Alfred Wellnitz takes us into the desperate and dangerous world of the US Marines during the Korean War in his new book, For The Cause; The Cold War Turns Hot in Korea and Why Young Men Went To War.

The book details the story of Pete and Chris, two young men from South Dakota, as they decide to join the Marines in the face of a troubled future. No boring, small town for these two; they want action, adventure, and excitement, and they are about to get it in spades. As soon as boot camp finishes, the Korean war erupts, forcing the boys to enact what they have just learned. Told in separate stories of the front lines in Korea and an off post in the Philippines, then culminating in an interesting and surprising climax to the action, both boys grow in vastly different directions. Though you aren't sure if the growth is a good thing in some cases (Chris turns into a seasoned and almost callous warrior), there is no doubt that this is a very character driven book and focuses on complex ideas and emotions.

In a surprisingly poignant piece, Alfred Wellnitz really captures a youthful sense of adventure, as well as some of the angst, horror, and frustrations of war in this complex, yet simple work. For the Cause is a book that can be enjoyed both by war aficionados and those who really like to see into the depths of the characters and come out with a sense of hope for the fate of humanity.

To predict any outcome where war is concerned is foolhardy and Alfred Wellnitz makes that point very clear in For the Cause: The Cold War Gets Hot in Korea and Why Young Men Went to War. When Pete Houser and Chris Engleson, schoolmates from a one-room school house in South Dakota, left their family farms to join the Marines, they were looking for an adventure and something new in their lives. The adventure begins as they ship out to San Diego where they endure basic training together, but their lives take different paths thereafter as the Korean war breaks out. Chris is shipped out to Korea and is soon engaged in the worst of the fighting while Pete draws duty as a perimeter guard for Sangley Point Naval Air Station in the Philippines. Their lives become very different and they look toward what they will do when they are finally discharged. What twists of fate will be dealt to each of them as the unpredictability of the advance of communism is being held back by farm boys who love freedom, but are only just beginning to get a feel for what their futures will hold?

For the Cause brings the Korean War as well as the life of a Marine PFC to life in a way that will keep the reader fully engaged from beginning to end. Those things which one expects to see in war and duty are present, but there is also a profound look into the feelings and emotions of two farm boys learning to cope with that which fate has dealt them in the very practical and workman-like thinking of someone from America’s mid-west. Real, engaging and enlightening, For the Cause is a very well written and personal chronicle of what it was like to be a Marine in the 1950s, but it is more; it is a look into the ironic twists of fate and the depth of character necessary to survive them.

For the Cause: The Cold War Turns Hot in Korea and Why Young Men Went to War by Alfred Wellnitz is the story of two boys who decide to join the marines instead of doing some small jobs in their country. It is at the time when the Korean War breaks out. Chris Engleson is assigned to the First Provisional Marine Brigade that is going to be deployed in Korea. Pete Houser is in the marine unit providing base security for the Sangley Point Naval Air Station in the Philippines. The story revolves around the lives of Chris and Pete and alternates between Korea and Philippines. The surprising end gives a fitting finale to the story.

The story speaks about the lives of soldiers being deployed in another country. The book also gives an insight into the Korean War. During the course of the story, readers can see the changes in the characters of both Chris and Pete and how from boys they slowly mature and become responsible adults. The author takes us back and forth between Pete and Chris and he has done that with expertise, weaving their separate lives in Korea and the Philippines together. The book also tells you about the basic training given to soldiers before being deployed in a war zone.

The author has narrated in detail the happenings and, personally, I felt it can be used for a movie script. Pete's meeting of his first love gives it a romantic angle.

For the Cause, The Cold War Turns Hot in Korea and Why Young Men Went to War, by Alfred Wellnitz, is a poignant story about two boys who grow up in South Dakota, dreaming of running their own farms someday. Circumstances, however, make them enlist in the US Marines together. The outbreak of the Korean War in the 1950s sends Chris Engelson to the First Provisional Marine Brigade in Korea while Pete Houser ends up in Sangley Point Naval Air Station in the Philippines. As they go on their separate journeys, these boys have to mature very fast. Chris faces real enemies in Pusan, Inchon, and Chosin, while Pete discovers love and a different culture in Cavite and Manila. Keeping in touch, they start to plan their futures, after life in the US Marines, and look forward to going home, but things will not be the way they expect it to be.

Stories of young men going off to war have been the subject of many novels, so that it is difficult to find one that is original. Alfred Wellnitz has come up with a book that is quite refreshing. After Chris and Pete went separate ways, their stories are told alternately in the next chapters of the novel. It is like going on a journey with both of them as their lives take off in two completely different paths. Wellnitz tells his story without frills so he refrains from stating what is already obvious. I find this creative writing style refreshing because the author does not impose his opinion on his readers. It is as if he is asking the readers themselves to form their own opinions about the characters and the circumstances that they are in. This is a book that can give us a fresh look at the effects of war on ordinary people.