Newsmen in Khaki: Tales of a World War II Soldier-Correspondent

by Herbert Mitigang

Overview

Newsmen in Khaki is a personal memoir about the revered, longstanding armed forces newspaper Stars and Stripes, as told by an Army correspondent and managing editor of editions in North Africa and Sicily during World War II. Whether accompanying bombing missions or parachutists, entertaining a Contessa or visiting a refugee camp, Mitgang offers an innovative and poignant account of his experiences. In addition to his own pieces, Mitgang includes articles by other famous authors in uniform-Irwin Shaw, Klaus Mann, and Bill Brinkley-as well as the voices of many American GIs. Newsmen in Khaki also details the author's post-war career, most notably his long-running stint at the New York Times, where he served as an editor, columnist, book critic, editorial writer, and founder of the Op-Ed page.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781589790940
Publisher:	Taylor Trade Publishing
Publication date:	08/19/2004
Pages:	192
Product dimensions:	6.82(w) x 9.24(h) x 0.79(d)

About the Author

Covered national, international, and New York cultural subjects as editorial writer and correspondent for the New York Times. He is author or editor of fifteen books in AMerican history, law, literature, reportage, and fiction. He lives in New York City.

Table of Contents

	Prologue: Gen. Eisenhower's Orders for Pvt. Mitgang	ix
Chapter 1	Casablanca: Invading North Africa	1
Chapter 2	Oujda: "You Jew Bastard!"	9
Chapter 3	Biskra, Algeria: The Bombfighter Bulletin	13
Chapter 4	Algiers: On The Stars and Stripes	25
Chapter 5	Algiers and Oran: "Sgt. Mitgang Decides ..."	53
Chapter 6	Palermo I: Do You Speak Sicilian?	65
Chapter 7	Palermo II: The Contessa's Wedding Cake	85
Chapter 8	Greece: With the British Parachutists	93
Chapter 9	Naples: Maria's Happy Place	99
Chapter 10	Rome: "We're in Rome"	109
Chapter 11	Florence and Pisa: Combat in Tuscany	123
Chapter 12	Corsica: The French Underground	141
Chapter 13	New York: The Home Front	149
Chapter 14	Newspaperman and Author	157
	Epilogue: A Final Word	169
	Index	171
	About the Author	179

Editorial Reviews

Enlisting at age 22, Mitgang was assigned to the Air Corps (then a branch of the U.S. Army), leaving for North Africa on a troopship in 1942. Stationed with the 5th Bomb Wing on the edge of the Sahara, he edited a mimeographed newsletter, Bombfighter Bulletin, which led to an editorial post with the armed forces newspaper Stars and Stripes. This is Mitgang's memoir of his tenure as managing editor of the paper's Sicily edition, and he shares recollections of covering the war with sharp clarity. He tells of listening to a captain and his men discuss bringing down the German-occupied Leaning Tower of Pisa: "I listened in fascination. What a story! To be present not at the creation but at the destruction of the world-famous landmark that had stood for some 800 years." He later moved on to man typewriters in Naples and Rome. Back in New York in 1945, a recommendation by cartoonist Bill Mauldin resulted in work on the screen treatment of Mauldin's Up Front. Reprints of Stars and Stripes pieces by Mitgang, novelist Klaus Mann (Mephisto), paperback illustrator Stanley Meltzoff and others punctuate the pages. Mitgang has a razor-sharp memory and writes in such a fluid, lucid manner that some may wish he'd continued on, documenting his postwar career at the New York Times. No agent. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

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