Univ. of Oklahoma Press, 2000, ISBN 0-8061-3222-1, 356 pgs.

Neill served in the US 99th Division 395th Regiment, 3rd Battalion, at the Bulge as your basic infantryman. He takes you from basic training to the front lines to VE Day. It's a personal memoir, with all the anger, excitement, terror, and passion brought about 50 years after the battle. He pulls no punches and recounts his personal events with exquisite prose.

The Bulge was a cold, miserable place before the Germans attacked, and it only got worse after the attack began. Neill, like most of the front line riflemen, was sent to the front with inadequate winter clothing and other privations--cold, wet, hungry, and tired: that was the general lot of front line soldiers.

A one-night stay at a rear area hotel was heaven. Eventually, a small stove foraged from an abandoned home offered a tiny bit of heat in the bunkers carved from the ground and reinforced with logs.

Yet, this is more than a personal memoir--he recounts bits and pieces of actions by others in his division. Heroic stands, mass panic, devastating slaughter, and all the rest of the good, bad, and ugly events roll across the pages. It is quite reminiscent of A Time for Trumpets.

Infantry Soldier is a good, fast read. You'll feel as if you're in the bunkers and foxholes of the front line, and understand the little things that make or break a soldier's morale. It's not a pretty story, but it's one well told.