In The Fighting Bunch: The Battle of Athens and How World War II Veterans Won the Only Successful Armed Rebellion Since the Revolution, New York Times bestselling author Chris DeRose reveals the true, never-before-told story of the men who brought their overseas combat experience to wage war against a corrupt political machine in their hometown. Bill White and the young men of McMinn County … young men of McMinn County answered their nation’s call after Pearl Harbor. They won the freedom of the world and returned to find that they had lost it at home.
A corrupt political machine was in charge, protected by violent deputies, funded by racketeering, and kept in place by stolen elections – the worst allegations of voter fraud ever reported to the Department of Justice, according to the U.S. Attorney General.
To restore free government, McMinn’s veterans formed the nonpartisan GI ticket to oppose the machine at the next election.
On Election Day, August 1, 1946, the GIs and their supporters found themselves outgunned, assaulted, arrested, and intimidated. Deputies seized ballot boxes and brought them back to the jail. White and a group of GIs – “The Fighting Bunch” – men who fought and survived Guadalcanal, the Bulge, and Normandy, armed themselves and demanded a fair count. When they were refused the most basic rights they had fought for, the men, all of whom believed they had seen the end of war, returned to the battlefield and risked their lives one last time.
For the past seven decades, the participants of the “Battle of Ballots and Bullets” and their families kept silent about that conflict. Now in The Fighting Bunch, after years of research, including exclusive interviews with the remaining witnesses, archival radio broadcast and interview tapes, scrapbooks, letters, and diaries, Chris DeRose has reconstructed one of the great untold stories in American history.
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An inspirational true story that is little-known (intentionally), but now told. WWII GI’s came home to corrupt politics. The “machine” owned local, state, and national politicians, including the governor and the US AG. Citizens for years complained of election fraud and corrupt government, all to deaf ears. The GI’s returned home, having fought for freedom, to find that freedom was far-removed from their hometown of Athens, TN. Enough became enough, and they decided to put their military training and experience to use to combat the local government. A fascinating story. I appreciate the author doing the research and interviews of surviving members and their families to write their story. A timely story for today.
I received a free ARC of this excellent history at the invitation of the publisher, St. Martin’s Press, the author Chris DeRose, and Netgalley. Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me, I have read this work of my own volition, and this review reflects my honest opinion of this work. This history is set up and rounded up enticingly, a hard book to set aside when necessary, and at times it seems nearly impossible to have transpired on our soil in the mid-1940’s, but it did and can again. I sure am glad these fellows were on OUR side. The way things are going post-election in 2020, I hope those folk, similarly inclined, are out there, again on our side.
This is a true story about what was named “The Battle of Athens” that took place in Athens, Tennessee in 1946. A group of WWII veterans decided to take things into their own hands to fight corruption in their town after coming back home. It is an interesting story that is perfect to read right now that will also give you hope.
I’m sure not many of us have heard this bit of US History.
Quite an eye-opener how corrupt the politicians were in Athens, TN from 1936 to 1946 when the GI’s settling in their hometown after returning from fighting during World War II decided to take the future in their own hands. Amazing that nobody got killed in the process. They also realized that once it was over they had to act like nothing happened and forget all about it in order for the area to survive without hatred.
The book went into a bit more details about the war experiences of the GI’s then I would have liked but it did help to understand them that each had fought for the freedom from Nazi Germany and Japan that they would not put up with a terrorizing regime at home. Hopeful this kind of situation will never happen again but this book is maybe available at the proper time when US elections have divided this country in two and police brutality happens a little more than it should. Maybe a strong independent party might shake up our two party system government at one point.