Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
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A New Book Reminds Us to Say Thank You by D.G. MARTIN "Our landings in the Cherbourg-Havre area have failed to gain a satisfactory foothold and I have withdrawn the troops." So wrote General Dwight Eisenhower on June 5, 1944, 69 years ago. According to Rick Atkinson's new book, The Guns at Last Light: The War in Europe, 1944-1945, currently Number One on the New York Times Non-Fiction Best Seller list, Ike continued, "If any blame or fault attaches to the attempt it is mine alone." Atkinson, a graduate of East Carolina University and two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, writes that Ike misdated "the paper 'July 5'—symptomatic of exhaustion and anxiety — he slipped it into his wallet, for use as needed." If the June 6 D-Day landing at Normandy had failed, Ike was prepared to take the blame. The Guns at Last Light follows the last year of World War II from the Normandy invasion until the war's end less than one year later. Numerous books about the war to defeat Hitler's Germany have made us familiar with the basic outline of Atkinson's story from the landings at Normandy, the breakout from the coast, the liberation of Paris, the push to the German border, the Battle of the Bulge and the final collapse of Hitler's Reich. Why do we need another account? Shelby Foote's Civil War books demonstrated how much good storytelling matters. Like Foote, Atkinson is much more than a chronicler of the bloody business of battles and troop movements. He gives us character studies of the war's players, not just the top leaders. For instance, while describing the enormous challenge of supplying millions of troops in Europe, with weapons, ammunition, food, clothing, medicine and things like office supplies, Atkinson introduces us to a man responsible for organizing and operating the supply chain, Lieutenant General John C. H. Lee, "also known as John Courthouse Lee, Jesus Christ Himself Lee and God A'Mighty Lee…a fussy martinet who wore rank stars on both the front and back of his helmet, he was said to have a supply sergeant's parsimony in doling out army kit 'as if it were a personal gift,' rewarding friends, of whom he had few, and punishing enemies, of whom he had many. He had a knack for risible self-delusion, once standing in a London theater to acknowledge an ovation in fact intended for Eisenhower." In describing the horror of the war in the air, he uses the poetry of an American airman named Randall Jarrell: "In bombers named for girls, we burned the cities we had learned about in school — till our lives wore out." Jarrell, who died in 1965, taught writing at UNC-Greensboro. The main character of this story is Dwight Eisenhower. And the main question the book deals with is, what made him, rather than British general Bernard Montgomery or George Patton, the best person to command the allied effort? Both these men, especially Montgomery, questioned Eisenhower's competence as a commander. Montgomery once said, "Eisenhower is quite useless…He is completely and utterly useless." But Atkinson gives his readers hundreds of other answers, his own and those of people who worked with Ike that show his remarkable ability to manage and coordinate thousands of generals and millions of soldiers. The answer I like best came from an aide to General Omar Bradley who said, "There's something about the guy, the way he brushes along, the way he breaks out in a big grin, the way his voice, harsh and loud, cracks out, that disarms all within his vicinity … that's the way he is, gay, loud, democratic, dynamic, thinking fast, acting fast, spreading confidence." Eisenhower, and most of those who fought in World War II, are gone.cThe D-Day anniversary and Atkinson's fine new book should remind us to give special D.G. MARTIN, Host of UNC-TV's Bookthanks to those who are still watch, Contributing Writer. COMMENTS? with us. Editor@upancomingweekly.com. Gulf of Mexico Restoration From the Editors of Environmental Magazine Dear EarthTalk: Why are wetlands so important to preserve? — Patricia Mancuso, Erie, PA "The rate of loss and deterioration of wetlands is accelerating in all regions of the world," the group adds. "The pressure on wetlands is likely to intensify in the coming decades due to increased global demand for land and water, as well as climate change." The widespread expansion of development in Wetlands include swamps, marshes, bogs, the U.S. in recent decades has brought the issue of riverbanks, mangroves, floodplains, rice fields — and wetlands loss to the forefront of debates on zoning anywhere else, according to the U.S. Environmental and land use planning. One of the key and underlying Protection Agency (EPA), that saturation with water issues is concern about endangered species: More than is the dominant factor determining the nature of a third of species on the U.S. Endangered Species List soil development and the types of plant and animal live only in wetlands and almost half use them at some communities there. They are widespread in every time during their lifecycles. country and on every continent except Antarctica. While the issue lingers on in municipal planning If all the world's wetlands were put together, they meetings around the country, the federal government would take up an area one-third larger than the does what it can to protect wetlands. It does so through United States. regulations spelled out in the Clean Water Act, which Environmentalists, biologists and others concerned include providing tax incentives for selling or giving about the health of the planet and its inhabitants wetlands to land trusts or other conservation groups, recognize the key role wetlands play in life on Earth. via cooperative efforts with state and local entities, and The EPA points out that, besides containing a Environmentalists, biologists and others concerned about the health of the by acquiring wetlands outright to add acreage to public disproportionately high number of plant and animal planet and its inhabitants recognize the key role wetlands play in life on lands systems. And several states have passed laws to species compared to other land forms, wetlands Earth. regulate activities in wetlands, and many municipalities serve a variety of ecological services including include wetlands conservation in their development feeding downstream waters, trapping floodwaters, permitting and zoning processes. recharging groundwater supplies, removing pollution and providing fish and wildlife Readers can do their part by staying current on local zoning laws, keeping an eye on habitat. Wetlands can also be key drivers of local economies, given their importance to local wetlands and speaking up if something looks amiss. Potential problems are much agriculture, recreation and fishing. easier to resolve early on than after damage is done, so speaking up soon can often lead According to Wetlands International, a global non-profit dedicated to the conservation and restoration of wetlands around the world, wetlands are on the "front- to more successful and less contentious outcomes. CONTACTS: EPA Wetlands, water.epa.gov/type/wetlands/; Wetlands line" as development pressures increase everywhere. "Wetlands are vulnerable to overInternational, www.wetlands.org. exploitation due to their abundance of fish, fuel and water," reports the group, which EarthTalk® is written and edited by Roddy Scheer and Doug Moss and is a registered works on the ground in 18 countries to educate the public and policymakers about the trademark of E - The Environmental Magazine (www.emagazine.com). Send questions health of local wetlands and to advocate for better policies. "When they are viewed as to: earthtalk@emagazine.com. unproductive or marginal lands, wetlands are targeted for drainage and conversion." 20 UCW JUNE 12-18, 2013 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM