Navy Mustang: From Seaman to Officer, a Quarter Century in the United States Navy

BOOK DESCRIPTION

When fifteen-year-old Edgar DeLong convinced his family to let him join the United States Navy in 1944, he didn't know what his future would bring. In Navy Mustang, DeLong details what his adventure-filled life is like from the day he enlists to when he retires twenty-six years later, including earning the designation of United States Navy Mustang.

DeLong describes his experiences in the World War II battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa. He gives a first-person account of the Bikini atomic bomb tests and never-before-revealed stories about the bomb. He tells of his travels throughout the world, including how young Germans received an American sailor riding a bike down the Rhine, why you should learn to play chess if you want to meet people from all over the world without having to speak their language, and what it was like to hang out with the priests from the Vatican during the reign of Pope Pius XII.

Loaded with photographs and detailed dates, DeLong shows the pros and cons of what it was like to live as a sailor and an officer during the last quarter of the twentieth century.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Edgar E. DeLong served twenty-six years in the United States Navy, beginning his career as an enlisted man and retiring as a lieutenant commander. He is a freelance writer and volunteer. DeLong and his wife, Ruth, live in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

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FROM THE AUTHOR

Rüdiger Ritter: Vorort von New York? Die Amerikaner in Bremerhaven.

Von 1945 bis 1994 war Bremerhaven Stationierungsort US-amerikanischer Truppen und hatte bis Ende der 1960er Jahre eine herausgehobene Stellung als Port of Embarkation (Einschiffungshafen). Die für den Dienst in Europa bestimmten US-Soldaten kamen hier an und fuhren auch von hier wieder ab. Bremerhaven behielt seine Bedeutung auch nach den 70er Jahren, als die Soldaten zwar nicht mehr mit dem Schiff, sondern mit dem Flugzeug transportiert wurden, der Hafen aber dennoch ein zentraler Umschlagplatz für Güter der US-Streitkräfte blieb. Das Buch betritt wissenschaftliches Neuland, weil es bislang noch keine umfassende Untersuchung über diesen Teilabschnitt der Stadtgeschichte gibt. Umfassend und ausführlich werden alle Lebens und Arbeitsbereiche beleuchtet, die sich für US-Amerikaner wie für Deutsche durch die US-Stationierung ergeben haben. Grundlage bilden die Ergebnisse eines Forschungsprojektes des Museums der 50er Jahre Bremerhaven.

Urteile zum Buch:

"Es gibt bisher keine vergleichbare Arbeit, was die Breite der in ihrer lokalen Interaktion untersuchten Aspekte des Themas betrifft." - Prof. Dr. Kaspar Maase, Universität Tübingen

"Ausgehend von der Eigenwahrnehmung der Stadt als "„Vorort New Yorks", die als identitätsstiftender Mythos interpretiert wird, fragt die Studie nach Zustandekommen und Funktion dieses Mythos als Mechanismus der Vergangenheitsverdrängung. Damit leistet sie neben einem stadthistorischen auch einen wichtigen Beitrag zur Entwicklungsgeschichte der frühen Bundesrepublik Deutschland.""“ - Prof. Dr. Anke Ortlepp, Universität München

"… die ausgezeichnete Bildauswahl, die weit über die übliche Illustration eines Textes hinausweist." - Prof. Dr. Axel Schildt, Universität Hamburg

Product details: [Translation courtesy of Ursula Braun]

Autor: RUDIGER RITTER
Title: Vorort von New York? Die Amerikaner in Bremerhaven. - (Suburb of New York?) The Americans in Bremerhaven.
Results of a study presented at the museum of the 50's in Bremerhaven

Publisher: NE-Verlag, Buergermeister-Smidt-Str. 74-76, 27568 Bremerhaven
Language: German
Hardcover: 16x23,5 cm - 340 pages, over 100 photos.

ISBN: 978-3-89509-929-7

Price: 24,80€ plus shipping and handling.

From 1945 to 1994 Bremerhaven was a base to US-troops and until the end of 1960 had a prominent position as port of embarkation. US troops designated for the service in Europe, arrived here and left from here. Bremerhaven retained its importance even after the 70's, when the soldiers were not transported by ship anymore, but by planes. Even then Bremerhaven remained a central port of reshipment and transhipment of American goods. The book enters new territory, because as yet no comprehensive study about this aera of the city's history has been published. Comprehensive and in detail study of all living and working conditions are looked into, and how both the Americans and Germans were effected from the U.S. deployment. The basis is the results of a research project of the Museum of the 50s in Bremerhaven.

Editorial reviews:

"There is no comparable work, which investigated the width of the local interaction with the aspects of the subject concerned." - Prof. Dr. Kaspar Maase, University of Tuebingen

"Based on the self-perception of the city as "Suburb of New York", this study questions the origin and function of this myth even as a mechanism to suppress the wartime past. In addition to the history of the city, the book features an important contribution to the development and history of the early Federal Republic of Germany." - Prof. Dr. Anke Ortlepp, University of Munich

"The excellent selection of images extends far beyond the usual illustration of a text." - Prof. Dr. Axel Schildt, University of Hamburg