Description
Under the Eagle carries the reader from Holiday’s childhood years in rural Monument Valley, Utah, into the world of america’s Pacific campaign against Japan—to such places as Kwajalein, Saipan, Tinian, and Iwo Jima. Central to Holiday’s story is his Navajo worldview, which shapes how he views his upbringing in Utah, his time at an Indian boarding school, and his experiences all through World War II. Holiday’s story, coupled with historical and cultural statement by McPherson, shows how traditional Navajo practices gave strength and healing to soldiers facing danger and hardship and to veterans all through their difficult readjustment to life after the war.
The Navajo code talkers have change into famous in up to date years through books and movies that have dramatized their remarkable story. Their wartime achievements are also a source of national pride for the Navajos. And yet, as McPherson explains, Holiday’s own experience was once “as much mental and religious as it was once physical.” This decorated marine served “under the eagle” not only as a soldier but also as a Navajo man deeply conscious about his cultural obligations.