While Dad and his men are taking a few days of rest and resupplying, I wanted to share some of my Dad’s favorite quotes about his background, his training, his horses, and his beloved Infantry that I used in my book, At First Light. 

These are in chapters 7-11, Part 2 title page, and chapter 12 of At First Light.

“It is possible to fly without motors but not without knowledge and skill.” — Wilbur Wright, inventor of the world’s first successful airplane with his younger brother, Orville Wright [1]

“The poor bloody Infantry…even though we are unskilled, uneducated, and unimportant, we are indispensable. Without us, the ground will not be taken or held; the battle will not be won.” — Staff Sergeant Earl Ravenscroft, 3rd Infantry Division and Silver Star recipient [2]

“This one isn’t just any old horse. There’s a nobility in his eye, a regal serenity about him. Does he not personify all that men try to be and never can be? I tell you, my friend, there’s divinity in a horse, and ’specially in a horse like this. God got it right the day He created them.” — Sir Michael Morpurgo, British author and playwright [3]

“When all is said and done, the brunt of the war is carried by the Infantry…. Final victory is won by the Infantry, and final occupation of a country must be made by the Infantry.” — Eleanor Roosevelt, First Lady from 1933–1945 [4]

“Infantrymen—we signed up to spit in the face of danger, to walk the line between life and death, and live to do it again—or not.” —Unknown [5]

“We must be ready to dare all for our country. For history does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid. We must be willing, individually and as a Nation, to accept whatever sacrifices may be required of us. A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both.” — Dwight D. Eisenhower, Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force in Europe and 34th President of the United States [6]

“No soldier in any of our theaters of operations is better acquainted with this war than is the Infantryman, and no Infantryman knows war more intimately than does the front-line rifleman.” — Lieutenant General Ben Lear, Commanding General of the U.S. Second Army from 1940–1943 [7]

“At its finest, rider and horse are joined not by tack but by trust.” — Anonymous Italian Dressage Master [8]

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[1] Larimore, At First Light, 40.

[2] Ibid, 45.

[3] Ibid, 50.

[4] Ibid, 54.

[5] Ibid, 59.

[6] Ibid, 65.

[7] Ibid, 67.

[8] Ibid, 72.

In case you haven’t read or listened to Dad’s book, you can learn more or order it here.

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