My Life Before, During, and After the Band of Brothers by Lt. Lynn “Buck” Compton (with Marcus Brotherton)
This is the “best of the best!” I’ve ready all the memoirs of Easy Co. soldiers that have been published (as a result of Stephen Ambrose bringing the unit’s story to life in Band of Brothers). And this is, by far, the best of all of them.
Buck Compton is probably the most “famous” of all the Easy Co. soldiers. He was a two-sport star at UCLA (playing baseball with Jackie Robinson as well as playing in the 1943 Rose Bowl game).
After the war he went on to be a successful LAPD detective, then prosecuting attorney (being the lead prosecutor of Sirhan Sirhan who assassinated Robert Kennedy).
He then had a successful career as an Appellate Court Judge in California.
Upon retirement he hosted a weekly radio commentary at a station in Washington state.
Any one one of those parts of Compton’s story would be fascinating to read or hear about – but that this man did ALL of them is truly astounding!
Marcus Brotherton guides the story along and the two of them have shaped a very readable book that would make an excellent mini-series in its own right (as a follow-up to HBO’s Band of Brothers).
If you’ve read Band of Brothers or seen the series, you will greatly enjoy this and the other books from the men who lived the life.
21st Century America owes a debt of gratitude to these men and I am very glad they have shared their story with us.
May we never forget!
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