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Jean Larteguy was born Jean Osty in the
Upper Lozere area of France in 1920. He comes from one of "those
families of poor mountain peasants whose names are found inscribed on
war memorials, but not in history books." In his autobiography, The
Face Of War, he divides his initiation into the mysteries of war into
three parts. The first chapter entitled "War I Was Told About,"
consists of his memories as a child and discovering his father's war souveneirs
from WWI, which is his first glimpse into this esoteric world. His father
and uncle, both WWI veterans then begin telling him the truth about war.
This only makes Larteguy more fascinated then ever with the subject.
In the second chapter entitled "War
I Fought In," Larteguy relates stories of his own involvement in
numerous wars and finds he has been fooled by War into thinking she was
a glamorous woman when in fact she is just a dirty whore. As a young man
he could not bear the defeat of his country at the hands of the German
army and so he goes underground to fight with the Free French in Britain.
He is captured in Spain and goes through a harsh initiation in the prisons
of Franco. He then joins the commandos and trains under General Wingate
for the war in Southeast Asia. He is then given the opportunity to join
the French army and he fights throughout World War II in Italy, the Vosges,
Belfort, and Germany. After the war, Larteguy is demobilized and becomes
a journalist.
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In the third chapter entitled "War
I Wrote About," Larteguy tells stories from his time covering wars
in the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and Africa for leading magazines and
newspapers. During this period he also volunteered for the French battalion
that fought in Korea so he could get a story, and he was wounded by a
grenade during the Battle of Heartbreak Ridge.
Larteguy ends his book with this
observation, "And if we begin to forget war? Is it possible the same
thing will happen as happened with the ancient gods, who simply ceased
to exist when men no longer wished to believe in them, to worship them?"
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