The scale of the Second World War was enormous: so many countries, so many battles, the challenges of training and deploying huge numbers of soldiers, sailors, and airmen. Every participant in that war had fascinating and often unique experiences and stories to tell. It’s no wonder the major locations in that war were referred to as “theaters.” 

Larry A. Drew saw and experienced many aspects of the war, and is a first-rate story teller. His previous book, Invitation to a War, took us to the Pacific Theater, with his assignment to Pearl Harbor in 1941. It relates Larry’s experience as a shipyard worker, arriving a week before the December 7 attack. Six months later he enlists in the US Army “to have a rifle when the Japanese invade Hawaii.” Instead he finds himself as a forward artillery spotter during the Guadalcanal campaign. 

As the war grows bigger, more officers with combat experience are needed. Larry’s actions at Guadalcanal earned him a recommendation for Officer Candidate School (OCS). This second book picks up with Larry “back stateside”, where he reports for OCS at Ft. Sill, Oklahoma, home of the US Army’s Field Artillery School. Here, officer candidates study leadership, administration of a firing battery, supply, health and calisthenics, vehicle operations, vehicle maintenance, explosives and firepower, gunnery, forward observation, communications, and the responsibilities of being a commissioned officer. 

It was at Ft. Sill that Larry met several other officers-in-training who would become lifelong friends and “war buddies”: Ted Chandler, Sterling “Swede” Larson, and Walt Fleming. As a newly-minted 2nd Lieutenant, Larry was assigned to Ft Bragg, North Carolina. After a visit home, and a long bus ride to Fayetteville, he begins his assignment as a training officer for a battery of the Ninth Battalion replacement force. He covers his experience in that role, along with insights into his commanders, his fellow officers, and some of the men under his comm