10 of the Best Books by Veterans

Originally published in 1951, General Omar Bradley’s award-winning A Soldier’s Story is based on his personal experience as one of the US army’s top commanding officers during World War II. Having served with distinction in North Africa and Sicily as George Patton’s deputy, the so-called “GI General” was given command of the 1^st US Army Corps. Renowned for his strategic acumen, Bradley was involved in planning for the D-Day Landings, before spearheading a huge US ground force that played a key role in the liberation of Paris and the Allied offensive in Germany. 

General Bradley’s fascinating memoir offers an unrivaled eye-witness account of the latter stages of World War II, focusing, in particular, on the tactics and characteristics of renowned military leaders, like Patton, Eisenhower and Montgomery, who ultimately masterminded the eventual Allied victory.

Having been wounded and paralyzed from the chest down whilst serving in the US Marine Corps during the Vietnam War, Ron Kovic went on to become a leading anti-war campaigner. He was arrested on no less than twelve occasions during peace demonstrations, despite being confined to a wheelchair. 

This 1976 “classic and timeless” autobiography (New York Times) chronicles Kovic’s inspirational life story and charts his transformation from a pro-war patriot, who volunteered to serve in the Vietnam War, to one of the conflict’s most outspoken critics.  

Born on the Fourth of July was subsequently adapted into the 1989 Oscar-winning movie of the same name, directed by Oliver Stone and starring Tom Cruise as the inspirational Kovic.

First published in 1955, this bestselling military memoir chronicles the extraordinary wartime experiences of British army officer, Airey Neave, who was imprisoned as a Nazi prisoner of war in the infamous Colditz Castle. Neave offers a compelling personal insight into his against-all-odds escape from the seemingly impregnable hilltop fortress. 

Following a perilous journey across Europe, he became the first British POW incarcerated in Colditz to make it back home safely to England, but his wartime story didn’t end there. Neave also chronicles his subsequent work with the French resistance movement and his role as a German-speaking lawyer in the Nuremberg War Criminal Trials, including some fascinating observations regarding the leading Nazi figures with whom he came into personal contact. 

As an ex-Marine Corp combat logistician, Lieutenant Jeff Clement was twice deployed to Afghanistan in the early 2000s, tasked with leading vital supply convoys through the most treacherous of terrains. In The Lieutenant Don’t Know, Clement provides a unique first-hand insight into the diverse challenges faced on a daily basis by a Marine logistical officer in Afghanistan, highlighting the vital role of effective logistics in modern-day warfare. 

This gripping memoir also raises some interesting questions about the US mission in Afghanistan, with plenty of thought-provoking content regarding the realities of fighting in such a complex war zone.

This gripping personal memoir offers a unique insight into the Gulf War from the perspective of a serving British Special Forces officer. During the Gulf War, Andy McNab (a pseudonym) headed a top-secret mission behind enemy lines in Iraq. 

The eight-man mission went horribly wrong; three of the men were killed and four, including McNab, were captured by the enemy. Here McNab recalls his experiences in Iraq, chronicling in uncompromising detail the harrowing story of his capture and subsequent torture at the hands of the enemy. 

Former US Air Force captain, Dale Brown, has carved out a highly successful career as the bestselling author of suspenseful techno-thrillers. Act of War is the first of his novels to feature Jason Richter, an unconventional military tech expert who heads a top-secret counterterrorism unit. 

Richter and his men are tasked with stopping a group of ecological terrorists who have already destroyed one Texas oil refinery with a thermonuclear device, killing thousands of innocent people in the process. On discovering that the terrorists are planning further similar attacks on energy installations across the globe, the ruthless Richter sets out with his men to hunt down the terrorists, using an inventive selection of high-tech gizmos to help him achieve his mission. 

Set towards the end of World War I, this intriguing adventure-mystery thriller by ex-British army officer, W.F. Morris, was originally published in the late 1920s. The story begins with the grisly discovery of two bodies in an abandoned chateau. 

One is a beautiful woman in full evening dress, the other a German army officer who lies dead at a piano. Intriguingly, the man in German uniform bears an uncanny resemblance to a British officer missing in action named Bretherton. What follows is “a mystery as exciting as a good detective story and an extraordinarily vivid account of trench-warfare” (Sunday Times). 

Erich Maria Remarque based the storyline of this 1929 classic wartime novel on his own experiences in the German Imperial Army during World War I. Adapted into a 2022 Oscar-winning movie, All Quiet on the Western Front tells the story of a naïve German youth who enlists in the army alongside his fellow classmates early on in the war. 

During the course of the novel, these young men’s lives are irrevocably changed by the horror and suffering they encounter at the front. Once banned by the Nazis on account of its anti-war slant, Remarque’s masterpiece is now widely regarded as one of the greatest war novels of all time.

Norman Mailer’s debut novel was published only three years after the end of World War II and is loosely based on his own wartime experiences with the US army in the Philippines. The San Francisco Chronicle described Mailer’s iconic masterpiece as “the best novel to come out of the…war, perhaps the best book to come out of any war.”

The Naked and the Dead tells the story of a 14-man platoon, engaged in fighting the Japanese to gain control of a fictional island in the South Pacific. Mailer focuses on the emotional response of each individual soldier to the unfolding events, setting it within the context of their personality and past life experiences. In so doing, he produces an intensely vivid portrayal of the impact of the war on the men who were compelled to fight in it. 

Set during the Korean War, the main protagonist of James Salter’s gripping debut novel is experienced air force pilot, Cleve Connell, who joins an F-86 fighter squadron in Korea. Connell’s ultimate ambition is to become a flying ace by downing the requisite number of enemy planes on missions, but, after several failures, his ability and stomach for the fight begin to be questioned by his fellow pilots. Matters eventually come to a head in one particularly dramatic mission.

Originally published in 1957, The Hunters was inspired by Salter’s own time as a pilot in the Korean War where he racked up more than 100 missions. Acclaimed for its exceptionally realistic portrayal of life inside the cockpit, the novel was described by fellow author and Korean War veteran, Robert F. Dorr, as “the finest work ever to appear in print about men who fly and fight.”