This review of Dying Hard was submitted on February 26, 2025 on Amazon.com. The reviewer titled it: “Should be required reading in every history class.”
I just finished reading this amazing book. I bought it presale several months ago before it came out and it was well worth the wait. My father was in the 9th Infantry, 39th Regiment, the same as the author’s father, but like most men of this generation, he didn’t talk about his experiences much. We had to learn about it from others. I was able to retrace his path with the 9th Division all the way from the landing at Normandy through France, Belgium and Germany through the help of this historic account.
Although I was well aware that these men had it tough and many didn’t come home, I didn’t have a full appreciation of what these men went through on a day to day basis. Through the inclusion of actual battle reports and his personal conversations with the children and grandchildren of many of the men in B Company, the author brought their experiences to life. My only hope is that the sacrifices that these men made, and what they endured, will never be forgotten now that most of them are gone. I highly recommend reading this book and sharing it with everyone you know. We owe it to the Greatest Generation that gave us our freedom that we enjoy today. Thank you French MacLean for all the hard work and painstaking detail that went in to preserving this history and the memories of what these men did for us.