Jack Toffey's War
John J. Toffey
“I see this book as the story my father never got to tell,” John Toffey writes. And what a remarkable story it is that Lt. Col. Jack Toffey never got to tell.
In this moving account of a young man’s journey to know a father who went to war in 1942 and never came back, John Toffey weaves memory, history, and his father’s vivid letters home into a fascinating tale of a family, a war, and the threads that connect them.
John Toffey was nine when his father’s National Guard outfit was mobilized. For two years Toffey, his mother, and his sister moved from post to post before his dad shipped out—to North Africa, fighting the Vichy French in Morocco, then the Germans in Tunisia, where he was wounded. In July 1943 he went back to war, leading an infantry battalion in the invasions of Sicily and southern Italy. In January 1944 he landed his battalion at Anzio and was wounded again. After a long, bitter stalemate, Toffey’s regiment led Mark Clark’s push on Rome. On June 3, 1944, Jack Toffey was killed in the hill town of Palestrina, one day before the Allies marched into
Rome. In a brutal campaign, Jack Toffey had commanded a combat battalion longer than any other officer in the Mediterranean theater.
Only in 1996, when his father’s letters were discovered, did John Toffey begin to piece together what happened to his father. And he tells this contested story of Allied success and failure with drama, steely reserve, and balance, adding an invaluable perspective to the portrait of Jack Toffey created by Rick Atkinson in his bestselling Day of Battle.
This book is also a lovingly crafted portrait of home front Ohio, and how a young boy, his sister, and his mother waited out their war, scanning newspapers and magazines for news of Dad and devouring letters full of easy humor and expressions of love for and pride in his family and dreams of a good life after the war.
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About John J. Toffey
Reviews for Jack Toffey's War
-Andy Carroll editor of War Letters "Jack Toffey's War: A Son's Memoir by John J. Toffey IV articulates a young man's journey to know a father who went to war in 1942 and never came home." -Publishers Weekly "Jack Toffey's War" is a powerful story of a son remembering his dad's distinguished WWII service in North Africa and the Italian theater which ended when he was killed-in-action during the breakout from Anzio. A rare picture of a family on the home front - and a courageous father who died a hero on a distant battlefield." PLEASE RUN BY THEM IF CHANGING
-General Barry McCaffrey, USA (RET) "A remarkable book, as emotionally searing as it is intellectually illuminating. Few U.S. Army officers saw more action in the vital Mediterranean campaigns of World War II than Lieutenant Colonel Jack Toffey, from the initial invasion of Morocco in November 1942 to the capture of Rome in June 1944. Jack Toffey's War is a double odyssey, of both this extraordinary soldier and of the son he left behind."
-Rick Atkinson "Great Barrington resident John J. Toffey IV's memoir chronicle the war years of his father, who was a lieutenant colonel in the National Guard when the Second World War broke out." -The Berkshire Eagle "There are very few books that weave together both a soldier's letters home and his son's memoirs to relate a single, remarkable account
in this case, the extraordinary sacrifice made by Jack Toffey in one of World War II's most bitter and contested campaigns. Bravo to John Toffey for telling the dramatic story of his father, a true American hero, with such unforgettable power and heartfelt passion."
-Andy Carroll editor of the New York Times bestseller, WAR LETTERS "John Toffey has produced a unique, important and honest book. "Jack Toffey's War" is two books in one. In one sense, it is a fascinating chronicle of a son's experiences on the home front in World War II. In another sense, it is a revealing biography of the author's father, Lieutenant Colonel Jack Toffey, one of the U.S. Army's finest field grade officers in the European Theater. "Jack Toffey's War" is a captivating glimpse into the war's profound effect on one American family. It is original, compelling and, in the end, quite moving. I highly recommend it."
-John C. McManus author of Alamo in the Ardennes: The Untold Story of the American Soldiers who made the Defense of Bastogne Possible and The Americans at Normandy