The Life of Stuart O. Van Slyke

About the Book

Read the Foreword Clarion book review of The Life of Stuart O. Van Slyke.

In this autobiography compiled from old diaries and letters, Stuart O. Van Slyke recounts his adventures as a young man born to hardship in the early 20^th century. He recalls how he overcame his background through his own grit, imagination, and the support of his family and friends.

            From a 21^st century point of view, Stuart’s unsupervised childhood seems carefree. Virtually on his own from the beginning, Stuart worked his way through college, where he was introduced to the Army through ROTC, and was the first of his family to graduate. He was called to active duty on June 30, 1941, as a second lieutenant, but his true military career started on Pearl Harbor day. This turned out to a pivotal event in the shaping of his life.

            One of the highlights of the book is his service in the North African Campaign and his passionate yet sensitive command of the 78^th Fighter Control Squadron, and later on the staff of the Allied Air Command of Corsica.

            The war’s ending found him in Korea in military government in 1945, where he assisted in the start of South Korea’s return to the community of countries who were no longer enslaved or ruled by despots.  He had a real bird’s eye view of the development of the 38^th Parallel dilemma that plagues us even today.

            At the age of 29 in 1946, he was a lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserves, and a civilian again, who wondered what he was now going to do.

About the Author

This book is one of those rare finds for which historians are always looking. Mr. Van Slyke managed to keep all of his old correspondance and notes from a lifetime of over 80 years, and has compiled them into a gripping story of one person's experiences through the Great Depression and WW II. Although not interested in the "big picture", this book conveys a ground's eye perspective of some under-developed areas of WW II history. The portion about the author's challenges in the military government in Korea at the end of WW II, provided this Iraq War veteran an eerie sense of deja vu, as well as highlighting several key lessons that are still valid today.
The writing style is very simple and flows naturally. The reader feels like they are sitting in a living room, while their grandfather relates his stories to them. The addition of actual copies of orders, pictures and other documents throughout the book serve to further enhance the experience.
In sum, this book is a must have for any serious student of American life from the 1920s to the end of WW II. Future books may include a continuation from WW II until the present day.