Nearly 27,000 men and women from Wisconsin have made the Ultimate Sacrifice in the nation's wars, from the Civil War to the two World Wars to Korea to Vietnam to Iraq and Afghanistan. They are represented in "Duty, Honor, Country and Wisconsin" by several dozen men and women ranging from Oak Creek to Mayville and Beaver Dam to Menomonie to Sauk City / Prairie du Sac; and from Marshfield to Laona to Ettrick to Waupun; and from Dousman to Plover to Milwaukee. Author Tom Mueller has been reporting on this topic for three decades, and this is his fourth book. It includes more than two dozen who were lost in World War II, and two chapters about the 37 Wisconsin MIAs in Vietnam - the most extensive coverage of them as a group in decades, if not ever. Plus the stories of seven Civil War veterans who became Wisconsin governor, and some surprising details about Badger State men in World War I. And a review of the women who have made the Ultimate Sacrifice and how that has sharply increased in the last decade. The book also has interviews with more than three dozen veterans of wars ranging from World War II to Afghanistan.

Goodpaster.-- "Journal of Higher Education"

On September 15, 1906, Arthur MacArthur Jr. became the twelfth man in the history of the United States Army to be awarded the rank of Lieutenant General, the highest rank in the Army up to that time. This great honor, which marked the culmination of MacArthur's brilliant military career, included him in the ranks of such outstanding American military leaders as George Washington, Ulysses S. Grant, and William Tecumseh Sherman, all of whom had previously held this rank. This bespeaks of the importance of Arthur MacArthur as a figure in American history, yet invariably when the name MacArthur is mentioned today it is almost immediately associated with his son Douglas. Arthur MacArthur is, however, equally deserving of recognition as a great military leader. This biography, based on extensive archival research, reveals the remarkable career of this great patriot and his contribution to American history. This is all the more important because, to fully understand the career of his famous son, Douglas, who had such a profound impact on the military history of the United States in the twentieth century, it is essential to study the life and career of Arthur MacArthur Jr who began his military career as a mere boy fighting for the 23rd Wisconsin infantry regiment during the Civil War. Douglas MacArthur was himself conscious of the profound influence his father had upon his life. Douglas once said, "Of all men I have known my father was the one I most respected and admired."

A profile of the Bush political clan patriarch—who he was and what he stood for, the examples he set, the events he shared, and the lives he touched. Prescott Bush is the only person in US history to be father of a US President, grandfather of a US President, and grandfather of a state governor. Duty, Honor, Country is more than a biography of the U.S. Senator from Connecticut, although it is that. It looks at the principles that Prescott Bush passed on like family heirlooms to his five children, including George H.W. Bush, the forty-first President of the United States: discipline, duty, ethics, commitment, courage, honor, honesty, loyalty, and responsibility. And it looks at the ways the Bush family legacy has made Prescott Bush, former President George Bush, George W. Bush, and Jeb Bush give themselves to public service. “My father believed in the concept of noblesse oblige,” said former President George Bush. “You made your money and you had a duty to serve the community or your country.” Written with the encouragement and enthusiasm of former President Bush, the book is a readable story of noblesse oblige in action, from the time Prescott Bush served in town government in Greenwich, Connecticut, to his career as a US Senator from Connecticut, to his role in passing far-reaching legislation in the Eisenhower years. It also deals honestly with Prescott Bush’s alleged business relationships with Nazi industrialists and other accusations. Half of the book also shows how the commitment to public service was lived out in the lives of Prescott’s children and grandchildren, focusing on his son George H.W. Bush and his grandsons George W. Bush and Jeb Bush.

The signing of the Paris Peace Accords in 1973 signified the end of the Vietnam War. American personnel returned home and the 591 American prisoners held captive in North Vietnam were released. Still, 2,646 individuals did not come home. Thirty-seven of those missing in action were from Wisconsin. Their names appear on the largest object--a motorcycle (now part of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Collection)--ever left at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Using the recollections of the soldiers' families, friends and fellow servicemen, the author tells the story of each man's life.

After graduating from West Point in 1892, Charles Pelot Summerall (1867--1955) launched a distinguished military career, fighting Filipino insurgents in 1899 and Boxers in China in 1900. His remarkable service included brigade, division, and corps commands in World War I; duty as chief of staff of the U.S. Army from 1926 to 1930; and presidency of the Citadel for twenty years, where he was instrumental in establishing the school's national reputation. Previously available only in the Citadel's archives, Summerall's memoir offers an eyewitness account of a formative period in U.S. Army history. Edited and annotated by Timothy K. Nenninger, the memoir documents critical moments in American military history and details Summerall's personal life, from his impoverished childhood in Florida to his retirement from the Citadel in 1953. From the perspective of both a soldier and a general, Summerall describes how the very nature of war changed irrevocably during his lifetime.