War Stories II: Heroism in the Pacific (with DVD)

Rating:
Summary: Tears in your Eyes - Get this for 20-30 somethings!
Review: I am 63 and listened to the end of the War on Grandma's console Short Wave radio. I studied a lot of history in college and read all the WWII naratives in paperback in the 50's. But you know...amost NONE of the younger generations know anything about just how big and tough the War was on the world, and how much sacrifice the Allies went through to win.

When you learn that enslaved prisioners died under Tojo's troops building the Burma railroad .... at one per 12 feet, or that sometimes 42 of 45 men in a company were killed trying to take island atols the size of a Walmart parking lot, or if you can visualize what it must have been like to watch 5 big naval ships go down in sight of each other, then you grasp just how destructive the war was. This book weaves the big picture of the Pacific theatre strategy with personal experiences of Rangers, Marines and Sailors.

This is easy to read and perfect for folks who don't sit down with heavy books. Print-size worked for my aging eyes.

Just after reading about retaking the Phillipines we stopped on the road at Springville, UT for lunch. In comes an old man with his son, and I couldn't help but ask, " Did your Dad serve?"

"Sure, he says, hey, Dad what ship were you on?"

"The Nevada!"

The Battleship Nevada was attacked at Pearl Harbor!
(More tears.)

Rating:
Summary: We Know the Battles, This is About the People
Review: Just as the title says, this is a series of war stories. To the history buff the broad outline of the war is well known. We know about the midget submarines at Parh Harbor, the Doolittle raid, breaking the Japanese code at Station Hypo which led to our victory and Midway and so on.

What makes this book so good is the stories of the men. How Col. North found the seaman manning the gun on the USS Ward which sank one of the midget subs, the Corporal on one of Doolittle's B-25s, a crewman from the Yorktown which was lost at Midway I can't imagine. But it's these stories, their war stories that really make this book.

In addition to the printed material, there's a DVD included with the book giving more War Stories.