Book Description

It's been almost 40 years since the passing of maverick author and director Edward D. Wood, Jr., on December 10, 1978. Fate was seemingly cruel to Eddie, denying him and his work any meaningful recognition during his lifetime, but in the years since his death, a sizable cult-following has emerged. That cult initially focused on Eddie as the "worst director of all time" and his piece-de-resistance Plan 9 from Outer Space as the "worst movie of all time." While the study of Eddie's films, novels and short stories has advanced by leaps and bounds in recent decades, our knowledge of the man himself has remained stagnant. Over the years a mythology around Eddie's military service during the Second World War has been built up and repeated without critical examination. For the first time ever, The Unknown War of Edward D. Wood, Jr. uses official records to provide a factual account of Eddie's critical years in the U.S. Marine Corps (1942-1946). These records reveal to us an Eddie that has remained completely hidden from view until now. Everything you think you know about Eddie and his part in the Second World War will undergo a radical transformation as you read this book. It is not for the faint-hearted! Our understanding of not only Eddie's service in the military, but also our understanding of him as an all-too-human human being, will from this point forward never be the same. Read on and, as Eddie himself would have said, be shocked by the true and startling facts of the military service of Edward D. Wood, Jr.