PACIFIC WAR STORIES: in the words of those who survived by Abbeville Press

by Rex Alan Smith

"No published collection of first-person oral histories encompasses so many diverse aspects of World War II in the Pacific - in gripping, eyewitness accounts from more than seventy veterans of all branches of service. In their own evocative words, veterans who fought for their lives against the Japanese Empire some sixty years ago now think back on the terrifying, perilous, exotic, life-altering events that made up their wartime experiences. What they saw and lived through has stayed with them their entire lives, and much of it comes to the surface again through their vivid memories." "These are not the stories of sweeping military strategies or bold tactical moves by generals and admirals. Instead, we hear mainly from those on the lower rungs of the military ladder, from ordinary seamen on vessels that encountered Japanese warships and planes and sometimes came out second-best, from rank-and-file Marines who in amtracs churning toward bullet-swept tropical beaches saw buddies killed right next to them, and from startled eyewitnesses to the war's sudden beginning on December 7, 1941." Pacific War Stories is a book of stirring, first-hand accounts from front-line combat at the epicenter of violence and death to restless weariness on rear area islands thousands of miles from the fighting to chilling aerial encounters with the dreaded Japanese Zero. Fortunately, these compelling stories were collected before it became too late, for they cover myriad aspects of what it was like to have lived through the war in the Pacific, a war fought on countless islands scattered over an area constituting one-third of the globe.

Genres: History

Hardcover

First published October 1, 2004

Reviews

[Chad · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book of short stories. Collected memories. Some just a page or two, some 10-11 pages long. Great to read to pay tribute in some small way to these men.

[Scott Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kind of disappointed in this book. Even though it was full of stories told by the people who experienced them, it did not feel personal. It was a lot of "I went here, I did this, then I did this." I wanted to hear why they did what they did and how it made them feel. I just yearned for more personal details and stories. These stories were just about their actions.

[Todd · Rating 4 out of 5]

That chapter on Harry Fukuhara is incredible. As are many others- a great collection of stories. I could have done without one or two, but overall, well edited and presented.