A 5th New Review by DavidB

“Onward We Charge – The Heroic Story of Darby’s Rangers in WWII” by H. Paul Jeffers (940.54127 D213) Good biographies are more than just an accounting of a famous person’s life.  They are a portrait of someone the reader presumably does not know, and therefore only as revealing as the painter’s talent allows. In this case, we have a subject – William O. Darby – whose fame may have passed with time, yet his contribution to our society, the World’s security & the lives of myriad individuals was immeasureable.  We learn this through the prodigeous efforts of an equally accomplished writer & historian. Mr. Jeffers has over seventy different volumes in print, and brings his considerable menu of acquired knowledge to each new work.  He goes to extraordinary lengths to fill-in all the background details that round out a living, breathing account of Colonel Darby’s character, perspective, ambitions & subsequent actions.  In the process he also highlights, and brings to the fore, many of the people he interacted with throughout his daily life.  The affect is almost that of seeing a home movie, in its sense of realism. Though very sad that Darby is killed only days before the conclusion of the war, I was also keenly aware that his short life was one of great accomplishment.  This is not only true in the sense of how the world saw him, but in the completion & fruition of his own goals.  Having known several people who are current Army Rangers/Navy Seals, or members of one’s immediate family, it is gratifying to know more about some of the founding history of these fighting forces.