Pacific War Stories

This book describes in striking detail six different aspects of our enormous struggle with the empire of Japan, starting with a never published handwritten survivor account of a battleship sinking at Pearl Harbor (written only weeks after the attack) and ending with the peaceful occupation of Japan and the establishment of America as the Pacific superpower.

The 1942-43 story is of a Yale University NROTC graduate who assumes command of a US subchaser and deploys to Australia to join “MacArthur’s Navy” where he is immediately thrust into patrol convoy duty. He writes of harsh tension within the chain-of-command, exhaustion, boredom, anger, loneliness, anxiety as he leads his crew into combat.

In 1944 a married father endures infantry jungle fighting with a hometown buddy in New Guinea and the Philippine Islands. A belief in God and small town community support in the form of prayers and letters received sustain these men until they return, diseased and wounded, on hospital ships. The same year a U.S. Army psychiatric nurse endlessly treats battle-fatigued G.I.s at an island station hospital. It changes her life. In 1945 a ship’s surgeon prepares to receive on board the first casualties from the invasion of Okinawa. He volunteered especially for this duty. Months later the war is over and the rest of 1945 and all of 1946 is a party of youth and Navy salt for a young sailor stuck on the US central Pacific stronghold of Guam.

Readers who enjoy immersing themselves in history that makes them feel like they are there will find a gem in this book.