Hope and Honor - Hardcover

Shachnow, Sidney; Robbins, Jann

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0765307928 ISBN 13: 9780765307927

Publisher: Forge Books, 2004

Synopsis

Major General Sid Shachnow is more than a highly decorated Vietnam War veteran with two Silver and three Bronze Stars with V for Valor. He survived a crucible far crueler than the jungles of Vietnam: Nazi-occupied Eastern Europe, spending three years in the notorious Kovno concentration camp as a child. At age ten, with nothing but rags on his back, he was finally able to flee that hellhole. Most of those he left behind died.

After returning to his home in Lithuania, now occupied by the Soviets, and finding it unbearable, Shachnow and his family decided to head west, often on foot, across Europe to the U.S. zone in Germany, where they found refuge. To earn a living in the grim aftermath of war, he smuggled black market contraband for American GIs. His next journey was to America, where he worked his way through school and enlisted in the U.S. Army, volunteering for U.S. Special Forces, where he served for thirty-two years. His primary goal was to save others from the indignities he had endured and the deadly fate he so narrowly escaped.

From Vietnam to the Middle East to the Berlin Wall, Sydney Shachnow served in Special Operations. He grew as Special Forces grew, receiving both a master's and a doctoral degree. He traveled the world, rising to major general, responsible for American Special Forces everywhere, but the lessons of Kovno stayed with him wherever he turned, wherever he soldiered.

Hope and Honor is a powerful and dramatic memoir that shows how the will to live---so painfully refined in the fires of that long-ago death camp---was forged, at last, into truth of soul and wisdom of the heart.

About this title

About the Author

Major General Sid Shachnow was ten years old when he escaped the notorious Kovno concentration camp in Nazi-occupied Lithuania. He made his way across Europe where he made a living by smuggling contraband. He eventually came to America and enlisted in the U.S. Army, volunteering for U.S. Special Forces, where he served for thirty-two years. After serving in Vietnam and earning two Silver Stars and three Bronze Stars with V for Valor, he rose to the status of major general in charge of all U.S. Special Forces. Since his retirement in 1994, he has traveled widely, consulting for the Pentagon on special operations in the world's trouble spots, notably in Korea. He is a much-sought-after public speaker, and instructs from time to time at military institutions such as the U.S. Army Command General Staff College and the U.S. Army War College.

Review

"A gripping story of a warrior's survival and ultimate victory against all odds."
--General Norman Schwarzkopf on Hope and Honor

"Very few soldiers achieve the rank of Major General in the U.S. Army Special Forces. That a survivor of the Kovno concentration camp could do so says great things about the U.S. Army. . . . Major General Shachnow is a great American who serves as an example to every American that freedom does not come free."--Paul Wolfowitz on Hope and Honor

"Absolutely harrowing, as vivid and frightening as any Holocaust account I've read. His Special Forces experiences in Vietnam are also astonishing. General Schachnow had a vital role in shaping America's Special Forces into the tool it is today, at the precise time it is needed."--Larry Bond, author of the New York Times bestseller Red Phoenix on Hope and Honor

"An inspiring story wonderfully told, General Shachnow's memoir is as deeply moving as it is fascinating. His journey from a childhood amid the Holocaust to become one of the U.S. Army's most effective and visionary generals is at once a testament to his personal courage, to human resilience and to America's greatness."--Ralph Peters, author of Beyond Baghdad and Fighting For The Future on Hope and Honor

"What a book! Must reading! More riveting than any novel!"---Thomas Fleming on Hope and Honor

"Sid Shachnow's life is an inspiring story for us all. . . . His powerful narrative is a riveting read, moving and informative."---Fred Franks, General U.S. Army (ret.), co-author with Tom Clancy of the New York Times #1 bestseller Into the Storm: A Study in Command on Hope and Honor


"A gripping story of a warrior's survival and ultimate victory against all odds."
(General Norman Schwarzkopf)

"Very few soldiers achieve the rank of Major General in the U.S. Army Special Forces. That a survivor of the Kovno concentration camp could do so says great things about the U.S. Army. . . . Major General Shachnow is a great American who serves as an example to every American that freedom does not come free." (Paul Wolfowitz Deputy Secretary of Defense)

"Absolutely harrowing, as vivid and frightening as any Holocaust account I've read. His Special Forces experiences in Vietnam are also astonishing. General Schachnow had a vital role in shaping America's Special Forces into the tool it is today, at the precise time it is needed." (Larry Bond author of the New York Times bestseller Red Phoenix)

"An inspiring story wonderfully told, General Shachnow's memoir is as deeply moving as it is fascinating. His journey from a childhood amid the Holocaust to become one of the U.S. Army's most effective and visionary generals is at once a testament to his personal courage, to human resilience and to America's greatness." (Ralph Peters New York Times bestselling author of Beyond Baghdad and Fighting For The Future)

"What a book! Must reading! More riveting than any novel!" (Thomas Fleming)

"Sid Shachnow's life is an inspiring story for us all. . . . His powerful narrative is a riveting read, moving and informative." (General Fred Franks, U.S. Army (ret.) co-author with Tom Clancy of the New York Times #1 bestseller Into the Storm)

About this edition

• Publisher: Forge Books
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0765307928
• ISBN 13: 9780765307927
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 400