PHIL NORDYKE is the author of Four Stars of Valor: The Combat History of the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment in World War II, All American All the Way: The Combat History of the 82nd Airborne Division in World War II, and The All Americans in World War II, A Photographic History of the 82nd Airborne Division at War. He lives in McKinney, Texas, with his wife, Nancy.

Drawing on many oral and unpublished written accounts from veterans of the 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, Phil Nordyke brings the history of the regiment to life, conveying with remarkable immediacy and power what it was like to be there. This is history as it was lived by the men of the 504th, from their pre-war coming of age in the regiment, through the end of World War II, when they marched in the Victory Parade down Fifth Avenue in New York. The 504th earned three bronze stars for their parachute wings, one for each of their combat jumps.