Audio only
Length13h 57m
About this audiobook
An extraordinary re-envisioning of the scope and ambitions of the contemporary military memoir: the Iraq War’s only living Medal of Honor recipient examines the bonds and wounds of war across two decades.
After fourteen years apart, forty veterans of brutal close-quarters combat, lost souls to a man, were brought back together when one of them, the author, received the Medal of Honor. Their impromptu reunion in June 2019 helped heal them all—and saved more than a few of them too. This is their story.
In 2004, David Bellavia’s U.S. Army unit, an infantry battalion known as the Ramrods—2nd Battalion 2nd infantry regiment, 1st Infantry Division—fought and helped win the Battle of Fallujah, the bloodiest episode of the Iraq War. On November 10, 2004, Bellavia single-handedly cleared a fortified enemy position that had pinned down a squad from his platoon. Fourteen years later, Bellavia got a call from the president of the United States: he had been awarded a Medal of Honor and would receive America’s highest award for bravery in combat in a ceremony at the White House.
The news was not welcome. Bellavia had put the war behind him, created a quiet life for himself in rural western New York, and lost touch with most of his fellow Ramrods, who were once like brothers to him. The first time they gathered as a unit after the war was at Bellavia’s medal ceremony, for six days in Washington, DC, that may have saved them all. As they revisited what they had seen and done in battle and revealed to each other their journeys back into civilian life, they discovered that the bonds had not been broken by time. A decoration for one became a healing event for all.
This book—beginning in brutal war and ending with this momentous, transformative reunion—covers the journey of Bellavia’s platoon through fifteen years. A quintessential and timeless American tale, it is the story of how forty battle-hardened soldiers became ordinary citizens again, what they did during that time, how November 10, 2004, rattled in them, and how their reunion brought them home at last.
Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.
Audiobook details
Rating★★★★★ 4.6 (456)
Includes Goodreads, Amazon, StoryGraph
GenreBiography and Memoir, History
Length13 hrs 57 mins
Narrated byDavid Bellavia
FormatAudiobook
Publish dateNov 8, 2022
LanguageEnglish
The Way of RoninTu Lam12h 9m4.9 (1.3K)$29 · $0.00
Matters of the HeartJacinta Nampijinpa Price9h 35m4.8 (359)$29 · $0.00
The StepsSylvester Stallone9h 4m4.8 (635)$29 · $0.00
How to Test Negative for StupidJohn Kennedy8h 13m4.7 (9.7K)$28 · $0.00
Bad Fat Black GirlSesali Bowen6h 32m4.7 (2.8K)$24 · $0.00
Send MeMarty Skovlund, Joe Kent8h 10m4.7 (1.6K)$26 · $0.00
John Muir: The Story of My Boyhood and Youth & Letters to a Friend (Annotated)John Muir10h 13m4.7 (1.1K)$1.99 · $0.00
Invisible StormJason Kander6h 48m4.7 (3.2K)$24 · $0.00
Forever BoyKate Swenson9h 27m4.7 (5K)$29 · $0.00
You Are Worth ItKyle Carpenter, Don Yaeger8h 53m4.7 (4.8K)$29 · $0.00
The Happiest Man on EarthEddie Jaku3h 48m4.6 (178K)$7 · $0.00
MotherlandJulia Ioffe17h 52m4.7 (2.5K)$40 · $0.00
Evidence Not SeenDarlene Deibler Rose11h 11m4.6 (11.9K)$29 · $0.00
Where Cowards Go to DieBenjamin Sledge8h 42m4.7 (351)$20 · $0.00
Will You Love Me?Cathy Glass9h 5m4.6 (9.3K)$29 · $0.00
Designing Terry Pratchett’s DiscworldPaul Kidby3h 52m4.7 (343)$20 · $0.00
HostageEli Sharabi5h 25m4.6 (10.8K)$24 · $0.00
Finding MeViola Davis9h 15m4.6 (256.4K)$29 · $0.00
The Dangerous Truth about Today’s MarijuanaLaura Stack CSP, MBA9h 57m4.7 (385)$20 · $0.00
Birdie & HarlowTaylor Wolfe7h 50m4.6 (6.5K)$26 · $0.00
A Brief History of IntelligenceMax S. Bennett12h 18m4.6 (6.6K)$29 · $0.00
Black AF HistoryMichael Harriot15h 43m4.7 (14.6K)$33 · $0.00
The Gulag Archipelago Volume 3Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn21h 56m4.7 (8.9K)$46 · $0.00
Pearl of Great PriceJoseph Smith3h 8m4.7 (7.2K)$1.20 · $0.00
The Happiest Man on EarthEddie Jaku3h 48m4.6 (178K)$7 · $0.00
MotherlandJulia Ioffe17h 52m4.7 (2.5K)$40 · $0.00
Where Cowards Go to DieBenjamin Sledge8h 42m4.7 (351)$20 · $0.00
RevolutionariesSanjeev Sanyal11h 23m4.6 (2.6K)$29 · $0.00
Days of Love and Rage: A Story of RevolutionAnand Gopal22h 36m4.7 (584)$34 · $0.00
We Crossed a Bridge and It TrembledWendy Pearlman6h4.6 (5.2K)$24 · $0.00
Unbroken Bonds of BattleJohnny Joey Jones8h 31m4.6 (2.6K)$8 · $0.00
The Daughter of AuschwitzTova Friedman, Malcolm Brabant7h 54m4.6 (16.7K)$26 · $0.00
Lily's PromiseLily Ebert, Dov Forman8h 54m4.6 (16.1K)$29 · $0.00
On Democracies and Death CultsDouglas Murray10h 38m4.6 (6.5K)$29 · $0.00
Across the RiverKent Babb11h 40m4.6 (927)$29 · $0.00
Balcony Over Jerusalem: A Middle East Memoir - Israel, Palestine and BeyondJohn Lyons12h 37m4.6 (1.4K)$33 · $0.00
BeyondStephen Walker15h 39m4.6 (3.2K)$33 · $0.00
Kings and PawnsHoward Bryant10h 9m4.6 (678)$29 · $0.00
No EscapeNury Turkel9h 30m4.6 (809)$28 · $0.00
Jubal Stone: U.S. Marshal: Blood Trail To Hell: A Western Adventure NovelCasey Nash3h 42m4.6 (3.2K)$18 · $0.00
You may also like
The Lost ElevenDenise George, Robert Child8h 57m4.2 (746)$20
76 HoursLarry Alexander9h 49m4.5 (439)$23
Never Call Me a HeroN. Jack "Dusty" Kleiss, Timothy Orr, Laura Orr9h 39m4.5 (2.6K)$29 · $0.00
My Hitch in Hell, New EditionLester I. Tenney10h 8m4.5 (1.2K)$23
They Called Us ""Lucky""Ruben Gallego, Jim DeFelice8h 59m4.1 (801)$29 · $0.00
Saving My EnemyBob Welch9h 11m4.6 (2.3K)$20
I’m Still StandingShoshana Johnson8h 30m4.2 (680)$17
The UnknownsPatrick K. O’Donnell12h 53m4.3 (2.1K)$23
Honor before GloryScott McGaugh8h 7m4.3 (499)$20
House to HouseStaff Sergeant David Bellavia9h 21m4.5 (13K)$20
The Forgotten HighlanderUrquhart, Alistair8h 26m4.6 (11.6K)Free
The Kamikaze HuntersWill Iredale12h 57m4.2 (2K)$23
THE IRISH GUARDS IN THE GREAT WAR (Vol. 1&2 - Complete Edition)Rudyard Kipling25h 41m4.3 (252)$1.99 · $0.00
Quartered Safe Out HereFraser, George M9h 12m4.4 (8.9K)Free
An Ocean of Courage and FearJerry Borrowman7h 46m4.4 (473)$23
Fractured SoulAkira Mizubayashi5h 21m4.0 (6.4K)$24 · $0.00
The Last Fighter PilotDon Brown4h 41m4.2 (2.3K)$17
Authentic Narrative of the Death of Lord NelsonWilliam Beatty2h 27m4.0 (165)$2 · $0.00
Four Weeks in the Trenches / The War Story of a ViolinistFritz Kreisler1h 26m$2.30
War Dogs of the World WarJohn I. Anderson43m$2 · $0.00