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Across the Dark Islands: The War in the Pacific
ACROSS THE DARK ISLANDS
The War in the Pacific
Floyd W. Radike
Brigadier General, U.S. Army (Ret.)
“I remember sitting in a foxhole on Guadalcanal in the rain. The sergeant I shared the hole with shook his head and asked ‘What in the hell are we doing on this godforsaken island? Why don’t we let the Japs keep this stinking rock?’ I didn’t have an answer.”
The war in the Pacific has never been portrayed more honestly—or in prose more powerful—than in Across the Dark Islands . In this unflinching account, Brig. Gen.Floyd W. Radike remembers how he started his military career in the mud and mayhem of Guadalcanal, fighting a campaign as crucial to the war’s outcome as it was chaotic and cruel.
Here is no whitewashed view of that war or the men who waged it. Here instead is the sobering story of a junior officer in a National Guard unit suddenly shipped off to the front lines, disdained by “regular army” elitists who served beside him, and given second-class status so that others could earn headlines and promotions. While struggling to survive amid dirt and disease, routine and monotony, Radike endured harrowing missions incompetently, arrogantly, or just impatiently planned.
As no book ever has, Across the Dark Islands reveals shocking details removed from myth and how American commanders were intimidated by the Japanese stereotype of fearlessness, night attacks, and cries of “banzai” . . . how imitations of John Wayne heroics caused immediate death . . . threats of court-martial quieted accusations of Army injustice . . . and panic and flight destroyed a fight for the enemy’s Munda Field airstrip, an event that “disappeared from the record and appears in no official history.”
Emerging from the hellish conditions and military miscalculations is a tribute to common sense, courage, and respect for proper procedure, attributes that would help the author and soldiers like him to save their lives, succeed in battle, and win the war. From Guadalcanal to the Philippines to a planned invasion of Japan ended by the atom bomb, General Radike’s experience spanned the entire course of the pivotal Pacific theater conflict. Candid and cautionary, his memoir is an important work whose writing rivals that of classic novels like James Jones’s The Thin Red Line and Norman Mailer’s The Naked and the Dead . It should be read by anyone looking to join an army or wage a war.
From the Hardcover edition.
The War in the Pacific
Floyd W. Radike
Brigadier General, U.S. Army (Ret.)
“I remember sitting in a foxhole on Guadalcanal in the rain. The sergeant I shared the hole with shook his head and asked ‘What in the hell are we doing on this godforsaken island? Why don’t we let the Japs keep this stinking rock?’ I didn’t have an answer.”
The war in the Pacific has never been portrayed more honestly—or in prose more powerful—than in Across the Dark Islands . In this unflinching account, Brig. Gen.Floyd W. Radike remembers how he started his military career in the mud and mayhem of Guadalcanal, fighting a campaign as crucial to the war’s outcome as it was chaotic and cruel.
Here is no whitewashed view of that war or the men who waged it. Here instead is the sobering story of a junior officer in a National Guard unit suddenly shipped off to the front lines, disdained by “regular army” elitists who served beside him, and given second-class status so that others could earn headlines and promotions. While struggling to survive amid dirt and disease, routine and monotony, Radike endured harrowing missions incompetently, arrogantly, or just impatiently planned.
As no book ever has, Across the Dark Islands reveals shocking details removed from myth and how American commanders were intimidated by the Japanese stereotype of fearlessness, night attacks, and cries of “banzai” . . . how imitations of John Wayne heroics caused immediate death . . . threats of court-martial quieted accusations of Army injustice . . . and panic and flight destroyed a fight for the enemy’s Munda Field airstrip, an event that “disappeared from the record and appears in no official history.”
Emerging from the hellish conditions and military miscalculations is a tribute to common sense, courage, and respect for proper procedure, attributes that would help the author and soldiers like him to save their lives, succeed in battle, and win the war. From Guadalcanal to the Philippines to a planned invasion of Japan ended by the atom bomb, General Radike’s experience spanned the entire course of the pivotal Pacific theater conflict. Candid and cautionary, his memoir is an important work whose writing rivals that of classic novels like James Jones’s The Thin Red Line and Norman Mailer’s The Naked and the Dead . It should be read by anyone looking to join an army or wage a war.
From the Hardcover edition.
272 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published October 26, 2004
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
August 8, 2023
Floyd was a young infantry officer in a National Guard regiment attached the the Regular Army in the Pacific, serving in combat on Guadalcanal, New Georgia, and the Philippines on Luzon. To say Floyd pulls no punches would be an understatement. He had an absolute disdain for incompetence and self serving officers. There were a handful of higher ups and ncos he spoke very highly of. As one of very few to make it from Oahu to Japan with the Division it’s understandable that he was and remained so salty amidst so much loss.
In addition to stories of him as a platoon leader and headquarters company commander, there are stories of him visiting and staying in Guadalcanal villages and as a liaison to Filipino families who lost family members in the war. You see the war from many different angles.
There’s also one great story of an unnamed Division Commander (it’s Lighting Joe Collins) sharing his foxhole and calling in artillery and mortars.
In addition to stories of him as a platoon leader and headquarters company commander, there are stories of him visiting and staying in Guadalcanal villages and as a liaison to Filipino families who lost family members in the war. You see the war from many different angles.
There’s also one great story of an unnamed Division Commander (it’s Lighting Joe Collins) sharing his foxhole and calling in artillery and mortars.
February 23, 2021
Radike is unique in that he seems to hate the US Army more than the Japanese. At times he crosses the line from candid to venomous, which detracts from the occasional unique observation or experience. He has few kind words for enlisted men, fewer for brother officers, and virtually none for those he served under. He reads like a combination of Vinegar Joe and a Mauldin comic strip: angry, somewhat comedic, and arrogant.
November 29, 2013
Mr. Radike's book was good, I enjoyed it. It wasn't as full of battle accounts as some I have read. He took a lot of time talking about the events and people around him during the non-combat times. It was very interesting. While he did talk about some of his buddies, and he was very candid about his opinions on some people, he never got into the friendship/buddy feeling that I have read in other personal accounts of WWII.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews