Footprints of a Private

Frank Webster Pearce's informative diary and letters home form the backbone of this in-depth look at Texas' own 36th Division and the 111th Engineer Combat Battalion. The Division's story has been told before, but never from start to finish by a combat engineer, whose footprints stirred the sands of three invasion beaches, wallowed through the mud, and trudged in the snow of every battle. Added to it is an up close look at the movement of the engineers, detailed to company, platoon, and squad units. With the combination of diary, numerous letters home describing the wants and needs of a private, and official 36th Division reports, you have the most complete look ever produced on the engineers and their war with Hitler's Germany. This is a primary account, written daily as the events unfolded. Here you find out how to properly bury a man in the water soaked Italian soil, a fool proof way to smuggle liquor from the US to the soldiers overseas, the foul stench of death reeking across the battlefield, and the beauty of exploding artillery shells in the night sky.