Dig or Die — Judith Redline Coopey

Written during the dark days of the Great Depression, Dig or Die lay hidden in the author's closet until after his death in 1970. His youngest daughter read it for the first time in the 1990s and realized that its authenticity alone made it far more than a family keepsake. She edited it to bring it into keeping with current literary practices, but left the story in tact. Now in commemoration of the centennial of American involvement in World War I, Dig or Die is released to the reading public.

Sgt. Emmet (Judy) Redding and his comrades-in-arms start out as green troops, untested and unproven, and emerge as seasoned veterans capable of unfathomable feats of courage and devotion to duty and one another. Judy and his buddies endure the adversity, grow as men and as soldiers, and experience the stark realities of modern warfare, destined to carry with them the scars, both physical and psychological, for the rest of their lives. Here is trench warfare with all of its hardships â€" mud, rats, lice, freezing temperatures and lack of food, to say nothing of the hazards of constant shelling, machine gun fire, hand grenades, flame throwers, mustard gas and automatic rifles, all developed during the industrial revolution to make killing more efficient and living more hazardous.

Judy and his troop, the First Regiment U.S. Engineers attached to the First Infantry Division (the Big Red 1) begin the war as trainees under French officers in the Gondrecourt Sector of eastern France. From there they emerge as one of the most effective units in the war, fighting their way, battle by battle, from Cantigny to the Meuse-Argonne and the armistice.

A chance interlude in Paris introduces Judy to the French culture he is fighting for in the person of a mysterious young French woman of high social and political status whose curious attraction to a common American soldier is perplexing at best. Their destinies clumsily entwined, they move through the war hoping only to survive to live once more in peace.

Dig or Die will take a place of honor among the literature of World War I as only a work written from truth can. Authentic as to time, place and history, it is more memoir than novel, more real than fictional, more moving than any work written from research after the fact. One hundred years have passed since these events took place, but the events and the men who lived them have earned our respect, indeed our reverence, and Kenneth Redline has played them well for he was one of them.