Neighborhood Heroes

Life Lessons from Maine's Greatest Generation

Morgan Rielly

Inspired by the old African proverb: "When an old man dies, a library burns to the ground," high-school student Morgan Rielly sought to preserve as many Maine libraries as he could by interviewing men and women from Maine who served in World War II and preserving their stories. All of these veterans taught him something, too, not just about how to fight a war, but how to live a life. They were never preachy, never full of themselves. Each of them knew they had participated in something great and special, but none of them thought that they, themselves, were great or special. There was Fred Collins, the sixteen-year-old Marine who used his Boy Scout training to clip a wounded soldier's chest together using safety pins from machine gun bandoliers while under withering fire on Iwo Jima. Or Inex Louise Roney, who served as a gunnery instructor for the Marines, hoping she could end the war sooner and bring her brother home. Or Harold Lewis, who held onto hope despite being shot down out of the sky, nearly free-falling to his death, and spending four months behind enemy lines in Italy. Or Jean Marc Desjardins, whose near-death experiences defusing German bombs with his buddy Puddinghead, taught Rielly the value of a good friend.

Down East Books

Pages: 180 • Trim: 6 x 9

978-1-60893-263-4 • Paperback • June 2014 • $15.95 • (£11.99)

978-1-60893-264-1 • eBook • May 2014 • $9.99 • (£7.99)

Subjects: Biography & Autobiography / Military, History / Military / World War II

Neighborhood Heroes

Life Lessons from Maine's Greatest Generation

Paperback

eBook

Summary

Inspired by the old African proverb: "When an old man dies, a library burns to the ground," high-school student Morgan Rielly sought to preserve as many Maine libraries as he could by interviewing men and women from Maine who served in World War II and preserving their stories. All of these veterans taught him something, too, not just about how to fight a war, but how to live a life. They were never preachy, never full of themselves. Each of them knew they had participated in something great and special, but none of them thought that they, themselves, were great or special. There was Fred Collins, the sixteen-year-old Marine who used his Boy Scout training to clip a wounded soldier's chest together using safety pins from machine gun bandoliers while under withering fire on Iwo Jima. Or Inex Louise Roney, who served as a gunnery instructor for the Marines, hoping she could end the war sooner and bring her brother home. Or Harold Lewis, who held onto hope despite being shot down out of the sky, nearly free-falling to his death, and spending four months behind enemy lines in Italy. Or Jean Marc Desjardins, whose near-death experiences defusing German bombs with his buddy Puddinghead, taught Rielly the value of a good friend.

Details

Down East Books

Pages: 180 • Trim: 6 x 9

978-1-60893-263-4 • Paperback • June 2014 • $15.95 • (£11.99)

978-1-60893-264-1 • eBook • May 2014 • $9.99 • (£7.99)

Subjects: Biography & Autobiography / Military, History / Military / World War II

Author

Morgan Rielly is a high-school senior from Westbrook, Maine, with a passion for history and stories. This is his first book.

Reviews

Neighborhood Heroes: Life Lessons From Maine's Greatest Generation is among the most impressive works of [the World War II and Vietnam War era veteran] genre that I have had the good fortune to read. . . .Each statement is well worth reading, for each says much about American attitudinal history.
— Maine Sunday Telegram

This is one terrific book. This high school senior is an extraordinary young man, with a real sense for a good story. . . .He read an old African Proverb, 'When an old man dies, a library burns to the ground.'. . . .But thanks to Morgan Rielly, Bernard Cheney's 'library,' like the libraries of the 24 other veterans whose astonishing and inspiring stories are told here, will never be lost.
— GeorgeSmithMaine.com

Neighborhood Heroes

Life Lessons from Maine's Greatest Generation

Morgan Rielly

Neighborhood Heroes

Life Lessons from Maine's Greatest Generation

ALSO AVAILABLE