Book Description

Private Michael Davidson, USMC, spoke about his family’s history while we were serving together aboard the USS Portland on a NATO exercise in the north seas. He recounted the military heroes in his family, from the Prussian War in Austria in the 1870s through both world wars. But the story ends when Private Davidson was killed in 1982 in the U.S. Marine Corps barracks bombing in Beirut. Immortal US tells the story of Davidson’s family roots, beginning with his Jewish great-great grandfather immigrating to America from Austria in 1875 with his mother, and making a living as a juvenile on the streets of New York after his mother died of tuberculosis. He lived in a world of gangsters, prostitutes, and violence, even serving time in jail. Later, he started a successful hotel and raised a family that would serve heroically in the American military. Michael’s great grandfather’s eldest son was buried in France after falling as a U.S. Marine in Belleau Woods, France. His Uncle Michael fought as a USMC captain during World War II, dying in the German Reichstag while pushing to take Berlin in 1945. His aunt, Lieutenant Anna Davidson, was betrayed by a double agent as a British/American spy and was shot while trying to evade capture. This book is about a classic American family, not famous, but one that gave everything for the American dream.