From the Publisher
Forgotten is an utterly compelling account of the African Americans who played a crucial and dangerous role in the invasion of Europe. The story of their heroic duty is long overdue.” — Tom Brokaw, author of The Greatest Generation
"Thrilling… Forgotten manages to weave the intricate complexities of history into a clear, convincing text that is accessible to both the layperson and the history buff. Here is a stunning achievement that will add much to the historical scholarship of our country." — The Root
“Hard to believe this story hasn’t been written before. Linda Hervieux’s Forgotten is essential, fiercely dramatic, and ultimately inspiring. All Americans should read this World War II history, which doubles as a civil rights primer, to learn the true cost of freedom.” — Douglas Brinkley, author of Cronkite
“Linda Hervieux’s Forgotten is a magnificent achievement, an inspiring story. . . long overdue. . . . Mesmerizing. . . . Forgotten will surely appeal to both general readers and those with an abiding interest in World War II history.” — Joseph Balkoski, author of Omaha Beach: D-Day, June 6, 1944
“Compelling… a welcome addition to our understanding of the war and the American military.” — Washington Post
“A long-overdue, sympathetic treatment of the barrage balloon operators who fought valiantly on the beaches of France.” — Kirkus Reviews
The Root
"Thrilling… Forgotten manages to weave the intricate complexities of history into a clear, convincing text that is accessible to both the layperson and the history buff. Here is a stunning achievement that will add much to the historical scholarship of our country."
Washington Post
Compelling… a welcome addition to our understanding of the war and the American military.
Tom Brokaw
Forgotten is an utterly compelling account of the African Americans who played a crucial and dangerous role in the invasion of Europe. The story of their heroic duty is long overdue.
Joseph Balkoski
Linda Hervieux’s Forgotten is a magnificent achievement, an inspiring story. . . long overdue. . . . Mesmerizing. . . . Forgotten will surely appeal to both general readers and those with an abiding interest in World War II history.
Douglas Brinkley
Hard to believe this story hasn’t been written before. Linda Hervieux’s Forgotten is essential, fiercely dramatic, and ultimately inspiring. All Americans should read this World War II history, which doubles as a civil rights primer, to learn the true cost of freedom.
Washington Post
Compelling… a welcome addition to our understanding of the war and the American military.
Library Journal
★ 09/15/2015
In Saving Private Ryan, soldiers storm the shores of Normandy on D-Day, their faces stern and resolute—and white. But history is different, and Hervieux, in her first monograph, powerfully gives voice to the African Americans who were also on those beaches in northern France on that fateful day in June 1944. The author uncovers the story of the 320th Barrage Balloon Battalion, an African American unit, whose mission was to set up balloons as a defense perimeter, carefully piecing together the story of these soldiers and how the balloons were used in warfare. She also effectively depicts how these soldiers encountered Jim Crow stateside and within the army. Sources include personal interviews, government documents, and other secondary items. This highly readable account will sit well alongside Nat Brandt's Harlem at War and Graham Smith's When Jim Crow Met John Bull. VERDICT Recommended for aviation buffs, chroniclers of World War II, and anyone who wants a nondense military read.—Jacob Sherman, John Peace Lib., Univ. of Texas at San Antonio
APRIL 2016 - AudioFile
The brave soldiers of the 320th Barrage Balloon Battalion are remembered in this fascinating account of WWII. Ron Butler respectfully narrates a remarkable story that most of us have never heard featuring the brave African-American soldiers whose floating screen of armed balloons distracted and deflected enemy aircraft in Europe. Butler’s clear delivery is unpretentious, even elegant, as he describes the courage of these young Americans thrust onto the front lines of battle. Describing the shocking disparity between American prejudice and European attitudes of acceptance toward the black soldiers, Butler maintains a dignified objectivity. His rich voice warms in the personal stories of these young men from Virginia, New Jersey, and Ohio. N.M.C. © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
2015-08-17
A long-overdue, sympathetic treatment of the barrage balloon operators who fought valiantly on the beaches of France. In her debut, journalist and photographer Hervieux unearths a valuable piece of the D-Day landing story scarcely included in the official records: the contributions of the 320th Barrage Balloon Battalion, the only African-American combat unit to land at Normandy. (The 320th medics were heralded for their heroics in saving lives.) The balloons, whose cables and bomb cargo kept the enemy flying too high to strafe the vulnerable coasts, were a novelty but a proven deterrent to the German aircraft. They had evolved from the time of Napoleon through the American Civil War and World War I. Since the armed barrage balloons were maneuvered by cables from the ground, they required highly skilled operators. Though not a military specialist, Hervieux became entranced by the stories of these "forgotten" heroes, several of whom she was able to track down in the last few years. She methodically follows the training of the young Southern black recruits such as Henry Parham and Wilson Monk, among others, at Camp Tyson, Tennessee, from late 1942 onward, where discrimination against black soldiers was staggering. Considered by the then-segregated military as "too dumb to fight," African-Americans soldier knew they were proving themselves mightily in this unusual mission of diverting bombers from important sites in Britain. Shipped out of New York harbor in November 1943 to Britain during the preparation for D-Day, the 320th was delighted to be welcomed by the fairly unbiased Britons, who offered them a taste of freedom for the first time. The battalion landed on the Normandy beaches after the initial waves of casualties, establishing 20 balloons over Omaha and 13 over Utah on June 7 and incurring fierce enemy fire. Eventually, as many as 143 balloons floated 2,000 feet over the beaches, offering crucial protection to the precariously installed Allied troops. A useful history of an important, fairly unknown part of the American contribution to the Allied victory.
