JMSmith
Captain, USMCR
Casualty Assistance Officer
1st Battalion, 14th Marines, USMCR
Los Angeles, CA

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Well Done

This book clearly demonstrates how the American military cares for the families of those who are killed in the defense of our great nation! It is written with a sensitivity and a compassion that is rare in non-fiction work these days.

It is the story of bravery not only on the battlefield but at home among the mothers, fathers, wives, children, brothers, sisters and other relatives of the fallen.

I was almost brought to tears when reading of the tenderness of the casualty officers portrayed in this fine book.

I would encourage all Americans to give this book a read.

Michael Patterson

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Great Book!

I recommend this book! My son is a Marine and it breaks my heart that parents have to have that knock on the door, but the compassion, heart and feelings these Marines have was eye opening! The book was very well written. I have a new found respect for those Marines, because it too breaks thier heart to do their job and they did not volunteer for it. The Marines truly are a brotherhood!

Salute to our troops

An incredible story about a guy with one of the toughest jobs in the world, but who does it very well.

Sheeler paints a vivid picture

Jim Sheeler, a reporter for the Rocky Mountain News, won a Pulitzer Prize in 2006 for his story on which this book is based. The primary focus is Major Steve Beck, a Marine officer whose duty it is to knock on the door of a soldier's family to give them the unbearable news that their son or husband or brother is dead.

Although Sheeler claims his book has no political agenda, FINAL SALUTE deals with matters that at least a portion of the general public would just as soon ignore, uncomfortable in the face of the reminders of the human cost of our involvement. Sheeler makes no effort to sugarcoat the details of the deaths of these men. Details border on the grotesque, as if he is forcing the readers to keep their eyes open, making it impossible to look away.

There is no question that the Marines, the primary unit of the armed forces represented in FINAL SALUTE, is indeed a band of brothers, and it's quite emotional to read about them breaking down with the task of burying one of their own. This is where Sheeler shines. The attention to detail in how the honor guard carries out their sad duties --- attending to the corpse, throwing unquestionable support to the survivors --- paints a vivid picture.

He also touches on mundane yet practical matters that make the military administration look small and cold-hearted. In one case they question whether a fallen soldier is really the father of a child whose mother is seeking benefits. The "death gratuity" --- recently, finally increased --- still seems a pittance. Even the manner in which the fallen are honored proves inadequate; Beck takes it upon himself to conduct a ceremony of honor to deliver the medals and citations to families that would ordinarily be sent through the mail.

But at the risk of seeming like a curmudgeon, it becomes too much at times. Sheeler jumps back and forth between the families, which becomes confusing and disjunctive (although perhaps he's mimicking the emotions of the families). It is as though he could not make up his mind what format to follow, whether to stay with one soldier at a time, or tell the grisly story in a semi-chronological order. The comments of the family, while completely understandable when speaking about the loneliness of those left behind, the children growing up with fathers, or the small practices they follow to remember, become repetitive after a time. And why is there no mention of the more than 100 women who lost their lives? Is that too taboo a subject for delicate American sensibilities?

Let us agree that there is nothing sadder than a young life snuffed out before its time. The young men and their loved ones profiled in FINAL SALUTE deserve our thanks and respect regardless of what we might think about the war in Iraq.

--- Reviewed by Ron Kaplan

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