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The writing of Before Taps Sounded was guided by over forty primary published sources, including memoirs written by General Omar Bradley, General Patton, Winston Churchill and Harry C. Butcher, who wrote about the weight of the decisions General Eisenhower faced using the First Infantry as his "Praetorian Guard." Substantial direction was also provided by historian Carlo D'Este, presidential historian Dorthy Kearns Goodwin and British historian Chester Wilmot.
Prior First Divison histories, most of which were written immediately after the war, provided direction and detail very helpful to reconstructing the actions of the division that are described in Before Taps Sounded. In addition to this, two published accounts of the experiences of other soldiers in the same unit Pfc. Baummer fought in helped the author see the war through their eyes, allowing an accurate reconstruction of many of the actions Pfc. Baummer experienced.
Official documents and some published sources introduced battlefield details that wove their way into Before Taps Sounded. These included numerous records penned by General Terry Allen as factual summaries of the campaigns he led, the Terry Allen Papers housed at the United States Army Military History Institute (USAMHI) in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, letters the general wrote home to his wife trumpeting his pride in the division, as well as his official citations of the division.
After Action Reports housed at the National Archives in Washington, DC and at the USAMHI detailed every major battle the Fighting First experienced in North Africa, Siciliy and Normandy. Regimental and battalion level official reports were also available in many cases. In addition, under some circumstances, battlefield actions were able to be reconstructed in some detail based on S-1 Journals (incidents, orders and messages) and, where posible, declassified S-3 (intelligence) documents. Company level Morning Reports, although very difficult to obtain, provided additional information that was helpful to the writing of Before Taps Sounded.
Numerous magazine articles and newspaper stories shed light on the division, Generals Allen and Roosevelt, as well as Pfc. Baummer, and are quoted in Before Taps Sounded.
Personal surveys and oral histories substantially contributed to Before Taps Sounded. These included men and officers who fought in the same company as Pfc. Baummer during the war. Some of the oral histories are housed at the USAMHI; others were obtained by the author. Two particularly meaningful oral histories were provided by personal friends of Pfc. Baummer, who knew him in his youth, and another by then Pfc. Paul E. Stegall. Stegall would have never been found without the intervention of Connecticut Senator Christopher Dodd's office. The senator wrote letters on the author's behalf to the Army Personnel Records Center in St. Louis, Missouri, one of which yielded a list of casualties on June 9, 1944, the day Pfc. Baummer was killed in action. There was only one survivor of the actions that morning - Pfc. Stegall. Fifty-three years later, he was discovered over the Internet, and called by the author for his very material oral history.
Letters and correspondence by Pfc. Baummer to his family, most of which were written from the battlefield, survived the years and became part of Before Taps Sounded. A complete Casualty File was found at the National Archives, details of which permitted the author to reconstruct Pfc. Baummer's burial overseas, disinternment, reunion with the homeland, and final burial here.
Despite tremendous difficulties in doing so, the author's father was able to provide a oral history about his only brother, Pfc. Baummer. Other relatives saved his letters, and if it were not for the persistence of the author's mother in finding them, they would never have found their way into the book. | | |
