Suddenly We Didn't Want to Die

In the tradition ofAll Quiet on the Western FrontElton E. Mackins memoirs are a haunting portrayal of war as seen through the eyes of a highly decorated Marine who fought in every Marine Brigade battle from Belleau Wood to the crossing of the Meuse on the eve of the Armistice.. Praise for Suddenly We Didn''t Want to Die. This beautifully written and truly gripping war memoir is a significant addition to battlefield literature. A minor classic . . . An altogether remarkable job [comparable] to Crane Remarque and Mailer. Deserves the widest possible audience.The Cleveland Plain Dealer. This immediate eloquent report merit[s] comparison with Thomas Boyds Marine Corps [1923] classic Through the wheat.Publishers Weekly A real curiosity: a highly mannered World War I diary published nearly 80 years after being written and 20 years after its authors death. Bright snapshots aboundsometimes a young mans lyricism takes over [but] the horror of war never departs. The diary has the faults one expects and the promise one prays for. A fine addition to WWI literature.Kirkus Reviews A forthright eloquent and powerful memoir certain to become an enduring testament to the drama and tragedy of World War I. Threaded with no small measure of poetry this superb memoir is sure to become a classic.Great Battles A plain but powerful tale . . . [in] vivid prose loaded with details that bring the horrors of World War I to life he tells an exceptional new version of the old story of battle transforming a boy into a veteran.American Library Association Booklist To the ranks of Erich Maria Remarque E.E. Cummings John Dos Passos and Siegfried Sassoon we must now add Elton Mackin . . . who in a terse style reminiscent of Hemingway [succeeds] in making someone unfamiliar with war truly now the frightfulness of the trenches and the greatness of the many men who fought in them.Marine Corps Gazette