Book Description

"Into War with an Empty Gun is a metaphor for life: the challenges one faces and the courage one musters to overcome them without losing one's self . . . ," writes author Patricia Evans. In his page-turning memoir, Korean War veteran Brownbridge recounts his experience as a reluctant draftee sent to the war's Pork Chop Hill sector; inadequately trained and equipped, he loathes the possibility of taking another man's life as much as he fears the loss of his own. While encountering not only the absurdities of war and close brushes with death, he's assigned to edit his battalion's weekly newsletter. Writing about daily acts of heroism of soldiers in battle, he develops respect, admiration and a fierce loyalty for his comrades. Their sacrifices and the war death of a close friend of his youth have haunted him ever since. Unexpectedly struck down by violent seizures, Brownbridge is misdiagnosed in a MASH unit as a "war hysteric," and is returned to duty until months later he is felled again. Hospitalized eventually in Tokyo, he is close to death but endures when the forbidden love of a young WAC medical tech gives him the will to survive the darkest time of his life. Lt. Col. Mike Thomas, Veteran of Operation Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan) writes, "The reality of a soldier's life in war as told by Korean War veteran Robert Brownbridge is as relevant today as it was 60 years ago. His story is a source of inspiration to the soldiers of our most recent wars, many of whom struggle to find their way back. The moving memoir shows it is not enough to just survive a war; one must continue to love and be loved so that one can walk back into life when the war is over."