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The Dead Drink First
Like many veterans of his era, Sgt. Steve Maharidge never talked about “the good war.” On the surface, the Maharidges were a normal working-class family in the suburbs of Cleveland. But behind closed doors, even the most mundane moments could trigger Steve’s violent, traumatic episodes, which left his son Dale searching for clues to his past. And yet, there was only one: a black-and-white photograph of Steve with another soldier that hung permanently on the wall in the basement.
In The Dead Drink First, Dale Maharidge, now a Pulitzer Prize-winning author and journalist, recounts his 18-year quest to learn everything he could about the man in the photo with the hopes of discovering a side of his late father he never knew. The result was something Dale never expected: Not only would he learn the man’s name - Herman Walter Mulligan - but he would help locate his remains and ultimately bring him home 74 years after he was killed in action.
In this deeply personal audio documentary, Dale retraces his journey through never-before-heard conversations with WWII veterans, their children, and the team of strangers that assembled to find Mulligan and bury him on American soil. In an epic search for a lost Marine, Dale finds forgiveness, lifelong friendships, and uncovers the rich, uniquely American truth about how and why we repatriate our fallen soldiers.
Please note: This story features explicit language and references to domestic abuse, violence, and war that may be upsetting to some listeners. Discretion is advised.
©2019 Audible Originals, LLC (P)2019 Audible Originals, LLC.
In The Dead Drink First, Dale Maharidge, now a Pulitzer Prize-winning author and journalist, recounts his 18-year quest to learn everything he could about the man in the photo with the hopes of discovering a side of his late father he never knew. The result was something Dale never expected: Not only would he learn the man’s name - Herman Walter Mulligan - but he would help locate his remains and ultimately bring him home 74 years after he was killed in action.
In this deeply personal audio documentary, Dale retraces his journey through never-before-heard conversations with WWII veterans, their children, and the team of strangers that assembled to find Mulligan and bury him on American soil. In an epic search for a lost Marine, Dale finds forgiveness, lifelong friendships, and uncovers the rich, uniquely American truth about how and why we repatriate our fallen soldiers.
Please note: This story features explicit language and references to domestic abuse, violence, and war that may be upsetting to some listeners. Discretion is advised.
©2019 Audible Originals, LLC (P)2019 Audible Originals, LLC.
4 pages, Audible Audio
First published June 6, 2019
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1426 people want to read
About the author
Dale Maharidge
22 books121 followersI'm a professor at Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism. I've published ten books, including And Their Children After Them, which won the 1990 non-fiction Pulitzer Prize. The most recent is Bringing Mulligan Home/The Other Side of the Good War (PublicAffairs). Before that I released the paperback edition of Someplace Like America/ Tales from the New Great Depression(University of California Press), with a foreword by Bruce Springsteen.
My books are all thematically connected, I believe, rooted in my curiosity about America and who we are as a people. I've documented the economic crisis since the 1980s. For working people, there is no other way to describe it. If you want, check out the afterword I wrote for the paperback of Someplace Like America--I reported in Detroit for it and I found some very interesting things there that raises questions about where we are going as a country.
I spent the first 15 years of my career as a newspaperman, working in Cleveland and Sacramento. I also taught at Stanford University for 10 years, in the Department of Communication.
My books are all thematically connected, I believe, rooted in my curiosity about America and who we are as a people. I've documented the economic crisis since the 1980s. For working people, there is no other way to describe it. If you want, check out the afterword I wrote for the paperback of Someplace Like America--I reported in Detroit for it and I found some very interesting things there that raises questions about where we are going as a country.
I spent the first 15 years of my career as a newspaperman, working in Cleveland and Sacramento. I also taught at Stanford University for 10 years, in the Department of Communication.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 437 reviews
July 13, 2019
“The Dead Drink First” is an original audible production written by and narrated by the Pulitzer Prize winner Dale Maharidge. It’s three and a half hours long, and one of the most profound memoirs I’ve experienced. He writes of his father, a WWII veteran, who was abusive to his family with a hair-trigger anger.
Dale wanted to find out what happened to his father in WWII that changed his personality into the man that Dale remembers. Maharidge goes on a quest to find out who one of his father’s war buddies was, and what happened to him.
In the quest, Maharidge interviews families of WWII veterans, along with their families. You hear their voices, unedited, and heart wrenchingly raw. I learned so much about missing POW’s and our government’s departments assigned to keeping records. There are so many tragic stories. As Maharidge shows, the majority of the US population thinks of WWII as a noble war, a good war. Maharidge shows the collateral damage of all those young men, put into battle at tender ages.
I tend to stay away from memoirs as I always think they are a venue to make the author feel highly of themselves. This is far from that. It’s a factual based study of finding what happened to those veterans and how the war affected their lives. It’s a must listen, and it’s a free listen, worth every second invested in listening.
Dale wanted to find out what happened to his father in WWII that changed his personality into the man that Dale remembers. Maharidge goes on a quest to find out who one of his father’s war buddies was, and what happened to him.
In the quest, Maharidge interviews families of WWII veterans, along with their families. You hear their voices, unedited, and heart wrenchingly raw. I learned so much about missing POW’s and our government’s departments assigned to keeping records. There are so many tragic stories. As Maharidge shows, the majority of the US population thinks of WWII as a noble war, a good war. Maharidge shows the collateral damage of all those young men, put into battle at tender ages.
I tend to stay away from memoirs as I always think they are a venue to make the author feel highly of themselves. This is far from that. It’s a factual based study of finding what happened to those veterans and how the war affected their lives. It’s a must listen, and it’s a free listen, worth every second invested in listening.
November 3, 2020
This is an interesting short story about how WWII affected the lives of returning veterans and their families. Dale Maharidge grew up with a Marine veteran father who suffered from rages and abusive alcoholism but rarely spoke about the war. Steve Maharidge had a photo of himself and a marine buddy on the wall but never spoke of it except to say he was dead and it was his fault. After the death of his father, Dale set out to find out about Mulligan and his father. This project took many years and this book is the story of the search. The audiobook contains the taped interviews with various fellow marines and experts in the medical fields and other scientists. The book is well worth the effort to read.
I read this as an audiobook downloaded from Audible. The book is three hours and three minutes. Dale Maharidge does a good job narrating the book.
I read this as an audiobook downloaded from Audible. The book is three hours and three minutes. Dale Maharidge does a good job narrating the book.
July 31, 2019
My 3000th "read" on Goodreads
Audiobook narrated by author. 3h 31mins 47 secs
My Audible original selection for June was the type of audio documentary that I just love to listen to and wholeheartedly recommend to others.
It all begins with a picture that has hung on Dale Maharidge's parents wall for years of his father with another Marine in Guam. It leads him on an emotional rollercoaster ride to tell PFC Mulligan's story. The documentary is infused with interviews of the people that help Dale along the way. It held a special type of atmosphere that reminded me of my Audible experience of The Things They Carried . I must admit to being a jumble of thoughts and feelings in the aftermath of completing this story. Simply, it was a good one!
Goodreads review published 31/07/19
Audiobook narrated by author. 3h 31mins 47 secs
My Audible original selection for June was the type of audio documentary that I just love to listen to and wholeheartedly recommend to others.
It all begins with a picture that has hung on Dale Maharidge's parents wall for years of his father with another Marine in Guam. It leads him on an emotional rollercoaster ride to tell PFC Mulligan's story. The documentary is infused with interviews of the people that help Dale along the way. It held a special type of atmosphere that reminded me of my Audible experience of The Things They Carried . I must admit to being a jumble of thoughts and feelings in the aftermath of completing this story. Simply, it was a good one!
Goodreads review published 31/07/19
June 12, 2019
What an excellent story. 18 years of trying to identify and bring home a soldier who died in the Battle of Okinawa culminates in a beautiful ending. Hearing family members and surviving veterans share their stories are touching. Themes of abuse and psychological trauma are central to the story, so be aware if you have triggers to emotional and (some) physical abuse.
June 16, 2019
A touching story. glad the author included voices of the people he interviewed. gave the story more depth.
powerful
powerful
September 20, 2019
I do love my historical books every now and then.
The Dead Drink First had an interesting title. Then when I realized what it was about, well I couldn't say no to picking up this audible original. I absolute love and enjoy reading or listening to anything historical. The one thing I did like about this one were the interviews. It made thins more interesting to hear about what happened while they were there and how their lives changed once they came back.
I loved the journey that the Dale took. He had to constantly fight his way through things and I was amazed by everything he went through. I have no idea what his family actually went through while he was "missing" but it must've been awful for everyone that was involved.
Overall, really enjoyed this one and will look forward to my next historical adventure.
The Dead Drink First had an interesting title. Then when I realized what it was about, well I couldn't say no to picking up this audible original. I absolute love and enjoy reading or listening to anything historical. The one thing I did like about this one were the interviews. It made thins more interesting to hear about what happened while they were there and how their lives changed once they came back.
I loved the journey that the Dale took. He had to constantly fight his way through things and I was amazed by everything he went through. I have no idea what his family actually went through while he was "missing" but it must've been awful for everyone that was involved.
Overall, really enjoyed this one and will look forward to my next historical adventure.
October 5, 2019
A touching audio documentary on a son's journey to understanding his father's raging PTSD through bringing home the body of a WWII hero.
I so appreciate that Dale Maharidge created a touching tribute to fallen military men and women without feeling the need to make this a political statement. I feared he was start to spin it as an anti-war tirade (Don't get me wrong. I despise wars. I just don't believe there's no such thing as needed wars. If ever there was a needed war, WWII would be the prime example.) He never took this track. Rather, he showed great respect for the fallen and their sacrifices. And he included varying quotes from multiple servicemen ranging from the "no such thing as a good war" quote to the quote "a nation who has forgotten their dead is a nation fallen" respecting the need for sacrifice without cheapening the sacrifice itself.
This was well worth the listen. My only struggle was the quality of the audio wasn't always listener friendly. But still manageable.
I'd rate this a strong PG-13 for swearing, adult themes, and war violence/gore.
I so appreciate that Dale Maharidge created a touching tribute to fallen military men and women without feeling the need to make this a political statement. I feared he was start to spin it as an anti-war tirade (Don't get me wrong. I despise wars. I just don't believe there's no such thing as needed wars. If ever there was a needed war, WWII would be the prime example.) He never took this track. Rather, he showed great respect for the fallen and their sacrifices. And he included varying quotes from multiple servicemen ranging from the "no such thing as a good war" quote to the quote "a nation who has forgotten their dead is a nation fallen" respecting the need for sacrifice without cheapening the sacrifice itself.
This was well worth the listen. My only struggle was the quality of the audio wasn't always listener friendly. But still manageable.
I'd rate this a strong PG-13 for swearing, adult themes, and war violence/gore.
January 18, 2021
Interesting history and research not only about WWII, but also about PTSD and TBI. Dale Maharidge's telling narration included actual audio footage of interviews from his research and inquiry. While this definitely made the information more authentic, the listening was disjointed as the quality of the recordings varied making them hard to hear at times due to feedback in the equipment or differing volumes. I often felt like I was listening to a documentary that was on TV in another room.
June 12, 2019
This is an amazing story of a persistent search for a missing WWII soldier over the course of many years. The most interesting parts to me were not so much the effort to recover Mulligan but the interviews with the surviving soldiers that served with him.
“There’s no such thing as a good war” was the refrain repeated over and over again in the voices of these old soldiers.
“There’s no such thing as a good war” was the refrain repeated over and over again in the voices of these old soldiers.
June 17, 2019
Beautiful. Just an amazingly affecting look at the survivors, the victims and the resonances of 'the good war' (no such thing, as the soldiers would tell you). Narrated with respect for the dead and pathos for the living and a triumphant message for the war-mongers...no war can ever be won. A message that scum like John Bolton and Trumpites may learn if they had the heart to listen to the veterans and victims of world war II.
July 31, 2019
Fascinating and in the painful odyssey.
I can relate to this. Though not quite as violent, my dad was also damaged by that war. He was filled with rage and refused to talk about it. He wasn't in the Pacific War. He fought his way with the Canadian Army all the way from Sicily up the Italian Peninsula to the Po Valley. Then he got his terrible injury in the Netherlands. The army lost track of him because he had lost his dog tags and was unable to identify himself for a couple of weeks. His family got the "missing in action" telegram that would usually mean that he was dead. He got home alive, at least a man who looked like him did.
I can see what it would have meant to those people to get the remains of one of their own back after all those years. Just to know that he hadn't vanished into thin air, that what was left of him was an identifiable place.
Of course, I have a different mindset about those sort of things. While it's good to know what happened to a loved one, to me, what then becomes of the physical remains is less important. The person is dead, so it doesn't really matter. When I die, I intend to be cremated and they can do whatever they want with my ashes. I won't care either way. I have a deep dislike of cemeteries. They've always seemed more like monuments to death than to the people in them, who's monuments are what they left behind.
In any case. This was some pretty powerful stuff.
I can relate to this. Though not quite as violent, my dad was also damaged by that war. He was filled with rage and refused to talk about it. He wasn't in the Pacific War. He fought his way with the Canadian Army all the way from Sicily up the Italian Peninsula to the Po Valley. Then he got his terrible injury in the Netherlands. The army lost track of him because he had lost his dog tags and was unable to identify himself for a couple of weeks. His family got the "missing in action" telegram that would usually mean that he was dead. He got home alive, at least a man who looked like him did.
I can see what it would have meant to those people to get the remains of one of their own back after all those years. Just to know that he hadn't vanished into thin air, that what was left of him was an identifiable place.
Of course, I have a different mindset about those sort of things. While it's good to know what happened to a loved one, to me, what then becomes of the physical remains is less important. The person is dead, so it doesn't really matter. When I die, I intend to be cremated and they can do whatever they want with my ashes. I won't care either way. I have a deep dislike of cemeteries. They've always seemed more like monuments to death than to the people in them, who's monuments are what they left behind.
In any case. This was some pretty powerful stuff.
June 12, 2019
An interesting and poignant story but I didn’t care for the use of the recorded interviews. Hard to hear and understand.
September 13, 2019
Not your traditional book, but more like a documentary in audio form about WWI, PTSD, and TBI and the effects on the families in addition to the victims. In his 18-year quest for closure and healing about his father's past, the author ends up finding the remains of the man in the photo with his dad. In the end, he not only found healing and closure for himself and his brother, but others who helped in his quest ended up finding their own healing. A powerful and very touching story.
January 16, 2020
Interesting and touching. Also took me back to my time serving on Okinawa.
June 28, 2019
My father was a Korean War veteran, an ex-POW. I’ll never understand what he went through, mostly because he never talked about it. Some of his fellow ex-POWs told me some things, but my father didn’t want to discuss them. Towards the end of his life, he discussed some of what happened to him before and after the war, but nothing directly pertaining to his experiences or the damage done to him, physically or mentally.
I salute Dale Maharidge for honoring the memory of his father, Sgt. Steve Maharidge, and for his efforts at bringing home the body of PFC Herman Walter Mulligan. I understand his motivation and much of what he and his family experienced.
This is a worthwhile bit of history, especially in a time when the truth is often discarded for the symbolic.
I salute Dale Maharidge for honoring the memory of his father, Sgt. Steve Maharidge, and for his efforts at bringing home the body of PFC Herman Walter Mulligan. I understand his motivation and much of what he and his family experienced.
This is a worthwhile bit of history, especially in a time when the truth is often discarded for the symbolic.
June 26, 2019
As several others have noted the story is powerful as it demythologizes the soldier’s experience of WWII, but the incorporation of old phone interviews simply does not work because the quality of the audio is so bad that one cannot understand half of what is being said. After a while, this becomes extremely annoying and detracts from the overall presentation.
December 30, 2021
This is the very best biography I have read. A goodreads friend turned me on to this masterpiece.
The author's Father was a very angry man who abused his family. The author wanted to know what happened to his Dad to make him the man the author knew.
His Father was in the war and the author speaks to many people of the pows and the war crimes. It is a very emotional book and it is very raw. I recommend this book to all, but have plenty of tissues handy.
The author's Father was a very angry man who abused his family. The author wanted to know what happened to his Dad to make him the man the author knew.
His Father was in the war and the author speaks to many people of the pows and the war crimes. It is a very emotional book and it is very raw. I recommend this book to all, but have plenty of tissues handy.
June 27, 2019
‘A nation who forgets their dead has no future.’
This production really spoke to me as a veteran myself and a descendent of several military members. I was touched by the care and passionate determination taken by the author to bring this service member home. One of the best books I’ve read this year.
This production really spoke to me as a veteran myself and a descendent of several military members. I was touched by the care and passionate determination taken by the author to bring this service member home. One of the best books I’ve read this year.
July 23, 2019
Disclaimer - My father was a merchant marine; thus, I am part military brat. Also, I was in my early 20s when my father was diagnosed with TBI, not from active combat but from a work related accident. Needless to say, the world as I knew it came to a sudden end and every day since we have to learn to live with what is left.
This audiobook does a fantastic job of making TBI real... for those who have never had to live with the aftermath of losing a loved one who is still alive but most important it gives those who have the validation they were denied and in a way permission to mourn the loss of those who came home completely changed by active combat.
Thanks, Dale! For bringing Mulligan, home. Thank you for sharing your healing your journey!
This audiobook does a fantastic job of making TBI real... for those who have never had to live with the aftermath of losing a loved one who is still alive but most important it gives those who have the validation they were denied and in a way permission to mourn the loss of those who came home completely changed by active combat.
Thanks, Dale! For bringing Mulligan, home. Thank you for sharing your healing your journey!
June 26, 2019
Excellent read!
July 10, 2019
Amazing true story in a short 3.5 hour audiobook. I received this as a free download from Audible. I highly recommend it!
June 30, 2019
I’d give it six stars if I could.
This review is for the Audible exclusive audiobook version, which I highly recommend as you get to hear interviewees in their own voices, which is powerful.
A story about the author and his journey to reconcile his childhood with a father who he thought was simply crazy, but he now realizes had traumatic injuries, both physical and emotional, during WWII in Okinawa. Part of this journey, a large and important part, was the author seeking to bring home the remains of his father’s friend who died during the war.
It’s a touching story with a lot of “real-ness” to it. Obviously it’s a real story, but it’s far from mundane. Just watch out, listening to the story makes it rather dusty wherever you are.
This review is for the Audible exclusive audiobook version, which I highly recommend as you get to hear interviewees in their own voices, which is powerful.
A story about the author and his journey to reconcile his childhood with a father who he thought was simply crazy, but he now realizes had traumatic injuries, both physical and emotional, during WWII in Okinawa. Part of this journey, a large and important part, was the author seeking to bring home the remains of his father’s friend who died during the war.
It’s a touching story with a lot of “real-ness” to it. Obviously it’s a real story, but it’s far from mundane. Just watch out, listening to the story makes it rather dusty wherever you are.
June 29, 2019
This Audible Original was more of a documentary than a book, but wow. An incredible story about what it means to be human and honor our fallen.
July 16, 2019
Outstanding story of how the author "found" the body of WWII PFC Mulligan who died in an explosion on Guadalcanal in 1945. The remains were returned to his family and buried at Arlington in 2018. Interesting discussion of Traumatic Brain Injury (battle fatigue, PTSD). Lots of research and help from many others went into this 18 year quest. Dr. Maharidge's father kept a picture of himself and a marine buddy in his milling machine room for decades, but never wanted to discuss much of anything about the war with his sons. This other man (Mulligan) was the focus of this search. He was an only child and only 19? when he died, so there was really no one who could look for him from his family, although his grandfather tried right after the war. Virtual strangers helped return the man to his country. Awesome!
July 31, 2021
The audio book is a little over three hours long and fascinating to listen to. Dale Maharidge’s father Steve returned from combat as a Marine in WWII a changed man. We knew so little about Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) back then and there is still so much unknown. The soldiers who “didn’t bleed” weren’t given a Purple Heart and their sacrifice often wasn’t recognized by the US government or Americans.
I learned a lot about the battle of Okinawa, the terrible conditions (tropical torrential rains lasting five weeks, for example), and the horrible things our military were subjected to in that battle.
The author spent 18 years researching what happened to the body of his father’s military buddy who died in an event on Okinawa in 1945. This book, which contains audio conversations with real veterans, is the culmination of his efforts to find and potentially bring home Herman Mulligan’s remains.
I highly recommend this book.
I learned a lot about the battle of Okinawa, the terrible conditions (tropical torrential rains lasting five weeks, for example), and the horrible things our military were subjected to in that battle.
The author spent 18 years researching what happened to the body of his father’s military buddy who died in an event on Okinawa in 1945. This book, which contains audio conversations with real veterans, is the culmination of his efforts to find and potentially bring home Herman Mulligan’s remains.
I highly recommend this book.
June 22, 2019
War is still hell, in case you were wondering.
Did you know roughly two thousand mentally ill American veterans were lobotomized during and after World War II by the US government? Did you know some volunteered?
These were men who returned home from the war, into the arms of their families, haunted by what they had experienced in the Pacific, Europe, or Africa, suffering from PTSD, some with brain damage from explosions or head wounds sustained during combat. They were prone to fits of rage or manic depression, who feared themselves and despaired, choosing lobotomy out of fear that they'd hurt their loved ones if they remained whole.
Of course, they weren't whole. They were broken by the war and what they had seen and what they had done while winning it. And lobotomies weren't the only thing these men turned to. Some found more "conventional" coping mechanisms. Dale Maharidge's father Steve, for example, opted to spend the first four years after the war drunk.
Dale Maharidge, the Pulitzer-Prize winning author of And Their Children After Them, wrote Bringing Mulligan Home: The Other Side of the Good War about his journey to find the man who stood next to his father in an old photograph. The Dead Drink First is both a retelling and continuation of that story, adapted by the author and produced by Audible Originals, combined the original audio from Maharidge's interviews, coupled with new narration and several chapters that continue the story as it has unfolded since the Bringing Mulligan Home was published in 2013.
Ostensibly, The Dead Drink First is about the search for PFC Herman Walter Mulligan, the friend in the photo whose death during the battle of Okinawa haunted Sgt. Steve Maharidge the rest of his life. But it's more than that.
Maharidge begins with his father: an alcoholic, abusive veteran of the Pacific theater. It's heartbreaking to hear his two sons discussing, in their own voices years after his death, how terrified they were of him, the nightmares, and the bloodstain in the carpet at the bottom of the stairs, a reminder of anger and violence that refused fade with time.
Then he turns to the war: the first step to finding Mulligan, and understanding his father. Then the research: speaking with experts on PTSD and traumatic brain injuries, tracing the path of Mulligan and his father, trying to understand. He begins to connect with the other surviving members of his father's division, and gradually, the project changes.
In tracing the shockwave of war generation to generation, the nature of war seems to take shape: war is that which tears apart. It tears sons from families, husbands from wives, fathers from children. It tears away innocence. Wendell Berry has written about how war tears apart traditional, place, and membership. In World War II, it tore peace the people of Okinawa, where it's estimated nearly a quarter of the civilian population of the island perished as "collateral damage." It tears humanity from man and tears the world, at every level and from every angle, into pieces.
The Dead Drink First is taking mapping wreckage and telling the story of a man who spent 18 years of his life trying to put a few small pieces of the torn-asunder world back together. zthere's something beautiful in the Sisyphean task.
Did you know roughly two thousand mentally ill American veterans were lobotomized during and after World War II by the US government? Did you know some volunteered?
These were men who returned home from the war, into the arms of their families, haunted by what they had experienced in the Pacific, Europe, or Africa, suffering from PTSD, some with brain damage from explosions or head wounds sustained during combat. They were prone to fits of rage or manic depression, who feared themselves and despaired, choosing lobotomy out of fear that they'd hurt their loved ones if they remained whole.
Of course, they weren't whole. They were broken by the war and what they had seen and what they had done while winning it. And lobotomies weren't the only thing these men turned to. Some found more "conventional" coping mechanisms. Dale Maharidge's father Steve, for example, opted to spend the first four years after the war drunk.
Dale Maharidge, the Pulitzer-Prize winning author of And Their Children After Them, wrote Bringing Mulligan Home: The Other Side of the Good War about his journey to find the man who stood next to his father in an old photograph. The Dead Drink First is both a retelling and continuation of that story, adapted by the author and produced by Audible Originals, combined the original audio from Maharidge's interviews, coupled with new narration and several chapters that continue the story as it has unfolded since the Bringing Mulligan Home was published in 2013.
Ostensibly, The Dead Drink First is about the search for PFC Herman Walter Mulligan, the friend in the photo whose death during the battle of Okinawa haunted Sgt. Steve Maharidge the rest of his life. But it's more than that.
Maharidge begins with his father: an alcoholic, abusive veteran of the Pacific theater. It's heartbreaking to hear his two sons discussing, in their own voices years after his death, how terrified they were of him, the nightmares, and the bloodstain in the carpet at the bottom of the stairs, a reminder of anger and violence that refused fade with time.
Then he turns to the war: the first step to finding Mulligan, and understanding his father. Then the research: speaking with experts on PTSD and traumatic brain injuries, tracing the path of Mulligan and his father, trying to understand. He begins to connect with the other surviving members of his father's division, and gradually, the project changes.
In tracing the shockwave of war generation to generation, the nature of war seems to take shape: war is that which tears apart. It tears sons from families, husbands from wives, fathers from children. It tears away innocence. Wendell Berry has written about how war tears apart traditional, place, and membership. In World War II, it tore peace the people of Okinawa, where it's estimated nearly a quarter of the civilian population of the island perished as "collateral damage." It tears humanity from man and tears the world, at every level and from every angle, into pieces.
The Dead Drink First is taking mapping wreckage and telling the story of a man who spent 18 years of his life trying to put a few small pieces of the torn-asunder world back together. zthere's something beautiful in the Sisyphean task.
July 14, 2019
An utterly fantastic Audible Original by journalism professor Dale Maharidge. A tale of a boy looking for his father's demon. Dale, a child of a WWII combat veteran Marine, searches for the man who haunted his father from May 1945 until his death in 2001. Starting with a faded photograph that was his father's constant companion, Dale searches first for who the man was, then his family, and ultimately to bring him home. We meet along the way several of his father's comrades-in-arms who were with him at Okinawa where on May 30, 1945 a terrible explosion that would have echoes for nearly 75 years occurred.
It is convenient to say that World War II was "The Good War". This will dispel that notion completely. A stinging statistic pops out at you immediately, over 80 million people died. That's an 8 followed by seven zeros (80,000,000), which as the author points out, that is 1 in 4 Americans today. WWII is a conflict that continues to shape our lives since its conclusion. This is just one extremely small slice of it.
Maharidge, being a journalism professor, does the things good reporters do, search. He finds a whole host of characters along the way, befriending several of the men (and they were all men then), along with their families. This reminded me of what my own father had done for Korean war dead in New York State, searching for lost loved ones, meeting family and friends, asking for photographs, and ultimately sending in information to the American Battle Monuments Commission to be posted on line. Many of these folks were so thankful to know someone was asking about their loved one, they would do almost anything to make sure they were remembered. This is the same story.
It is hard today to understand the effects war were so underestimated. Many of these veterans were left with few options, and even less support. "Battle Fatigue" was viewed as a cowards way out, and often derided and humiliated because their damage was inside. Severe trauma to the brain and body is no coward's option.
Maharidge even meets a veteran's daughter to never knew her father underwent a frontal lobotomy voluntarily due to his desire to never again rage uncontrollably at his children. It seems unconscionable that this would even be an option that someone would choose. Time seems to have changed much, and not so much.
I'd give more stars if they were there.
It is convenient to say that World War II was "The Good War". This will dispel that notion completely. A stinging statistic pops out at you immediately, over 80 million people died. That's an 8 followed by seven zeros (80,000,000), which as the author points out, that is 1 in 4 Americans today. WWII is a conflict that continues to shape our lives since its conclusion. This is just one extremely small slice of it.
Maharidge, being a journalism professor, does the things good reporters do, search. He finds a whole host of characters along the way, befriending several of the men (and they were all men then), along with their families. This reminded me of what my own father had done for Korean war dead in New York State, searching for lost loved ones, meeting family and friends, asking for photographs, and ultimately sending in information to the American Battle Monuments Commission to be posted on line. Many of these folks were so thankful to know someone was asking about their loved one, they would do almost anything to make sure they were remembered. This is the same story.
It is hard today to understand the effects war were so underestimated. Many of these veterans were left with few options, and even less support. "Battle Fatigue" was viewed as a cowards way out, and often derided and humiliated because their damage was inside. Severe trauma to the brain and body is no coward's option.
Maharidge even meets a veteran's daughter to never knew her father underwent a frontal lobotomy voluntarily due to his desire to never again rage uncontrollably at his children. It seems unconscionable that this would even be an option that someone would choose. Time seems to have changed much, and not so much.
I'd give more stars if they were there.
September 25, 2020
The author. Dale Maharidge, wrote a book called Bringing Mulligan Home a couple of years ago. This Audible Original is sort of a continuation of that book.
The author's father, Steve Maharidge, came back from WWII with problems that would today be called TBI and PTSD. In those days, it was "combat fatigue" and you were just supposed to get over it. Steve drank, was short tempered, and could be abusive. His sons struggled with the legacy of the way he treated them for most of their lives. Steve never talked about his experiences in the war. After he passed away, his son Dale found a picture of him with an army buddy who had died in the war. The buddy, Mulligan, was killed on Okinawa and his body was never recovered. Dale also found a Japanese flag signed by the members of their company. Dale decided to try to contact the people on the flag in the hopes of learning more about his father, finding out who Mulligan was, and returning his remains to the US. The title refers to the son celebrating by sharing a drink at his father's gravesite in Arlington. He first pours Steve a drink before drinking himself.
The audio book includes actual interviews of the several people who helped in the search. The sound quality varies as some of the interviews took place years ago. It's worth slowing down to understand what's begin said. We think of WWII as a "good war" and maybe it is in some ways but in many ways no war is good. These men mostly don't think of it as good and many had not been able to say that to anyone. What struck me the most was a former neighbor of Steve's saying that Steve had told him that if Dale and his brother were going to be sent to Vietnam he'd drive them to Canada himself. Descriptions of the battle on Okinawa and the struggles to deal with life after the war have also stayed with me.
At the end of the book, Dale was pretty sure he had found where Mulligan was buried in Vietnam. Now he finds out for sure and also is able to arrange to have Mulligan's body returned and buried at Arlington National Cemetary. Unfortunately, Mulligan's cousin who was most instrumental in telling Dale about Mulligan (even though he never met him personally) and in identifying the remains, passed away before the burial. Still there were several extended family members and people who had helped with the project present at the gravesite.
For a three hour or so listen, this was very informative and moving.
The author's father, Steve Maharidge, came back from WWII with problems that would today be called TBI and PTSD. In those days, it was "combat fatigue" and you were just supposed to get over it. Steve drank, was short tempered, and could be abusive. His sons struggled with the legacy of the way he treated them for most of their lives. Steve never talked about his experiences in the war. After he passed away, his son Dale found a picture of him with an army buddy who had died in the war. The buddy, Mulligan, was killed on Okinawa and his body was never recovered. Dale also found a Japanese flag signed by the members of their company. Dale decided to try to contact the people on the flag in the hopes of learning more about his father, finding out who Mulligan was, and returning his remains to the US. The title refers to the son celebrating by sharing a drink at his father's gravesite in Arlington. He first pours Steve a drink before drinking himself.
The audio book includes actual interviews of the several people who helped in the search. The sound quality varies as some of the interviews took place years ago. It's worth slowing down to understand what's begin said. We think of WWII as a "good war" and maybe it is in some ways but in many ways no war is good. These men mostly don't think of it as good and many had not been able to say that to anyone. What struck me the most was a former neighbor of Steve's saying that Steve had told him that if Dale and his brother were going to be sent to Vietnam he'd drive them to Canada himself. Descriptions of the battle on Okinawa and the struggles to deal with life after the war have also stayed with me.
At the end of the book, Dale was pretty sure he had found where Mulligan was buried in Vietnam. Now he finds out for sure and also is able to arrange to have Mulligan's body returned and buried at Arlington National Cemetary. Unfortunately, Mulligan's cousin who was most instrumental in telling Dale about Mulligan (even though he never met him personally) and in identifying the remains, passed away before the burial. Still there were several extended family members and people who had helped with the project present at the gravesite.
For a three hour or so listen, this was very informative and moving.
June 27, 2019
Audio Sequel to Bringing Mulligan Home: The Other Side of the Good War (2013)
Review of the Audible Audio audiobook (2019)
Author Dale Maharidge wrote an earlier book which sought to solve the mystery behind what happened to a friend of his father named Herman Mulligan when they had both fought in the U.S. Marines in the Battle of Okinawa in the Second World War where Mulligan had died. Maharidge's father Steve had returned from the war with what was likely Traumatic Brain Injury/Shell Shock and was always subject to fits of rage and violence afterwards. A single photograph of Steve Maharidge with Herman Mulligan was a image of their young lives prior to death and destruction. After his father's death, the quest to find the remains of Herman Mulligan became an obsessive idee fixe for Dale Maharidge to resolve his conflicts with his father's domestic violence and to symbolically help to put both his father and Herman Mulligan to rest.
Despite the title of the earlier book, it did not resolve with the return of Herman Mulligan's remains to the U.S. That final discovery and resolution which was assisted with by Mulligan's cousins and DNA testing is documented in this sequel which further details the horrors of the Okinawan fighting, Dale Maharidge's continued search and ends with an appropriate conclusion at Arlington Military Cemetery in Washington D.C.
The Dead Drink First was one of the free Audible Originals for members in June 2019.
Review of the Audible Audio audiobook (2019)
Author Dale Maharidge wrote an earlier book which sought to solve the mystery behind what happened to a friend of his father named Herman Mulligan when they had both fought in the U.S. Marines in the Battle of Okinawa in the Second World War where Mulligan had died. Maharidge's father Steve had returned from the war with what was likely Traumatic Brain Injury/Shell Shock and was always subject to fits of rage and violence afterwards. A single photograph of Steve Maharidge with Herman Mulligan was a image of their young lives prior to death and destruction. After his father's death, the quest to find the remains of Herman Mulligan became an obsessive idee fixe for Dale Maharidge to resolve his conflicts with his father's domestic violence and to symbolically help to put both his father and Herman Mulligan to rest.
Despite the title of the earlier book, it did not resolve with the return of Herman Mulligan's remains to the U.S. That final discovery and resolution which was assisted with by Mulligan's cousins and DNA testing is documented in this sequel which further details the horrors of the Okinawan fighting, Dale Maharidge's continued search and ends with an appropriate conclusion at Arlington Military Cemetery in Washington D.C.
The Dead Drink First was one of the free Audible Originals for members in June 2019.
June 14, 2019
3.5 At times, this is insightful, very poignant - and getting the audio clips recorded from his initial research for the initial book is fantastic. And at other times, it leans heavily into a narrative I just struggled to understand or follow - that what made the household abusive as a child was that father was in a war. That despite never really discussing the war and father's motivation for having a picture up at home, father would now be at peace and all demons gone because we searched for next of kin, identified remains, and brought home the soldier in the picture.
This went between fantastic story telling, and telling a fantastical story. This used great resources in recordings and interviews and stretched to cover topics outside what I expected just because they could be available and wanted to stretch the narrative into other topics outside the story.
Easiest example of this though is the name book. There's a throwaway line about where the line comes from - tossed in while the author is at Arlington Cemetery looking at possible grave locations for the remains to be repatriated. A bottle of good bourbon is shared with the first pour going to the dead. And then, at the point that the reader thinks we're really focused on the author's father, the soldier who is being returned to the States, or all the fallen who are honored at Arlington and other military cemeteries we get where the title line comes from. He heard it while he rode the rails with in the 1980s. ... Nothing to do with the location or the narrative being told. It's another entire part of his life that deserves its own story. But it's included here just because it can be. Lots of this story would have been a lot more powerful if it was just included without needing to explain why. I could have appreciated what was great about this a lot more then.
This went between fantastic story telling, and telling a fantastical story. This used great resources in recordings and interviews and stretched to cover topics outside what I expected just because they could be available and wanted to stretch the narrative into other topics outside the story.
Easiest example of this though is the name book. There's a throwaway line about where the line comes from - tossed in while the author is at Arlington Cemetery looking at possible grave locations for the remains to be repatriated. A bottle of good bourbon is shared with the first pour going to the dead. And then, at the point that the reader thinks we're really focused on the author's father, the soldier who is being returned to the States, or all the fallen who are honored at Arlington and other military cemeteries we get where the title line comes from. He heard it while he rode the rails with in the 1980s. ... Nothing to do with the location or the narrative being told. It's another entire part of his life that deserves its own story. But it's included here just because it can be. Lots of this story would have been a lot more powerful if it was just included without needing to explain why. I could have appreciated what was great about this a lot more then.
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