I Remember The Last War
York, Pennsylvania: Strength & Health Publishing Co., 1940. Presumed First Edition, First printing. Wraps. Frontis and 320 pages. Illustrations. Cover has some wear and soiling. Rare First Edition. Includes Foreword, and chapters on Battles in the Woods; Action on the Atlantic; We Land in France; At the British School; A Long Hike; The Battle of Paris; The Road to Eternity; Over the Top; In the Heat of Battle; German Prisoners; Back to the Hospital; Tales of the Wounded; I Rejoin My Regiment; Moving Toward the Front; Following the Battle; Death from the Sky; The Vesle River--Fisms and Fismette; A Counter Attack in Fisms; Over the Top Again; Back across the Vesle; Battle with the Snipers; First Night in Fismette; In Front of the Front; A Wounded German; A Night Attack; The Daylight Patrol; and Our Last Battle of Fismette. The telling of this story will give a better idea of what soldiers did in France than have other war books the author has seen. It tells the unvarnished truth about how the soldiers lived, slept, hiked, fought, and died over there. There is another generation of men since those distant days of 1918. If this book does its part in showing them the folly, the uselessness, and the tragedy of war, the author will feel well repaid for the time he spent in writing it. Robert Collins Hoffman (November 9, 1898 – July 18, 1985) was an American entrepreneur who rose to prominence as the owner of York Barbell. He founded magazines such as Muscular Development and Strength & Health, and was the manufacturer of a line of bodybuilding supplements. Hoffman promoted bodybuilders like John Grimek and Sigmund Klein, coached the American Olympic Weightlifting Team between 1936 and 1968, and was a founding member of the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports. At age 18 in April 1917, Hoffman enlisted in the Pennsylvania National Guard's 18th Infantry Regiment, Company A at Pittsburgh; his enlistment papers identify him as having blue eyes, dark hair, and a height of 6 feet 2 inches. As the U.S. entered World War I, his unit entered federal service as Company A of the 111th Infantry Regiment, in a newly redesignated 28th Division. Hoffman was deployed to France in May 1918 as part of the American Expeditionary Forces, with whom he was active at the front and "in numerous campaigns and engagements" including Champagne-Marne, Aisne-Marne, Oise-Aisne, and the Meuse-Argonne Offensive. He was decorated many times for bravery during the war, and received the Belgian Order of Leopold, the French Croix de Guerre and a silver star. Hoffman was promoted to Private 1st Class in December 1917, and to Corporal in February 1918. Honorably discharged from the 111th, Hoffman joined the 802nd Pioneer Infantry Regiment as an officer in late March 1919. He was slightly injured from a shell splinter in or about early July 1919, and honorably discharged from the military on August 13, 1919. In 1932, he co-founded the Strength and Health Publishing Company and began Strength & Health magazine. In 1938 he founded the York Barbell Company. Hoffman started Muscular Development magazine in 1964 as he began a shift from weightlifting to bodybuilding. Until the 1970s, Hoffman remained the single influential figure on the North American weightlifting, weight training, bodybuilding, and overall physical culture scene. Hoffman was an author of several books, including "How to be Strong, Healthy, and Happy" and "I Remember the Last War" Condition: Good.
Keywords: Pennsylvania National Guard, 18th Infantry Regiment, 111 Infantry Regiment, 28th Division, Champagne-Marne, Aisne-Marne, Oise-Aisne, Meuse-Argonne, 802nd Pioneer Infantry, First World War, American Expeditionary Forces
[Book #82432]
Price: $750.00