Paratrooper!; The Saga of U.S. Army And Marine Parachute And Glider Combat Troops During World War II

New York: St. Martin's Press, 1979. Deluxe Edition. Leather bound. Fine. The deluxe edition of Paratrooper! by Major Gerard M. Devlin, signed by Devlin and Lt. General William P. Yarborough.. Octavo, xvii, 717pp, [1]. Three-quarter green morocco, beige cloth boards. Title in gilt on spine, four raised bands. All edges gilt. Silk bookmark. Illustrated endpapers. A few blemishes to gilt along the fore-edge, otherwise this volume appears unread. Includes a foreword by Lt. General William P. Yarborough. This deluxe volume is limited to 600 copies, all signed by the author and Lt. Gen. Yarborough. This is number 19 of 600 copies. Gerard M. Devlin (1933-2016) was a U.S. Army officer and military historian whose 20-year career included service in Korea and Vietnam. Enlisting at 17, he joined the 187th Airborne Regimental Combat Team in Korea and was later commissioned as an Infantry officer in 1958. Fluent in Vietnamese, he served two combat tours in Vietnam, first as chief advisor to the 44th Ranger Battalion, where he was severely wounded in 1965 and awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, then with the 25th Infantry Division. Retiring as a Major in 1970, his decorations included five Bronze Stars with Valor, the Purple Heart, two Vietnamese Crosses of Gallantry, the Ranger Tab, and the Combat Infantryman Badge (two awards). In 1995, Devlin was inducted into the Ranger Hall of Fame.