Boots on the Ground

No True Glory: A Frontline Account of the Battle for Fallujah, by Bing West (Bantam, 400 pp., $25)

I AM sorry to say that Americans have forgotten how to honor their war heroes. When I was growing up, everyone knew about Audie Murphy, the most decorated soldier of World War II, and John Basilone, the Marine who was awarded the Medal of Honor for Guadalcanal and was subsequently killed on Iwo Jima. No more. Americans have performed extraordinary feats of bravery in Iraq and Afghanistan, but who knows about them?

About the Author

Mackubin Thomas Owens

Mackubin Thomas Owens is a senior national security fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute , editing its journal Orbis from 2008 to 2020. A Marine Corps infantry veteran of the Vietnam War, he was a professor of national security affairs at the U.S. Naval War College from 1987 to 2015. He is the author of US Civil–Military Relations after 9/11: Renegotiating the Civil-Military Bargain.

Featured Tags

No True Glory: A Frontline Account of the Battle for Fallujah, by Bing West (Bantam, 400 pp., $25)

I AM sorry to say that Americans have forgotten how to honor their war heroes. When I was growing up, everyone knew about Audie Murphy, the most decorated soldier of World War II, and John Basilone, the Marine who was awarded the Medal of Honor for Guadalcanal and was subsequently killed on Iwo Jima. No more. Americans have performed extraordinary feats of bravery in Iraq and Afghanistan, but who knows about them?

About the Author

Mackubin Thomas Owens

Mackubin Thomas Owens is a senior national security fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute , editing its journal Orbis from 2008 to 2020. A Marine Corps infantry veteran of the Vietnam War, he was a professor of national security affairs at the U.S. Naval War College from 1987 to 2015. He is the author of US Civil–Military Relations after 9/11: Renegotiating the Civil-Military Bargain.