Title: Frank and Me at Mundung-Ni
Author: Joe Donohue
Publisher: iUniverse
ISBN: 978-1-4620-7283-5
Pages: 488, Paperback/Kindle/Hardcover
Genre: Memoirs
Reviewed by: Brandon Nolta, Pacific Book Review
Book Review
There are all sorts of pithy quotes and Facebook memes about the nature of friendship, but more than anything, true friendship endures. It survives war and time and loss, and for those people lucky enough to experience it, as Joseph Donohue clearly was, it’s a life-changing force. In his memoir Frank and Me at Mundung-Ni, Donohue paints a vivid picture of his experiences on the ground in the Korean War, but more importantly, gives readers a window into a deep friendship that spanned six decades.Beginning with their first meeting in elementary school in 1937, Donohue and his lifelong best friend Frank Milisits did everything together: baseball, looking to meet girls, school and, eventually, joining the National Guard. For many men, this would be the sum of their military careers, but for Frank and Joe – both of whom had older, respected relatives who were combat vets – it wasn’t enough, even though they were part of an honored regiment. Both men wanted combat, and as the Korean War heated up, they soon got their chance.
Depictions of the Korean War are relatively few in popular media, outside of the long-running TV show MASH; it had neither the scope of WWII nor the political and social turmoil of the Vietnam War, so it often gets relegated to a footnote in history. For readers unaware of the historical and political forces behind the conflict, Donohue’s detailed recollections and anecdotes of life on the front lines should go a long way toward explaining the impact of the war. Both Donohue and Milisits were frequently in the midst of battle, often fighting in the same battles, though they were assigned to different units, and through letters, his own experiences and numerous pictures from his time there, Donohue gives his narrative a “you are there” feeling that clearly illustrates the mundane, terror-filled, occasionally absurd nature of life in a combat unit. Refreshingly, Donohue avoids giving a lot of foreshadowing to his prose, allowing readers to discover events as he did, without letting hindsight dictate the reader’s reactions.
Beyond the military life, though, the real point of the memoir – despite its focus on Donohue’s experiences in Korea – is to provide tribute to Frank Milisits and the friendship he and Donohue shared. Even though they spent most of their military experience apart, Frank is a warm and jovial shadow over every event. When Donohue’s not talking about his and Frank’s adventures, he’s thinking about writing Frank a letter, or reading one from Frank, or framing his experiences through the prism of their shared expectations and hopes. Milisits, who died in the early 1990s, is a fundamental presence in Donohue’s memoir, and the love these men had for each other shines through on every page. By the book’s end, readers may feel a bit jealous that they didn’t know these men personally.
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