Final Salute

A Story of Unfinished Lives

By: Jim Sheeler

Narrated by: Mark Deakins

Length: 5 hrs and 39 mins

Publisher's summary

Based on his Pulitzer Prize-winning story, here is Jim Sheeler's unprecedented look at the way our country honors its dead. Final Salute is a stunning tribute to the brave troops who have lost their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan and to the families who continue to mourn them.

They are the troops that nobody wants to see, carrying a message that no military family ever wants to hear. It begins with a knock at the door. "The curtains pull away. They come to the door. And they know. They always know," said Major Steve Beck.

Since the start of the war in Iraq, marines like Major Beck have ound themselves thrown into a different kind of mission: casualty notification. It is a job Major Beck never asked for and one for which he received no training. They are given no set rules, only impersonal guidelines.

Marines are trained to kill, to break down doors, but casualty notification is a mission without weapons. For Beck, the mission meant learning each dead marine's name and nickname, touching the toys they grew up with and reading the letters they wrote home. He held grieving mothers in long embraces, absorbing their muffled cries into the dark blue shoulder of his uniform. He stitched himself into the fabric of their lives, in the simple hope that his compassion might help alleviate at least the smallest piece of their pain. Sometimes he returned home to his own family unable to keep from crying in the dark.

In Final Salute, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jim Sheeler weaves together the stories of the fallen and of the broken homes they have left behind. It is also the story of Major Steve Beck and his unflagging efforts to help heal the wounds of those left grieving. Above all, it is a moving tribute to our troops, putting faces to the mostly anonymous names of our courageous heroes, and to the brave families who have made the ultimate sacrifice for this country. Final Salute is the achingly beautiful, devastatingly honest story...

©2008 Jim Sheeler (P)2008 Penguin

Critic reviews

"One of the great underreported stories of the Iraq war. (Janet Maslin, The New York Times)

"A must-read account." (The Wall Street Journal)

"A powerful counterpoint to the impersonal statistics and verbal camouflage of military euphemisms that sanitize the true horror of war and dehumanize those who serve." (The Washington Post Book World)

a very powerful book

a moving retelling of the bravery and tragedy of Marines who lost their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan and those left behind.

Nonfiction at its Very Best

Jim Sheeler reports unflinchingly on the trauma and grief loved ones experience when they lose a soldier. By bringing us into their lives, he reminds us of the sacrifice military families make so that our own husbands and sons can sleep safely at night.

Honor Guard Necessity

I don't like to read. I don't have the attention span. I was challenged to read this book from the staff of The National Honor Guard Academy. Audio books was a great resource to overcome my deficits. Narration was optimal for this style of book. Thank you. Heavy Heart.

Driving and crying

Fantastic storytelling brings a hard subject home. not a casual listen, but worth every minute.