LEGACY OF HONOR

Freeland’s multigenerational, panoramic novel chronicles the wartime service of three brothers in the late 20th century.

In 1969, 2nd Lt. Alan McCormick, part of the 187th Infantry of the U.S. Army’s famed 101st Airborne Division, is stationed deep in Vietnam. The acting company commander’s principal task is to take control of Hill 937—a hilltop in the A Shau Valley that comes to be known as Hamburger Hill. The daily, horrific battle for it, as a dispirited Alan sees it, is a symbol of the war’s strategic and moral failures. Freeland’s third installment of a historical-fiction trilogy follows Alan’s plight during and after the war, including his frustration with the “disheartening, disappointing, and shameful” reception he gets from people who are critical of the war. His two younger brothers serve in combat roles, as well: Lee becomes a helicopter pilot in the U.S. Navy and flies many dangerous missions, including as part of Operation Desert Shield in the Middle East; and Scott, after serving in the Army along the DMZ in South Korea, embarks on a career as a CIA officer. Throughout, the eager patriotism of the brothers, who hail from a long line of American soldiers, is colored by disillusionment with the ways that the American government wages war. In terms that are both awkward and earnest—both hallmarks of the author’s prose style—Scott worries about the moral murkiness of the predicaments he might encounter: “What happens to me if what I believe to be right at the time and what others not present or involved in the action deem to be right after the fact do not agree?” Freeland’s command of aspects of military culture and the history of American warfighting is impressive. However, there’s nothing new or fresh in this war novel, which meanders in a manner that quickly becomes wearisome. Still, he does attempt to raise provocative questions about the American public’s perception of the military; when Lee returns from the Middle East, for instance, he’s hailed as a hero—a much different reception than the one Alan received.

An earnest but uninspired novel of three American veterans.