Excerpt from the Introduction: Love Company is a tribute to the American foot soldier of World War II - and subsequent wars - the men of the Rifle Companies of the U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps. These men, God bless them, who directly faced the enemy, did the most bleeding and dying , and were the cornerstone of our victory over Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. I served in one of these Rifle Companies - Company L, 382nd Infantry Regiment, 96th Infantry Division. I called the 96th Division "Everyman's Army" because it was composed of men from all over the United States and of every social status. It was a draftee division, and was led at the battalion, company, and platoon levels by men who prior to World War II were not professional soldiers, but civilians.