ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

OVER THE FIVE years I have worked on this book, many people have helped me enormously. I was first able to meet with General Felix Sparks and his family thanks to the remarkable Jack Hallowell, a fine warrior, journalist, and friend. He introduced me to Sparks and many others, including Jack Goldman, one of thirty-two thousand inmates at Dachau when Sparks liberated the camp. This book is dedicated to Jack Hallowell, a true Thunderbird.

In Vermont, I owe a great debt to Amy Watson, who transcribed dozens of hours of videotaped interviews and, more than anyone, watched the men in this book unburden themselves. In Denver, Dave Schmidt, erstwhile historian for the Colorado National Guard, was most generous in handing over hours of interviews and other materials. Jeffrey Hilton was also most helpful and also conducted several hours of interviews that I have drawn on.

The amazing Rick Crandall in Denver first introduced me to Regis University’s Professor Dan Clayton, director of the Center for the Study of War Experience, who conducted several lengthy interviews with Felix Sparks, which were absolutely essential to this book. I can never thank Rick or Dan enough for their wonderful support and generosity. Dan has done more to promote a true understanding of the war than any other scholar in the United States. Phil Stinemates of Omni Services was also very considerate in granting permission to use his recordings of Sparks. Nate Matlock at Regis also helped me interview several veterans in Denver, and provided several recordings of Sparks, and I am most grateful to him for all his help, friendship, and support as well as comments on the manuscript.

Historian Colonel Hugh Foster was just as considerate, and I am very grateful to him for all his many years of work with the regiment, a group of men very close to his heart. He kindly answered countless queries and contacted many men and proved a formidable fact-checker. If there are any mistakes in the book, they are entirely my fault and not his. I am indebted to him also for putting me in touch with Johann Voss, who answered many questions with grace and eloquence. I would also like to thank Jim Sheeler for all his sterling work on the regiment over the years. The Thunderbirds could not have found a better journalist to commemorate the finest.

Lynn Bush was also most helpful, providing liaison, great company, and a tremendous amount of information over several years. I will always cherish our time with Jack Hallowell. Thanks also to the best chronicler of the 45th Infantry Division, Flint Whitlock, in Denver. Two other invaluable guides were Mike Gonzales and Allen M. Beckett at the 45th Infantry Division Museum in Oklahoma.

The National World War II Museum’s Seth Paridon was also enormously generous with his time. I am also grateful for the support of the museum’s Nick Mueller, as well as Keith Huxen, Stephen Watson, Tommy Lofton, Larry Decuers, Jeremy Collins, and others. I would also like to thank Karen Jensen and Gene Santoro at World War II magazine.

The Colorado National Guard’s Robert W. Redding, commander of the 157th Infantry Regiment, was most helpful and supportive, as were Jean Schjodt and others in Denver, such as Steve Judish, Marie Valenzuela, and Kris Johnson. Chris Miskimon provided valuable help and great company. The ace researcher Dave Kerr sent many documents and photos from the National Archives, many of which I have used. David Israel kindly provided photographs of Sparks at Dachau. Congressman Ed Perlmutter, who has served Coloradans with great distinction and was a good friend of Felix Sparks, was also most helpful. I am also grateful to Bill Holden and Vincent Cookingham.

I would also like to thank the following veterans of the 157th Infantry Regiment, many of whom spoke to me at length: Cranston Rogers, Vinnie Stigliani, Warren Wall, Joe Early, Adam Przychocki, Vincent Presutti, Les Alexander, Dan Dougherty, Bill Lyford, Edward Peppler, Bernie Kaczorowski, Van T. Barfoot, Karl Mann, who welcomed me to his home, Guy Prestia, John Piazza, George Courlas, Bill O’Neill, Ed Speairs, Joe Medina, Rex Raney, Don Thompson, Clarence Schmitt, and Oren Scott.

I am also indebted to the Sparks family—particularly Felix Sparks’s son Kirk, wife Mary, brother Earl, and grandson Blair, and several other relatives and grandchildren who kindly sent me a few photographs.

Yet again, I owe a massive debt to the amazing and gracious staff in the Sawyer Library at Williams College, who provided me yet again with a home to write another book, in particular David Pilachowski.

I am also grateful to my incisive and endlessly patient editor, Charlie Conrad, his assistant Miriam Chotiner-Gardner, and many others at Crown Publishers in New York. They are all consummate professionals.

John Snowdon again provided wonderful help and company, and took fantastic portraits. Thanks also to Rob Kraitt in London and Liza Wachter in Los Angeles for all the great years of collaboration.

This book would not have been possible without my friend/agent/fellow author, Jim Hornfischer, the best in the business.

My wonderfully talented wife, Robin, who read the manuscript at a critical stage, and photo-researcher/filmmaker son, Felix, again provided all the support one could possibly want. I am also grateful to my family on both sides of the Atlantic.