Rating: 
Summary: Excellent!
Review: I found this to be a great book - very enjoyable to read and was well researched, organized, and written. It could easily have been titled 'Heroes to the End', as it tells a story of true heroism and bravery (2 words often overused and abused) in the face of disaster. The only part that I thought was somewhat thin was research and analysis of the subsequent navy and other investigations (but this did not detract from the story itself). The author organized the story really well, telling much of it from the eyes of several sailors present on those fateful days. It is chilling to read about the event that led to the book's title. The author goes into a reasonable level of detail on the events leading up to the tragic fire and explains many navy equipment and processes in layman's terms. The book at times seems overly sympathetic to Capt. Beling, but I agree that at the end of the day, no matter what, the captain always has full and ultimate responsibility for his ship and its crew. I was surprised how many people saw me reading this book and recollected the event like it happened yesterday. I highly recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: A Superb Account of an Unforgettable Tragedy
Review: I happened to be stationed at the Norfolk, Virginia Naval Base in the spring of 1967 and saw U.S.S. Forrestal before she left for a tour of combat duty in Vietnam. Coincidentally, shortly thereafter I was transferred to Subic Bay in the Philippines and was there when Forrestal arrived for temporary repairs following the catastrophic fire of 29 July 1967. Gregory Freeman accurately describes life aboard an aircraft carrier, where fire is a constant threat and worry (during the period 1965-1969, three U.S. Navy aircraft carriers -- U.S.S. Forrestal, U.S.S. Oriskany, and U.S.S. Enterprise -- lost the lives of scores of sailors and sustained millions of dollars in damage from horrendous fires). The story of the Forrestal fire was in danger of becoming a historical footnote until Senator John McCain discussed it at length in his autobiography a few years ago. McCain, who was a Navy pilot, was readying his plane for a launch that morning when a Zuni rocket from another plane was accidentally fired. The rocket struck McCain's plane, and McCain barely escaped with his life. His plane's bombs exploded, starting a chain reaction of explosions which were spread as leaking jet fuel flowed across the flight deck. The heroic response of the Forrestal's crew prevented the ship from being lost. Anyone who has seen the films of the Forrestal fire can only marvel that more lives weren't lost. Another reviewer has mentioned that the book contains conflicting information about whether Forrestal got to the South China Sea by going around Africa or South America. It was Africa, and Mr. Freeman explains on his website that the error is being corrected with the next printing of the book. My only other factual qualm is that Mr. Freeman gives the impression that most of Forrestal's uninjured crewmembers were unable to get word to their families that they had survived. In fact, the Navy made arrangements for the men to send telegrams home through the Naval Communications Center at Subic Bay. The Subic Comm Center transmitted nearly 3,000 telegrams for Forrestal's crew over a period of 33 hours between 31 July 1967 and 2 August 1967. Mr. Freeman correctly takes the Navy to task for its "blame" mentality, when in fact it was the Navy itself which was primarily to blame for outfitting Forrestal with ancient bombs that were unable to withstand the heat of a severe fire. Overall, the author has done the men of U.S.S. Forrestal a great service by immortalizing their story. Senator McCain has said that he has never seen greater bravery than that shown by Forrestal's crew on that fateful day.
Rating:
Summary: Once a Sailor always a Sailor
Review: I have just started reading "Sailors to the End". From what I have read so far it brings back memories. As a Damage Controlman, one of the first videos we were shown in school was the fire on the Forrestal. It scares you at first, then you realize in the Navy your front line defense in a ship fire is your fellow sailors and the dangers we faced. I was stationed to destroyers in my time, did a lot of plane guard duty in the Tonkin. And we all had the same values..God,Duty,Country. We were all sailors proud of what we did. God Bless the 134 lost sailors of the USS Forrestal
Rating:
Summary: Heroes to the end more accurately.
Review: I wholeheartedly recommend this book to anyone who has even the slightest interest in the US Navy. Aside from providing what seems to be an accurate account of the fire and the events that led up to it, and followed it, this book also provides an insight into how the ordinary seaman lived and worked. The descriptions of how jobs were done, and how the sailors coped with their surroundings are almost worth a book by themselves. This seems to be an accurate accounting of the way things were, and probably still are, aboard an aircraft carrier. There is of course one small quibble. At one point in the book, Mr. Freeman refers to Commander Rowland as the highest ranking enlisted man on the ship. He goes on to say how this is accomplished. As most know, commander is a "commissioned" rank, and not enlisted. As far as the differing routes that some reviewers caught, to be honest I missed it, being caught up in the whole story of what was coming. I recommend this book without reservation. Go ahead and buy it, you won't be sorry.
Rating:
Summary: Right On
Review: Like so many others, I was there and the author brings back memories that have been long tucked away. He makes that day come alive for the reader and adds details that most who were there could not have known.
Thank you for honoring those men who gave their life and who history has ignored.
Rating: 
Summary: Gripping story, but with reservations on accuracy
Review: Mr. Freeman set a lofty and necessary goal of telling this harrowing tale known to all carrier "sailors" as one the epic struggles to save a ship from a major disaster. No one goes through shipboard Firefighting School without seeing the riveting film of the flight deck and firefighting crews being cut down by exploding ordnance as the fire raged out of control. This story weaves first person accounts of many individuals with factual details of what happened procedurally to cause the mishap (inadvertent firing of a rocket across the flight deck into McCain's aircraft) and make it get out of control so quickly, namely on-loading of ordnance of questionable condition which detonated in the ensuing fire. Much of the safety record, training, and procedures in use today as well as insensitive munitions design parameters stem from lessons learned from this incident. The brave crew and lost souls deserve their story to be told. However, as a former carrier aviator, I read the story with great interest, but was disturbed by the lack of technical editing of the story that allowed numerous outright errors and showed an obvious lack of familiarity of with carrier organization, procedures and layout as well as aircraft design features (the A-4 Skyhawk has only one engine, a WW II "Betty" aircraft is a bomber, not a fighter, there is only one airwing aboard a carrier....there are many squadrons in that airwing, which Mr. Freeman totally misunderstands....in fact a photo of the captain and air wing commander is labeled as the CAG, or airwing commander, as being an unknown person despite many clues in the photo as his being no one else to anyone who has been associated with carrier aviation...no excuse for the author or editors on that one). There are many fine books that deal with carrier organization and the intricate and complex orchestration of what it takes to conduct flight operations and survive the deadly hazards of flight operations on a carrier deck. Mr. Freeman falls short in describing the many nuances of the relationships and procedures. Of all the folks he interviewed and thousands upon thousands who have served on carriers in the ensuing years, it would have been relatively easy to send this book through a technical editing review to get it right. Tom Clancy's publisher insisted on this type review for his factual book on carriers. Too bad Mr. Freeman or his publisher didn't do the same as the book could have been far greater a story and served as a reference for other authors and readers alike. I stopped counting at a hundred of these type errors, omissions and mischaracterizations. He harps continuously on the Forrestal as being the most powerful carrier in the fleet to the point of overstating such accolades like the Forrestal was a one of a kind carrier. A simple check of any number of reference books or even websites devoted to the subject references would have revealed that the Forrestal did indeed usher in the larger angled flight deck (or "big-deck" compared to the modified "27C class" carriers that preceded her) by 1967, a number of "big-deck" carriers (Saratoga, Ranger, Independence, Kitty Hawk, Constellation, America and the nuclear powered Enterprise had followed her into service). These are only a few areas where the author betrays his lack of familiarity with his subject. What a book this could have been! It's a great start, but was sent to the printers before it was fully baked. I felt like I was reading a newspaper reporter's story that capitalized on the sensationalism of an event, but skimped on details in effort to meet a deadline knowing the headlines and reasonably accurate details will grab the reader. The brave crew of the Forrestal, those
Rating:
Summary: Gripping story, but with reservations on accuracy
Review: Mr. Freeman set a lofty and necessary goal of telling this harrowing tale known to all carrier "sailors" as one the epic struggles to save a ship from a major disaster. No one goes through shipboard Firefighting School without seeing the riveting film of the flight deck and firefighting crews being cut down by exploding ordnance as the fire raged out of control. This story weaves first person accounts of many individuals with factual details of what happened procedurally to cause the mishap (inadvertent firing of a rocket across the flight deck into McCain's aircraft) and make it get out of control so quickly, namely on-loading of ordnance of questionable condition which detonated in the ensuing fire. Much of the safety record, training, and procedures in use today as well as insensitive munitions design parameters stem from lessons learned from this incident. The brave crew and lost souls deserve their story to be told. However, as a former carrier aviator, I read the story with great interest, but was disturbed by the lack of technical editing of the story that allowed numerous outright errors and showed an obvious lack of familiarity of with carrier organization, procedures and layout as well as aircraft design features (the A-4 Skyhawk has only one engine, a WW II "Betty" aircraft is a bomber, not a fighter, there is only one airwing aboard a carrier....there are many squadrons in that airwing, which Mr. Freeman totally misunderstands....in fact a photo of the captain and air wing commander is labeled as the CAG, or airwing commander, as being an unknown person despite many clues in the photo as his being no one else to anyone who has been associated with carrier aviation...no excuse for the author or editors on that one). There are many fine books that deal with carrier organization and the intricate and complex orchestration of what it takes to conduct flight operations and survive the deadly hazards of flight operations on a carrier deck. Mr. Freeman falls short in describing the many nuances of the relationships and procedures. Of all the folks he interviewed and thousands upon thousands who have served on carriers in the ensuing years, it would have been relatively easy to send this book through a technical editing review to get it right. Tom Clancy's publisher insisted on this type review for his factual book on carriers. Too bad Mr. Freeman or his publisher didn't do the same as the book could have been far greater a story and served as a reference for other authors and readers alike. I stopped counting at a hundred of these type errors, omissions and mischaracterizations. He harps continuously on the Forrestal as being the most powerful carrier in the fleet to the point of overstating such accolades like the Forrestal was a one of a kind carrier. A simple check of any number of reference books or even websites devoted to the subject references would have revealed that the Forrestal did indeed usher in the larger angled flight deck (or "big-deck" compared to the modified "27C class" carriers that preceded her) by 1967, a number of "big-deck" carriers (Saratoga, Ranger, Independence, Kitty Hawk, Constellation, America and the nuclear powered Enterprise had followed her into service). These are only a few areas where the author betrays his lack of familiarity with his subject. What a book this could have been! It's a great start, but was sent to the printers before it was fully baked. I felt like I was reading a newspaper reporter's story that capitalized on the sensationalism of an event, but skimped on details in effort to meet a deadline knowing the headlines and reasonably accurate details will grab the reader. The brave crew of the Forrestal, those
Rating:
Summary: Vindication for the Forrestal Victims
Review: My father was a witness to the Forrestal disaster July 29, 1967, so I was familiar with the event long before this book was written. On occasions where I'd discussed the tragedy with friends who had served in the Navy, I had been told of the firefighting training films they'd been shown where the instructor would ridicule the sailors who so bravely endeavored to save their ship, pointing out everything that, according to them, they'd done wrong. Nothing could be further from the truth. As we read through the pages of Sailors to the End, we experience the fire through the eyes of a select number of individuals, who represent a fraction of the men who are haunted to this day by the events they witnessed, including the deaths of shipmates and friends, and the injuries they suffered. The author also provides some background on each of these sailors so that they become more real and human to us, rather than just a cast of characters in a history text. We learn that the catastrophe was not due to their incompetence, but old, faulty ammunition left over from World War II that exploded prematurely and wiped out the Forrestal's firefighting teams mere minutes after the fire started. Personally speaking, this book provided a perspective of the disaster that my father had not, and probably could not have, expressed to me. Freeman does an excellent job of relating the emotions and experiences of those who were directly involved in the disaster. What was even more poignant to me after finishing Sailors to the End was its featured program on BookTV where several of the Forrestal sailors discussed in the book took the podium and talked about what they had gone through. Unfortunately, BookTV's website only has a two month archive of their featured programs, but if you're able to access a recording of the broadcast, I highly recommend watching it.
Rating:
Summary: Vindication for the Forrestal Victims
Review: My father was a witness to the Forrestal disaster July 29, 1967, so I was familiar with the event long before this book was written. On occasions where I'd discussed the tragedy with friends who had served in the Navy, I had been told of the firefighting training films they'd been shown where the instructor would ridicule the sailors who so bravely endeavored to save their ship, pointing out everything that, according to them, they'd done wrong. Nothing could be further from the truth. As we read through the pages of Sailors to the End, we experience the fire through the eyes of a select number of individuals, who represent a fraction of the men who are haunted to this day by the events they witnessed, including the deaths of shipmates and friends, and the injuries they suffered. The author also provides some background on each of these sailors so that they become more real and human to us, rather than just a cast of characters in a history text. We learn that the catastrophe was not due to their incompetence, but old, faulty ammunition left over from World War II that exploded prematurely and wiped out the Forrestal's firefighting teams mere minutes after the fire started. Personally speaking, this book provided a perspective of the disaster that my father had not, and probably could not have, expressed to me. Freeman does an excellent job of relating the emotions and experiences of those who were directly involved in the disaster. What was even more poignant to me after finishing Sailors to the End was its featured program on BookTV where several of the Forrestal sailors discussed in the book took the podium and talked about what they had gone through. Unfortunately, BookTV's website only has a two month archive of their featured programs, but if you're able to access a recording of the broadcast, I highly recommend watching it.
Rating:
Summary: Sailors to the End: The Deadly Fire on the USS Forrestal...
Review: Riveting! One of the most well written books I have read in a long time. Having served over 20 years in the Military, this book and the men it honors, makes me proud to have served even more. We all owe a unpayable dept to the heroic men of the USS Forrestal. Should be included in the Military Professional Reading list.
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