Great Uncle Henry Olivas, 5th Armored Div., & Book Trailer on Book Around 50th D-Day & Family

Great Uncle Henry Olivas, 5th Armored Division, & Book Trailer About 'History Leading to 50th Anniversary of D-Day, Book 2: My Journey Thru World & Family History Landed at Omaha Beach, 6/6/94.'

Dedicated to 15 military/combat veterans in his family, from the Civil to Korean War, Book 2 centers on the European War and centuries before while Book 1 deals with the Pacific War and the fascinating history of that vast region. Each book ends with stories of his last minute excursions to each of the 50th Anniversaries and what he experienced during those major commemorations.

Pearl Harbor and D-Day, for the United States, represents the beginning and the beginning of the end of World War II, and thus these bookend 50th Anniversaries allowed Michael B. Butler to explore far and wide in his quest to encase them, as the book titles suggest, in relevant World & Family History. Each yielded a wealth of interesting experiences and set the foundation for this book series, which was originally going to be a single volume but was split up and expanded decades later.

Wanting to showcase the great historians who populate his own library, Butler sought to include history going back 500 years while remaining largely focused on World War II and those who participated in that world changing conflagration. His family includes combat Veterans that span nearly every aspect of the World War II; from bomber pilots to infantrymen, from Pearl Harbor Survivors to U.S. Navy sailors to armored and infantry soldiers to a communication specialist and a railroad technician.

Direct testimony from Combat Veterans is deployed to try and explain what is totally unexplainable, for unless one has been there it is impossible to understand. Five chapters were created to highlight the outfits and experiences of family members and one person who helped Michael Butler attend the 50th Anniversary of D-Day—WWII 8th Air Force Veteran P-47 fighter-bomber pilot Pat Murphy. Obscure materials, some published right after the conflicts, were mined for use in creating these multi-faceted chapters.

300 images all of kinds populate the text; from maps to drawings to diagrams, from historical photographs to book covers, from combat photos to thumbnail portraits of those lost during various points in divisional and regimental histories. This gives the book wider scope by paying tribute those whose service and sacrifice should be recognized again and again.