SIGNED FIRST EDITION - GENERAL OMAR BRADLEY'S MEMOIRS

Omar N. Bradley. A Soldier's Story. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1951. 

8vo. Frontispiece, illustrations, & maps. Original cloth with slipcase. FIRST EDITION. LIMITED EDITION, NUMBERED 52 OF 750 COPIES. SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR to the limitation page. 

Provenance: J.A. Duggan (sticker to flyleaf). 

A signed first, limited edition of Omar N. Bradley's A Soldier's Story. This 1951 memoir from Bradley details his experiences in the European theater of World War II, including working alongside Generals George Patton and Dwight D. Eisenhower in Africa, leading the Allied invasion into Sicily, commanding the US First Army on D-Day in Normandy, taking the initial brunt in the Battle of the Bulge, and helping liberate France. The film Patton, on which Bradley served as a consultant, was heavily influenced by this memoir. 

Bradley (1893-1981) began his military career after graduating from West Point in 1915, where he played football with his future commander, Dwight Eisenhower. He first defended the Mexican-American border from Mexican civil war incursions as a second and first lieutenant before being promoted to captain and sent to Butte, Montana, to protect the copper mines there when America entered World War I. 

Between the world wars, Bradley served as an instructor at South Dakota State University, West Point, and then the U.S. Army Infantry School. He also continued to rise through the ranks, eventually being promoted to major general when he assumed command of the 82nd Infantry Division in March 1942. According to the acknowledgments in this book, Bradley was able to accurately recount his experiences in World War II by taking excerpts from his aide-de-camp Chester B. Hansen's diary, which "he maintained while serving as my aide in those overseas campaigns" (vii). 

After World War II, Bradley was appointed head of the Veterans Administration by President Harry Truman. The president also appointed Bradley as the first chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in 1949. It was in this role that Bradley became the last person to be promoted to the rank of General of the Army; he was also made chairman of the NATO Military Committee. His last active military role was as the chief policy maker during the Korean War, in which he supported Truman's original plan of conquering North Korea to roll back Communist aggression. 

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