Description
Book SynopsisIn this new book by the authors of Pacific Legacy: Image and Memory of World War II in the Pacific, the history of the War in the Pacific comes vividly to life in the words of those who witnessed it first-hand. The editors create for the reader, as the veterans themselves recall it, what that war was like - how it looked, felt, smelled, and sounded. The stories collected here are a unique portrayal of the mundane, exotic, boring, terrifying, life-altering events that made up their wartime experiences in World War II in the Pacific, a war fought on countless far-flung islands over an area that constitutes about one-third of the globe. What the veterans saw and lived through has stayed with them their entire lives, and much of it comes to the surface again through their vivid memories. This is an important book for military buffs as well as for the survivors of World War II and their families. The narratives, grouped into 15 thematic, chronologically arranged chapters, are st
Table of Contents
Table of Contents from: Pacific War Stories INTRODUCTION A PACIFIC WAR OVERVIEW 1. "A DATE WHICH WILL LIVE IN INFAMY." PEARL HARBOR, DECEMBER 7, 1941 FIRMAN BALZA, navy, USS Maryland, battleship RUSSELL McCURDY, marines, USS Arizona, battleship EVERETT HYLAND, navy, USS Pennsylvania, battleship DEL ALDRICH, navy, USS Ramsey, destroyer-minesweeper AL BODENLOS, army, Schofield Barracks HARVEY AND JEAN FRASER, army, Schofield Barracks WAYNE "JIM" JOHNSON, army air force, Hickam Field BILL AND RUTH COPE, army air force, Hickam Field TOM LARSON, navy, Pearl Harbor LENORE RICKERT, navy, Pearl Harbor, nurse 2. THE FALL OF THE PHILIPPINES: CORREGIDOR AND THE BATAAN DEATH MARCH, 1941--42 ALAN HANCOCK, army, Bataan Death March IRVING STROBING, army, Corregidor JOHN BRUER, army, Bataan, Corregidor 3. THE DOOLITTLE RAIDERS BOMB TOKYO, APRIL 1942 BILL BOWER, army air force, B-25 pilot 4. ISLAND COMBAT BEGINS AT GUADALCANAL, TARAWA, PELELIU, NEW GUINEA, 1942--44 ROBERT MAHOOD, marines, Guadalcanal 127 CARL ALBRITTON, army, New Guinea, Philippines 134 DAVE BOWMAN, marines, Peleliu, Okinawa 138 5. COPING WITH CASUALTIES: MEDICS AND CORPSMEN, 1942--45 VERN GARRETT, navy, corpsman, USS Yorktown, carrier, and Marine invasions: Tarawa, Guam ROBERT CLACK, navy, corpsman, USS Yorktown, carrier STERLING CALE, navy, corpsman, Pearl Harbor, Guadalcanal DAVE GUTTERMAN, army, medic, New Guinea, Philippines, Japan 6. COMMUNICATING WITH THE ENEMY: INTERPRETERS, 1942--45 BOB SHEEKS, marines, Japanese language officer, Tarawa, Saipan, Tinian DAN WILLIAMS, marines, Japanese language officer, Saipan, Tinian, Iwo Jima HARRY FUKUHARA, army, Nisei interpreter, New Guinea, Philippines, Hiroshima 7. MANNING THE PT BOATS, 1942--45 DAVE LEVY, navy, pt boat skipper, Solomons, Philippines AL HAHN, navy, pt boat motor machinist mate, Philippines 8. THE WAR IN THE AIR, 1942--45 JOHN BEDDALL, army air force, B-25 radio operator and gunner, Marshalls A.C. KLEYPAS, army air force, B-24 radio operator and gunner, New Guinea, Philippines JIM ROSENBROCK, army air force, P-38 and P-51 armorer, New Guinea, Philippines JOHN W. VINZANT, army air force, B-29 pilot FRED WOLKEN, army air force, C-47 troop carrier pilot, New Guinea, Philippines DON VAN INWEGEN, army air force, B-29 tail gunner BILL MASHAW, navy, Naval Air Transport Service pilot LOUIS MEEHL, army air force, gunner 9. THE WAR AT SEA, 1942--45 RUSSELL FRINK, navy, USS Fletcher, destroyer, Solomons WYLIE DAVIS, navy, USS Chicago, cruiser PERRY MAX JOHNSTON, navy, lst 958 OZ LEVERENZ, navy, destroyer crewman BILL LEWIS, navy, lcsl captain, Okinawa CLARENCE COOK, navy, armed guard, merchant ships BILL POND, navy, USS Tulagi, carrier, deck crew CLARENCE "DUDE" STORLA, coast guard, lst 831 GEORGE THOMA, navy, USS Sperry, submarine tender MIKE DeBOLT, navy, USS Portland, cruiser LEO DORSEY, navy, carrier fighter pilot "EX-CHIEF PETTY OFFICER," navy, Underwater Demolition Team [name withheld by request] JIM LOCKHART, navy, submariner 10. LIFE IN THE REAR AREA ISLANDS, 1942--45 FRED GILES, navy, Bora Bora DOUG McEVOY, navy, Midway REX ALAN SMITH, army engineers, Canton, Funafuti, Guam, Philippines CHARLES McNEAL, marines, Samoa ROBERT PHELAN, army, rear area islands CARL HAMILTON, navy, Seabees 11. WAR AS ISLAND NATIVES SAW IT, 1942--45 FALAVI, coast-watcher, Beru, Gilberts KIMIUO AISEK, Truk JORGE CRISTOBAL, navy, Pearl Harbor, Guam 12. THE VIEW FROM JAPAN, 1942--45 PAUL KURODA, Tokyo AKIRA KASAHARA, Tokyo 13. THE FINAL PHASE OF ISLAND COMBAT, PHILIPPINES, SAIPAN, GUAM, TINIAN, IWO JIMA, OKINAWA, 1944--45 JIM MILLIFF, marines, Bougainville, Guam HARLAN WALL, army, Philippines FRED SAIZ, army, New Guinea, Philippines MILO CUMPSTON, marines, Iwo Jima BILL HASTINGS, marines, Iwo Jima JOE WOODS, marines, Saipan, Iwo Jima 14. FACING THE KAMIKAZE, 1944--45 JIM SPRIGGS, navy, USS Laffey, destroyer BOB KARR, navy, USS Laffey, destroyer LARRY DELEWSKI, navy, USS Laffey, destroyer DALE KILLIAN, coast guard, lst 170 15. THE SURRENDER, AND ENTERING JAPAN, 1945 HOADLEY DEAN, army, advance party into Japan KEN GUENTHER, army, Philippines, Hokkaido THE PACIFIC WAR IN RETROSPECT ACKNOWLEDGMENTS INDEX
