Once an Eagle: A Book Review

Once an Eagle is a novel by Anton Myrer published in 1968 at the height of the Vietnam War. Myrer draws on this own experience as a Marine in the Pacific Theater in World War II, especially in describing combat with the Japanese. It is a popular volume among military leaders and is included on many reading lists for officers and non-commissioned officers in the United States Army as well as the Marine Corps

I find this endorsement fascinating since this lengthy volume (over 1200 pages in print form) comes across to me not so much as an account of dedicated military leadership but as a case against war.

The novel takes place between the 1910s and 1960s and covers many of the United States' military campaigns during that period including World Wars I and II as well as the initial involvement of the US military in Southeast Asia. The protagonist is Sam Damon, career Army officer, from his initial enlistment as a private to his rise to general officer rank. Damon is a dedicated soldier who rises in rank by success in field command and care for his men, but he is also well read, self-reflective, and politically aware.

Myrer does not shy away from the realities of war as an instrument in geopolitics. During the WW I period, he recognizes the reckless strategies that led to the wholesale slaughter of Allied troops as well as the aloofness of military leaders on all sides. He explores the desire of Americans during the time between the world wars to further their own economic objectives even if it meant supplying a potential enemy with resources. He also addresses the self-delusion that there will not be another war in Europe. (Take note those who think Ukraine is none of our concern.)

In the section on Southeast Asia, his protagonist attempts to warn political and military leaders that superior military force is impotent against a people who want to run their own country without outside interference. As a leader in a fictional Asian nation (a stand in for Vietnam) tells Damon, “We want to create our own nation, free of any foreign assistance.”

Damon is honored, along with other veterans, in his hometown the end of WW II. The words in his address are as relevant today as they were in that time:

“We stand at an immense fork in the road. One way is the path of generosity, dignity and a respect for other races and customs; the other leads most certainly to greed, suspicion, hatred and the old, bloody course of violence and waste—and now, God help us, to the very destruction of all the struggles and triumphs of the human race on this earth. My old friends and fellow townsmen: which will it be?”

Myrer respects and honors people like Sam Damon who take on the task of serving in our military both at home and abroad, but he does not sentimentalize war, nor does he see it as the way forward for the human race. Once an Eagle is not a light read but a sobering one.

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