APO 123

The protagonist, First Lieutenant Marc Anthony Bertolini, comes from an Irish-Italian family of middle-class Boston. A graduate of Boston College Law School, Anthony served as an enlisted soldier before receiving a direct commission in the JAGC. The reader meets Anthony as he serves in the headquarters of the Northern Area Supply Command (NASCOM) at Verdun, France, in the late 1950s. That was the post-Korea era and the Cold War continued. France was still a member of NATO in those days, and quite a few U.S. units were based there.

As one who served in that era, this reviewer can attest to John Henry Brebbia's accuracy in depicting the customs, environments, and issues in which our enlistees and draftees served. Their experiences developed an extensive folklore as well as barracks (and shipboard) humor.

In the Prologue, he writes, "APO 123 seeks to capture the spirit of this body of folklore, and especially the barracks humor." He succeeds and surpasses that goal.

The reader is rewarded by viewing the antics, and shenanigans of characters with names as diverse as Boswell, Bowersock, Bril, Cox, Hardegree, Neuman, Pike, Tatarian, Tidwell, and Vine, to name just a few.

Anthony Bertolini is involved in their actions and inactions quite often. The reader comes to realize that Anthony may be part of the pranks and humor, but he is also a caring and compassionate person. His awareness of the Bostonian social classes comes through in his finding love with a very upper-class Boston girl and Vassar graduate of his age. He copes with the stresses and contradictions in that situation, veering into amorous interludes with other women. The ultimate solution to those stresses in Anthony's life concludes the saga very well.

John Henry Brebbia enriches the story with insights into the relationships, both official and personal, among the U.S. forces (and civilians) and the French authorities and people of the Verdun area.

Read APO 123 to learn, to be amused, and to appreciate those who served and still serve our Nation. --F. Clifton Berry, Jr. - author and editor of magazines and books on military topics