Pappa's Boy: Coming of Age in the Great War

The year is 1917 and the United States has just declared war on Germany. What is called "The Great War" has been raging for quite a while, but seems to have ground to a stalemate between France, Great Britain and Germany. But now, with the USA joining the fight, the Allies are confident that what they call 'The Hun" will be defeated once the American "doughboys" arrive in France.

Bucky Riley, a Burlington, Vermont, native, is eager to be part of the action-a big reason being that his father, a Rough Rider hero of the Spanish-American War back in 1898, believes Bucky is a "Momma's Boy," rather than the rough and tumble "Poppa's Boy" he'd like his son to be. Bucky wants to show his stuff and prove himself to his father, but there's a problem. He's only 15-legally far too young to join the Army.

Nevertheless, Bucky thinks he knows a way he can get around the age stipulation. With his father, a famous war correspondent, not at home and his mother never going to let him go to war, Bucky runs away in the dark of night to fight the Hun. That's when the fun, the adventures and even romance begin. But it isn't all fun, not by a long shot. By a stroke of luck, Bucky joins the legendary Fighting 69th Regiment and makes it to war-torn France. That's where he finds, as the saying goes: "War Is Hell."

"No one writes about World War I with more empathy and understanding than Stephen Harris."

Tom Fleming, the late historian and best-selling author