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Voices of the Pacific: Untold Stories from the Marine Heroes of World War II
From the New York Times bestselling author of Spearhead and A Higher Call comes an unflinching, brutal, and relentless f irsthand chronicle of United States Marine Corps’ actions in the Pacific during World War II.
Following fifteen Marines from the Pearl Harbor attack, through battles with the Japanese, to their return home after V-J Day, Adam Makos and Marcus Brotherton have compiled an oral history of the Pacific War in the words of the men who fought on the front lines. With unflinching honesty, these Marines reveal harrowing accounts of combat with an implacable enemy, the friendships and camaraderie they found—and lost—and the aftermath of the war’s impact on their lives.
With unprecedented access to the veterans, rare photographs, and unpublished memoirs, Voices of the Pacific presents true stories of heroism as told by such World War II veterans as Sid Phillips, R. V. Burgin, and Chuck Tatum—whose exploits were featured in the HBO® miniseries, The Pacific —and their Marine buddies from the legendary 1st Marine Division.
Includes rare photos!
Following fifteen Marines from the Pearl Harbor attack, through battles with the Japanese, to their return home after V-J Day, Adam Makos and Marcus Brotherton have compiled an oral history of the Pacific War in the words of the men who fought on the front lines. With unflinching honesty, these Marines reveal harrowing accounts of combat with an implacable enemy, the friendships and camaraderie they found—and lost—and the aftermath of the war’s impact on their lives.
With unprecedented access to the veterans, rare photographs, and unpublished memoirs, Voices of the Pacific presents true stories of heroism as told by such World War II veterans as Sid Phillips, R. V. Burgin, and Chuck Tatum—whose exploits were featured in the HBO® miniseries, The Pacific —and their Marine buddies from the legendary 1st Marine Division.
Includes rare photos!
432 pages, Paperback
First published April 2, 2013
336 people are currently reading
2116 people want to read
About the author
Adam Makos
13 books671 followersHailed as “A masterful storyteller” by the Associated Press, Adam Makos is the author of the New York Times bestseller, A Higher Call, and the critically-acclaimed, Devotion. Inspired by his grandfathers’ service, Adam chronicles the stories of American veterans in his trademark “You Are There” style, landing him “in the top ranks of military writers,” according to the Los Angeles Times. In pursuit of a story, Adam has flown a WWII bomber, accompanied a Special Forces raid in Iraq, and journeyed into North Korea in search of an MIA American serviceman.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 171 reviews
May 30, 2020
I just re-listened to Voices of the Pacific by Adam Makos. This is perfect for the audiobook format. In it, Makos has preserved the memories of veterans of the First Marine Division that survived multiple campaigns in the Pacific during WWII. Makos has organized their experiences in the chronological order of their occurrence so that you hear several versions of events happening at nearly the same time but from another eyewitnesses' perspective. It works really well. Marines, who at the time of their interviews were in their 80’s and 90’s, share anecdotes about Guadalcanal, New Briton, Peleliu, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa. The old salts recall famous Marines such as EB Sledge, Robert Leckey, Chesty Puller, John Basilone, and Alexander Vandegrift. They also reminisce about where they were the day they heard the news of Pearl Harbor and how they ended up in the Corps. After the war, they lived with wounds to their body and their minds and spent months in VA hospitals fighting reoccurring bouts of malaria. You understand why many will carry their hate for the Japanese soldiers they fought to their graves. It is an important perspective and sometimes scary. It is raw and uncensored and rated R for violence. They speak candidly about atrocities that they witnessed by the Japanese and atrocities that they themselves committed against the Japanese. In the Pacific Theater of War there was no chivalry. There was no quarter asked for or given. It seems that Marines didn’t take prisoners and when you hear their stories you will understand what compelled them not to do so.
This is the perfect companion for With the Old Breed and Helmet for my Pillow. Thank God for men like these Marines that sacrificed so much. Thank God for men like Adam Makos and his efforts to record these stories for posterity.
This is the perfect companion for With the Old Breed and Helmet for my Pillow. Thank God for men like these Marines that sacrificed so much. Thank God for men like Adam Makos and his efforts to record these stories for posterity.
December 14, 2014
This is a book every American needs to read and especially kids in high school. As the author correctly describes his book it's like gathering a group of aged Marine vets around a table and letting them tell their stories. It's not about battle strategy or tactics or politics. This book is about boys that went into the Marines during WWII became men and then went through a hell nobody today could imagine. This is their story in their words and it's something we all should listen to because we owe it them and the ones that didn't come home.
February 14, 2023
An absolute winner. It brings the Pacific War very close.
One of the best books I’ve ever read.
One of the best books I’ve ever read.
May 9, 2023
4.5 stars
I eventually got around to watching The Pacific miniseries a few years ago, and I was a bit disappointed that they didn't include the veteran interviews like they did with Band of Brothers. Seems Makos agreed because he went out and found several of those vets and interviewed them and others for this book.
This is an excellent compilation of those interviews, and follows the events in the Pacific as they happened in real time. I thought it was hilarious that all these guys ended up in the Marines since there was no line for recruitment, unlike the navy or the army. The vets were all quite candid about their experiences and what they went through fighting against Japanese forces. Makos also gets an interview with one of the vet's sisters to get an account on what it was like back home during the war.
The only thing I struggled with was the structure. Maybe if I'd been reading this, it wouldn't have been as pointless, but listening to this, with the one main narrator reading all the accounts of the various vets, never once altering his voice, it quickly became apparent that even with the vets' names being read before each of their sections, I was never going to be able to keep them straight. So I didn't even try. And for the most part, it really didn't matter who was relating which parts; it was the overall experience of all these men that hits home. But at the same time, I did find myself constantly wishing Makos had kept each account intact within each chapter instead of bouncing back and forth.
I was also amused that the main narrator sounded a little bit like Josh Hurley, who narrates The Tarot Sequence books. It was like having Rune St. John telling me about WWII. 🙈
I eventually got around to watching The Pacific miniseries a few years ago, and I was a bit disappointed that they didn't include the veteran interviews like they did with Band of Brothers. Seems Makos agreed because he went out and found several of those vets and interviewed them and others for this book.
This is an excellent compilation of those interviews, and follows the events in the Pacific as they happened in real time. I thought it was hilarious that all these guys ended up in the Marines since there was no line for recruitment, unlike the navy or the army. The vets were all quite candid about their experiences and what they went through fighting against Japanese forces. Makos also gets an interview with one of the vet's sisters to get an account on what it was like back home during the war.
The only thing I struggled with was the structure. Maybe if I'd been reading this, it wouldn't have been as pointless, but listening to this, with the one main narrator reading all the accounts of the various vets, never once altering his voice, it quickly became apparent that even with the vets' names being read before each of their sections, I was never going to be able to keep them straight. So I didn't even try. And for the most part, it really didn't matter who was relating which parts; it was the overall experience of all these men that hits home. But at the same time, I did find myself constantly wishing Makos had kept each account intact within each chapter instead of bouncing back and forth.
I was also amused that the main narrator sounded a little bit like Josh Hurley, who narrates The Tarot Sequence books. It was like having Rune St. John telling me about WWII. 🙈
September 11, 2019
This is a sort of companion piece to the HBO mini-series, "The Pacific" and the book of the same name by Hugh Ambrose. The book contains in-depth interviews with many of the Marines that were introduced in these 2 other items. My only complaint is the way the book was put together and edited. There are approximately 20 different men interviewed and instead of giving each person's experience in a given battle/campaign, the book give a one sentence snippet regarding a specific day or instance during the battle. This makes it really hard to understand any individual's experience or really who any of the people were.
December 10, 2020
My father served nearly four years in the Pacific theater during World War II, but I can tell you very little about his experience during the war. Like so many men from his generation, he said very little about his time during the war. Voices of the Pacific by authors Adam Makos and Marcus Brotherton seemed like a good opportunity to get a sense of my father’s experience during the war. Journalist and historian Adam Makos is the author of A Higher Call: An Incredible True Story of Combat and Chivalry in the War-Torn Skies of World War II, a book that I thoroughly enjoyed.
Voices of the Pacific is not your traditional World War II history. The book is an oral history, providing the reader with the personal stories of 15 men who fought with the legendary 1st Marine Division in some of the most famous battles of World War II. The authors were able to locate and interview some of the veterans. Published in 2013, these Marines were obviously in their golden years; their ages ranged from 88 to 95 at the time the book was published. This type of oral history provides a human dimension of the war that probably can’t be duplicated now. The book is primarily focused on the words of these fifteen Marines. The authors largely stay in the shadows, only interjecting a few sentences from time to time in order to set the stage for the Marines.
“This book could not be written ten years from now. Not five. Maybe not even two.”
Adam Makos, Voices of the Pacific: Untold Stories from the Marine Heroes of World War II
Makos and Brotherton compiled their stories, giving us the full range of their WWII experience—beginning with their reactions to the bombing of Pearl Harbor, to their experience in boot camp, and from there to the fierce battles on the Pacific islands (from Guadalcanal to their temporary home on Pavavu, then New Britain, Peleliu, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa), and finally to their return home to the United States. The two closing chapters allows the veterans to share their stories after the war—their acclimatization to civilian life and the war's impact on their lives.
“In December 1943, there were 235 men in K company. The amount who ended up alive and well at the end of Okinawa was 19.”
Adam Makos, Voices of the Pacific: Untold Stories from the Marine Heroes of World War II
The authors did an excellent job of compiling the accounts of the Marines featured in the book. The book is organized in a logical, chronological way, so that there is a smooth flow to the book. The veterans seem honest, never embellishing their accounts. The accounts seem genuine—the men never pretend that their experiences were enjoyable. The authors have included dozens of photos, maps and of pictures of the battles, which adds some clarity. On the negative side, I found it difficult to keep all of the stories straight. I forgot the backstories and had trouble keeping track of who did what. While an oral history captures the human dimension of the war, I found that a book consisting almost exclusively of the men’s accounts fell a little short of what I was looking for in a book about the war in the Pacific. I much preferred Max Hasting’s excellent book Inferno: The World at War, 1939-1945, which gives the reader anecdotal accounts of the soldiers and civilians who were caught up in the conflagration interspersed with Hastings’ account of the war.
Voices of the Pacific is not your traditional World War II history. The book is an oral history, providing the reader with the personal stories of 15 men who fought with the legendary 1st Marine Division in some of the most famous battles of World War II. The authors were able to locate and interview some of the veterans. Published in 2013, these Marines were obviously in their golden years; their ages ranged from 88 to 95 at the time the book was published. This type of oral history provides a human dimension of the war that probably can’t be duplicated now. The book is primarily focused on the words of these fifteen Marines. The authors largely stay in the shadows, only interjecting a few sentences from time to time in order to set the stage for the Marines.
“This book could not be written ten years from now. Not five. Maybe not even two.”
Adam Makos, Voices of the Pacific: Untold Stories from the Marine Heroes of World War II
Makos and Brotherton compiled their stories, giving us the full range of their WWII experience—beginning with their reactions to the bombing of Pearl Harbor, to their experience in boot camp, and from there to the fierce battles on the Pacific islands (from Guadalcanal to their temporary home on Pavavu, then New Britain, Peleliu, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa), and finally to their return home to the United States. The two closing chapters allows the veterans to share their stories after the war—their acclimatization to civilian life and the war's impact on their lives.
“In December 1943, there were 235 men in K company. The amount who ended up alive and well at the end of Okinawa was 19.”
Adam Makos, Voices of the Pacific: Untold Stories from the Marine Heroes of World War II
The authors did an excellent job of compiling the accounts of the Marines featured in the book. The book is organized in a logical, chronological way, so that there is a smooth flow to the book. The veterans seem honest, never embellishing their accounts. The accounts seem genuine—the men never pretend that their experiences were enjoyable. The authors have included dozens of photos, maps and of pictures of the battles, which adds some clarity. On the negative side, I found it difficult to keep all of the stories straight. I forgot the backstories and had trouble keeping track of who did what. While an oral history captures the human dimension of the war, I found that a book consisting almost exclusively of the men’s accounts fell a little short of what I was looking for in a book about the war in the Pacific. I much preferred Max Hasting’s excellent book Inferno: The World at War, 1939-1945, which gives the reader anecdotal accounts of the soldiers and civilians who were caught up in the conflagration interspersed with Hastings’ account of the war.
November 8, 2024
This should be required reading for every American.
April 8, 2019
This is a really great book for anyone interested in first hand accounts of the Pacific in WWII. I loved hearing snippets of each man’s memory. I listened to the audiobook and the narrator does a great job. I had heard a lot of the stories from other memoirs (from guys like Sid Philips and RV Burgin) so some stuff was a repeat but it didn’t bother me. I especially love the ending of books like these that have 90ish year old veterans giving wisdom and advice to future generations.
May 10, 2020
Books like this should be required reading. These men went to hell and back again and this book is full of their stories. Raw and uncensored. Freedom is not free, is not just a phrase, freedom is payed for in blood. I'm grateful these gentleman told their stories, they should never be forgotten.
July 14, 2025
Incredibly moving and powerful. Some stories are heartbreaking, others are full of bravery and strength, but all of them are honest and real. You feel like you’re right there with them, going through the fear, the loss, and the deep bonds they shared.
What really stuck with me is how much these men sacrificed, not just for their country, but for each other. It’s emotional and sometimes tough to read, but it’s so important. These voices deserve to be heard. This book is a powerful reminder of what freedom costs and the courage it takes to protect it. I couldn’t recommend it more!!
What really stuck with me is how much these men sacrificed, not just for their country, but for each other. It’s emotional and sometimes tough to read, but it’s so important. These voices deserve to be heard. This book is a powerful reminder of what freedom costs and the courage it takes to protect it. I couldn’t recommend it more!!
April 19, 2020
The format of this book makes it simpler to read and understand. It's written like a transcript of a veteran recounting his war stories and is divided up into the different campaigns and locations. I really enjoyed the content as it was more engaging than a history book written by a historian.
However, the last chapter almost ruined the book for me overall, as it included the last words the veterans wanted the readers to take away from their experience. There were some great points made about patriotism and the lessons they think the younger generations should learn, however their other points seemed to me a bit old fashioned and out of touch from reality.
Overall, a great novel for any history buffs out there.
However, the last chapter almost ruined the book for me overall, as it included the last words the veterans wanted the readers to take away from their experience. There were some great points made about patriotism and the lessons they think the younger generations should learn, however their other points seemed to me a bit old fashioned and out of touch from reality.
Overall, a great novel for any history buffs out there.
April 16, 2019
This was an interesting book. Adam Makos assembled a group of aging WW 2 Marine veterans who fought together in the Pacific against the Japanese. Listening to them describe what they did and what they endured is riveting. Their memories are clear despite their advanced ages. That they all went on to live productive lives after the war is something that few authors present and I found those chapters very interesting. Though the Pacific theater never did get the press coverage that the European campaign received, when you here the stories, you realize that it should have. This is another great book from Adam Makos and I recommend it as well as his others.
August 20, 2025
I enjoyed this book so much! These stories are told directly from the mouths of the men who lived them. I listened to the audio book, and the reader is excellent! I believe all young people today would benefit from hearing these stories of the war.
October 1, 2024
I enjoy this format of oral history chronologically combined as events occur with many participants weighing in along the way. I have read several WWII books about the pacific theatre on the islands and knew of many of these guys including Eugene Sledge. The personal telling is powerful. I recommend this book regardless and even more highly if you have have not previously read other books telling of the ground wars on the islands. 4 stars.
April 16, 2021
Great to learn new stories about the Pacific war
November 8, 2015
My hats off to the Marine veterans of World War Two. This book reminds me why that generation was the greatest generation America has ever known. And also why they are one of the best generation of Marines we’ve ever had. This book tells the account of fifteen Marines who fought in the Pacific in their own words. As the author stated in the beginning, these are the last words of men who are in their nineties and some of the stories of what happened in World War two have never told by these survivors before. The book is simply incredible.
The book tries to follow a chronological order. It begins with the account of these Marines’ vivid memory of hearing about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Some were so moved that they went to enlist right away. This was a time when the Marines were not as well-known as they are now. I thought it was funny to read of how many of the guys originally tried to sign up for the other branches before they ended up joining the Marines. Some of the reasons were rather trivial—the Marine recruiting office had the shortest lines or the other services rejected them but the Marines took them. The book then transition to record how these new recruits went through Boot Camp and embarking on ship for the Pacific. What a window into the “Old Corps.”
The most incredible accounts in the book were the Marines’ account of combat. The combat gets worst and worst as the war dragged on. I cringed reading about the Marines’ stories of being shelled and bombed by the Japanese. Then there’s the Banzai charge and all night vigilance for Japanese sneak attack. As a kid I grew up reading a lot about the Marines in World War two but now that I’m older and a Marine veteran of another war I appreciate the Marines in the Pacific so much more and what they gone through. The hand to hand combat. Fixed bayonets. Eye-gouging. Point blank shooting. Use of flame-throwers. These were tough Marines. And the book covers from the first offensive in Guadalcanal to the last battle of Okinawa.
Some of the characters that the various Marines gave an account of are well known and legendary especially after the HBO miniseries on the Pacific. Readers will appreciate the heroism and larger than life Marines like John Basilone and Chesty Puller. But it is the survivors’ account of them as men rather than monuments that I appreciate.
It is hard to put this book down. It is hard not to get emotional reading this. The selflessness and humility of the various Marines will move you. The stories of how the Marines got injured and taken out of combat is not easy to read. Especially of the horrific ways that these Marines witnessed other Marines get killed.
I also appreciated the book covering the veterans account of coming back home. I’m amazed at how these guys came back home and still wanted to contribute to society and were not looking for a handout. These guys were glad to be alive. They came back and dealt with their traumatic experience by being busy. I think their examples are incredibly inspiring.
This book is a must read. I’m glad that I read this book.
The book tries to follow a chronological order. It begins with the account of these Marines’ vivid memory of hearing about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Some were so moved that they went to enlist right away. This was a time when the Marines were not as well-known as they are now. I thought it was funny to read of how many of the guys originally tried to sign up for the other branches before they ended up joining the Marines. Some of the reasons were rather trivial—the Marine recruiting office had the shortest lines or the other services rejected them but the Marines took them. The book then transition to record how these new recruits went through Boot Camp and embarking on ship for the Pacific. What a window into the “Old Corps.”
The most incredible accounts in the book were the Marines’ account of combat. The combat gets worst and worst as the war dragged on. I cringed reading about the Marines’ stories of being shelled and bombed by the Japanese. Then there’s the Banzai charge and all night vigilance for Japanese sneak attack. As a kid I grew up reading a lot about the Marines in World War two but now that I’m older and a Marine veteran of another war I appreciate the Marines in the Pacific so much more and what they gone through. The hand to hand combat. Fixed bayonets. Eye-gouging. Point blank shooting. Use of flame-throwers. These were tough Marines. And the book covers from the first offensive in Guadalcanal to the last battle of Okinawa.
Some of the characters that the various Marines gave an account of are well known and legendary especially after the HBO miniseries on the Pacific. Readers will appreciate the heroism and larger than life Marines like John Basilone and Chesty Puller. But it is the survivors’ account of them as men rather than monuments that I appreciate.
It is hard to put this book down. It is hard not to get emotional reading this. The selflessness and humility of the various Marines will move you. The stories of how the Marines got injured and taken out of combat is not easy to read. Especially of the horrific ways that these Marines witnessed other Marines get killed.
I also appreciated the book covering the veterans account of coming back home. I’m amazed at how these guys came back home and still wanted to contribute to society and were not looking for a handout. These guys were glad to be alive. They came back and dealt with their traumatic experience by being busy. I think their examples are incredibly inspiring.
This book is a must read. I’m glad that I read this book.
August 25, 2022
Finished August 18. A challenging and painful book - stories of the Marine battles on the islands in the West Pacific. The story is told by the men who were there, telling invasions stories from their own perspective as they waded on shore from the Higgins boats to fighting up the beaches and through the jungles and climbing the rugged landscape. Hearing the stories from the men who were there was moving.
April 16, 2013
A continuing collection of stories gathered from the few Marines still alive, so all first hand. Having read many books about the war in the Pacific, one that didn't receive nearly the press that our war in Europe did, I recognized a lot of the men in this book. A Marine that is mentioned frequently in this book, one who did not survive WWII, is a Marine by the name of John Basilone, a Medal Of Honor recipient, from his actions on Guadalcanal. If you ever want to read about an honest to God true American hero, read what his fellow Marines have to say about him. He was killed on the first day of our landing on Iwo Jima, February 19, 1945.He has been the subject of several books written by his fellow Marines. He is one of the many reasons why people in Australia and New Zealand never had to learn to speak Japanese. Google his name, and see what I mean. Most of the real true heroes, like John Basilone, never made it home. It is our job to keep their memory alive. Ask a high school student if they know about Iwo Jima, or Guadalcanal, or Peleliu, or The Solomans. They have no clue. Sad.
August 22, 2016
It's harder to get better history than from a good oral history (Bloods even World War Z), and this is one of the best. Voices of the Pacific is an excellent companion piece to Last of the Doughboys (see my review - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...), but doesn't have the "extra" chapters that Doughboys did - it's straight first-person remembrance all the way through, from the frequent humor through the constant horror. Anyone with any level of interest in the War in the Pacific should try to find a copy of this amazing story.
January 4, 2020
I will give it 4 stars because the things these men lived through should never be forgotten. I will always have a soft spot for u.s. combat veterans of any war. That said, some of the “damn the young people / protesters,” “America love or leave it” and “we must turn the nation toward God” patriotic / religious claptrap in the last chapter needed editing or omission, IMO, and I almost dropped this to three stars for it.
As it happened I read this while watching the series “The Pacific” and they went together perfectly. Do that if you can.
As it happened I read this while watching the series “The Pacific” and they went together perfectly. Do that if you can.
May 5, 2015
boring read
hard to follow each character, way to much repatition. Ive read a couple of the other books and they all read pretty much the same. I believe each and every man, woman or child who went to war and fought for our country is a hero. Thank you all for what you have done.
hard to follow each character, way to much repatition. Ive read a couple of the other books and they all read pretty much the same. I believe each and every man, woman or child who went to war and fought for our country is a hero. Thank you all for what you have done.
August 8, 2020
nice, fine oral history of Marines in the Pacific Theatre of WW2. various accounts are interwoven to create a chronological account. this work deserves the solid 4/5 stars and all the more remarkable, the author was only 32 years old at time of writing.
March 18, 2015
This is a well written book about one of the most brutal wars ever. These are personal insights tyhat these vets share with the reader that are not in most books. This was a great book.
January 31, 2016
An excellent read. This book really takes you to WWII in the Pacific and details very well what our troops had to endure.
October 23, 2017
I used the audiobook. The production values are excellent. Highly recommend.
August 7, 2021
As the last of the World War Two veterans gradually slip away, the role of chroniclers such as Adam Makos, Stephen Ambrose and others becomes ever more important as they record the first-hand accounts of remaining survivors of the great and small battles in both Europe and the Pacific. Makos has compiled in this book the recollections of veterans from the First and Fifth Marine Divisions, who battled the Japanese on Guadalcanal, New Britain (Cape Gloucester), Peleliu, Iwo Jima and Okinawa.
The accounts are brutally frank, unvarnished and often extremely graphic, and because of their often horrific nature remained undimmed in the minds of those who related them, even after the passage of 70-plus years. They reflect the reactions of young men plunged into a hostile, almost alien environment and called upon to confront an enemy whose language, culture and values they could not even begin to comprehend—but whose nature they quickly learned through the harsh reality of combat. (One veteran after the war observed, “When a German runs out of ammunition or is surrounded, he surrenders. When this happens to a Japanese, he ends his life in a banzai charge, commits hara-kiri, or blows himself up with a grenade.”) There is an abundance (perhaps over-abundance, but that’s the way it really was!) of blood, gore, destruction and death in these testimonies; but the stories are accompanied by a steadfastness of spirit and a simple determination to get the job done, no matter what. The essence of each man’s identity as a Marine was to do his duty. Although these men modestly insisted that the true heroes were those who failed to return (and over 19,000 Marines and Army troops were killed on Iwo Jima and Okinawa alone, which helped make 1945 the bloodiest year of the Pacific war), surely the appellation can be applied to the survivors as well, for what they accomplished is the true nature of heroism.
Remarkable too are the accounts of how they were able to resume their everyday lives after the war, although for some it was far more difficult than others. The war affected the men in different ways for the rest of their lives, for it was a life-defining, watershed experience which reverberated down the decades. Some were permanently scarred physically and/or mentally. Some were unwilling to ever discuss the war again because the memories were just too painful, and often retreated into themselves. Others established a camaraderie with their fellow veterans which lasted as long as they lived. Still others freely shared their stories with younger generations so the lessons—especially the warnings—they gleaned from their wartime experiences would not be forgotten and become nothing more than relics of the distant past.
There is a special poignancy about these chronicles since they were recorded in 2012 or 2013 when the men were in their 80’s and 90’s and most, if not all, of them have since passed on. (The last survivor for whom I could find information was R.V. Burgin, who died at 96 in 2019.) On August 4, 2021, the last known Pearl Harbor survivor in San Diego, Stu Hedley, died just short of his 100th birthday. He was on the USS West Virginia. Later he was a crewman on the USS San Francisco and was a survivor of the desperate naval battles around Guadalcanal and elsewhere. As the Marines of the Pacific did through this and other books, Stu made it a practice to disseminate the story of his war experiences to anyone interested enough to listen. Let us hope that his legacy and those of the Marines will live on.
**** review by Chuck Graham ****
The accounts are brutally frank, unvarnished and often extremely graphic, and because of their often horrific nature remained undimmed in the minds of those who related them, even after the passage of 70-plus years. They reflect the reactions of young men plunged into a hostile, almost alien environment and called upon to confront an enemy whose language, culture and values they could not even begin to comprehend—but whose nature they quickly learned through the harsh reality of combat. (One veteran after the war observed, “When a German runs out of ammunition or is surrounded, he surrenders. When this happens to a Japanese, he ends his life in a banzai charge, commits hara-kiri, or blows himself up with a grenade.”) There is an abundance (perhaps over-abundance, but that’s the way it really was!) of blood, gore, destruction and death in these testimonies; but the stories are accompanied by a steadfastness of spirit and a simple determination to get the job done, no matter what. The essence of each man’s identity as a Marine was to do his duty. Although these men modestly insisted that the true heroes were those who failed to return (and over 19,000 Marines and Army troops were killed on Iwo Jima and Okinawa alone, which helped make 1945 the bloodiest year of the Pacific war), surely the appellation can be applied to the survivors as well, for what they accomplished is the true nature of heroism.
Remarkable too are the accounts of how they were able to resume their everyday lives after the war, although for some it was far more difficult than others. The war affected the men in different ways for the rest of their lives, for it was a life-defining, watershed experience which reverberated down the decades. Some were permanently scarred physically and/or mentally. Some were unwilling to ever discuss the war again because the memories were just too painful, and often retreated into themselves. Others established a camaraderie with their fellow veterans which lasted as long as they lived. Still others freely shared their stories with younger generations so the lessons—especially the warnings—they gleaned from their wartime experiences would not be forgotten and become nothing more than relics of the distant past.
There is a special poignancy about these chronicles since they were recorded in 2012 or 2013 when the men were in their 80’s and 90’s and most, if not all, of them have since passed on. (The last survivor for whom I could find information was R.V. Burgin, who died at 96 in 2019.) On August 4, 2021, the last known Pearl Harbor survivor in San Diego, Stu Hedley, died just short of his 100th birthday. He was on the USS West Virginia. Later he was a crewman on the USS San Francisco and was a survivor of the desperate naval battles around Guadalcanal and elsewhere. As the Marines of the Pacific did through this and other books, Stu made it a practice to disseminate the story of his war experiences to anyone interested enough to listen. Let us hope that his legacy and those of the Marines will live on.
**** review by Chuck Graham ****
November 25, 2022
This is a 5 star +. I only wish I read this earlier. I got his other book A Higher Call over a year ago from someone and that really first introduced me to him. That book was amazing. I then read Spearhead, which was also great. This book was done in 2013 and I am sure non of the people are living with us unfortunately. This is just a great book where it goes through the battles of Guadalcanal, Cape Gloucester, Peleliu, Okinawa, etc from the people that were there and in their own words. Makos does incredible job of crafty this story and not getting in the way with too many details, tangents and other distractions. He lets the men, who were there, tell their own story.
This book is a MUST, MUST, MUST read.
One of the men said that he believes everyone, especially people in elected office, should serve in the military. Right now, only 77 of the 435 in the US House and 16 of the 100 in the Senate are veterans.
A couple of great quotes from the men that again was written in 2013 and prior, but really applies to the US people living today.
T.I. Miller
"Our esprit de corps in the Marines was reflected in how every man in the squad had pride in himself and his buddy next to him. That made for a strong unit that couldn't be defeated. That pride in the American way is central. But now there are elements in this nation that do not respect America. it threatens the preservation of our way of life. My message is respect America. Love it or leave it!"
Art Pendleton
"As a kid in the United States you are taught a religious belief. That belief stays with you for the rest of your life. How about a belief that you can solve problems without killing each other?"
Roy Gerlach
"The work we did stood for something. We might not have always realized it here in this country, but he folks who stayed free in other countries sure did."
Sid Phillips
"They teach so little history now. I talk to young people, 20 to 35 years old, and they hardly know anything at all about WWII. There's so much history that isn't taught anymore. Freedom isn't free, and we need to repeatedly fight for our liberty.
Governments need to be controlled. people expect too much from the government, but that only promotes inactivity. A government can't give you anything. They got to take it away from you first. The amount of freedom a people has is directly related to the amount of government it has. Smaller governments mean more freedom.
We need to revive patriotism. It's a serious thing, and if we don't do it, we'll decline and become a has-been nation.
I have heard the reference to our generation as "the greatest generation." We were a great generation, no doubt about it. We were patriotic, we had a job to do, and we needed to do our duty. Yet I think the greatest generation is still a generation to come. It's a generation that will turn our nation back to God."
This book is a MUST, MUST, MUST read.
One of the men said that he believes everyone, especially people in elected office, should serve in the military. Right now, only 77 of the 435 in the US House and 16 of the 100 in the Senate are veterans.
A couple of great quotes from the men that again was written in 2013 and prior, but really applies to the US people living today.
T.I. Miller
"Our esprit de corps in the Marines was reflected in how every man in the squad had pride in himself and his buddy next to him. That made for a strong unit that couldn't be defeated. That pride in the American way is central. But now there are elements in this nation that do not respect America. it threatens the preservation of our way of life. My message is respect America. Love it or leave it!"
Art Pendleton
"As a kid in the United States you are taught a religious belief. That belief stays with you for the rest of your life. How about a belief that you can solve problems without killing each other?"
Roy Gerlach
"The work we did stood for something. We might not have always realized it here in this country, but he folks who stayed free in other countries sure did."
Sid Phillips
"They teach so little history now. I talk to young people, 20 to 35 years old, and they hardly know anything at all about WWII. There's so much history that isn't taught anymore. Freedom isn't free, and we need to repeatedly fight for our liberty.
Governments need to be controlled. people expect too much from the government, but that only promotes inactivity. A government can't give you anything. They got to take it away from you first. The amount of freedom a people has is directly related to the amount of government it has. Smaller governments mean more freedom.
We need to revive patriotism. It's a serious thing, and if we don't do it, we'll decline and become a has-been nation.
I have heard the reference to our generation as "the greatest generation." We were a great generation, no doubt about it. We were patriotic, we had a job to do, and we needed to do our duty. Yet I think the greatest generation is still a generation to come. It's a generation that will turn our nation back to God."
December 10, 2018
If you have seen HBO's The Pacific, you should also read this book. And if you didn't see it, and are interested in WWII, you should read it too.
The war in the Pacific was a completely different war from that in Europe. The Japanese soldier was a different enemy from the German, or Italian, soldier. It was also a different environment. What the book does make clear is that the fighting on islands like New Britain, Guadalcanal, Peleliu, Iwo Jima and Okinawa was tough. Next to a determined and often cunning foe, the soldiers had to cope with rain, endless rain, mud, tropical diseases, more rain, heat, humidity, lack of food or water, some more rain, and much more.
Reading the book, you will be following fifteen young American men that entered the USMC after Pearl Harbor. Some entered the next day, others later due to age. Why the Marine Corps? Some did this on purpose because they admired the reputation of the Corps, others fancied the uniform, and still others just went there because the line at the Navy and Air Force offices were just too long.
What was bootcamp like? What about the camaraderie with your fellow soldiers? The fighting on the islands is described in detail. Colorful, tense, as it was, gruesome. And after the fighting they needed to relax and get their health back, in the knowledge that they would be heading to yet another island soon.
Well known names like John Basilone, Eugene Sledge and Robert Leckie enter the stories too. The men in this book became close friends with them, or just happened to serve in the same unit.
Despite the fact that different 'voices' tell the stories, I never lost track of what was happening and where it took place. Some of the 'voices' were involved in the same action, so you get to see the different angles.
The book ends describing what happened to these young men after the war, and what their opinion is of what the world looks like now. A high prices was paid and this needs to be remembered.
The war in the Pacific was a completely different war from that in Europe. The Japanese soldier was a different enemy from the German, or Italian, soldier. It was also a different environment. What the book does make clear is that the fighting on islands like New Britain, Guadalcanal, Peleliu, Iwo Jima and Okinawa was tough. Next to a determined and often cunning foe, the soldiers had to cope with rain, endless rain, mud, tropical diseases, more rain, heat, humidity, lack of food or water, some more rain, and much more.
Reading the book, you will be following fifteen young American men that entered the USMC after Pearl Harbor. Some entered the next day, others later due to age. Why the Marine Corps? Some did this on purpose because they admired the reputation of the Corps, others fancied the uniform, and still others just went there because the line at the Navy and Air Force offices were just too long.
What was bootcamp like? What about the camaraderie with your fellow soldiers? The fighting on the islands is described in detail. Colorful, tense, as it was, gruesome. And after the fighting they needed to relax and get their health back, in the knowledge that they would be heading to yet another island soon.
Well known names like John Basilone, Eugene Sledge and Robert Leckie enter the stories too. The men in this book became close friends with them, or just happened to serve in the same unit.
Despite the fact that different 'voices' tell the stories, I never lost track of what was happening and where it took place. Some of the 'voices' were involved in the same action, so you get to see the different angles.
The book ends describing what happened to these young men after the war, and what their opinion is of what the world looks like now. A high prices was paid and this needs to be remembered.
April 15, 2021
Like "Give Me Tomorrow", an audiobook I'd listened to just prior to this one, "Voice of the Pacific" spares nothing as these veterans recount the gruesome horrors of the war in the Pacific.
The author, Adam Makos, followed what seems to be the standard trail of the Marines of the First Division from Guadalcanal through Okinawa, with a brief diversion to Iwo Jima so we could hear an account of John Basilone's passing. He essentially used the movie "The Pacific" as a template for following up with these oral stories. This is the second book I've encountered that did that, and one could come away thinking that those battles were the only ones fought in the war.
The reader should keep in mind that there were six Marine divisions fighting in the Pacific, and battles like Bougainville, Tarawa, Saipan, Guam, Tinian, and Kwajalien ought not be forgotten. I hope somebody, somewhere, collected oral histories from the veterans of that generation on those battles. My father was a veteran of two of those landings, and they're largely ignored.
That aside, this is a worthwhile book. It's brutally honest in its presentation of combat. Gone is the John Wayne romanticism and notions of glory in war that post war Hollywood gave us. It's a sobering account, as was the film "The Pacific" that was based on the experiences of these men.
In the book one of the veterans laments that young people nowadays no nothing of World War II, and that he ran into a young woman who didn't know who Adolph Hitler was. He's absolutely right. But that historical illiteracy is far greater than he could possibly have imagined.
And that's one compelling reason for us to read.
The author, Adam Makos, followed what seems to be the standard trail of the Marines of the First Division from Guadalcanal through Okinawa, with a brief diversion to Iwo Jima so we could hear an account of John Basilone's passing. He essentially used the movie "The Pacific" as a template for following up with these oral stories. This is the second book I've encountered that did that, and one could come away thinking that those battles were the only ones fought in the war.
The reader should keep in mind that there were six Marine divisions fighting in the Pacific, and battles like Bougainville, Tarawa, Saipan, Guam, Tinian, and Kwajalien ought not be forgotten. I hope somebody, somewhere, collected oral histories from the veterans of that generation on those battles. My father was a veteran of two of those landings, and they're largely ignored.
That aside, this is a worthwhile book. It's brutally honest in its presentation of combat. Gone is the John Wayne romanticism and notions of glory in war that post war Hollywood gave us. It's a sobering account, as was the film "The Pacific" that was based on the experiences of these men.
In the book one of the veterans laments that young people nowadays no nothing of World War II, and that he ran into a young woman who didn't know who Adolph Hitler was. He's absolutely right. But that historical illiteracy is far greater than he could possibly have imagined.
And that's one compelling reason for us to read.
May 17, 2023
This book is powerful. We have not had a generation of men like this in a long time and you can see it by the current state of our country. These men were not drafted, but they signed up willingly. They had a love for our country that went beyond the brutality they experienced at the hands of their foes. Reading this I kept thinking how divided and selfish America is now. At the end of the book they had "Last Words" present day advice to Americans. It included these gems:
"I have a real difficulty with some of our young people today. I guess it's because I'm a crotchety old man. When I see all of these people gathering and protesting and making all the noise and disruptions, all they are really looking for is attention for no good reason." -Clinton Watters
"I generally tell young people that freedom is not free. Somebody paid for us. It's beholden on everybody to accept their share when danger comes. -Chuck Tatum
"Governments need to be controlled. People expect too much from the government, but that only promotes inactivity. A government can't give you anything. They've got to take it away from you first. The amount of freedom a people has is directly related to the amount of government it has. Smaller governments mean more freedom.
We need to revive patriotism. It's a serious thing, and if we don't do it, we'll decline and become a has-been nation. -Sid Phillips
"I have a real difficulty with some of our young people today. I guess it's because I'm a crotchety old man. When I see all of these people gathering and protesting and making all the noise and disruptions, all they are really looking for is attention for no good reason." -Clinton Watters
"I generally tell young people that freedom is not free. Somebody paid for us. It's beholden on everybody to accept their share when danger comes. -Chuck Tatum
"Governments need to be controlled. People expect too much from the government, but that only promotes inactivity. A government can't give you anything. They've got to take it away from you first. The amount of freedom a people has is directly related to the amount of government it has. Smaller governments mean more freedom.
We need to revive patriotism. It's a serious thing, and if we don't do it, we'll decline and become a has-been nation. -Sid Phillips
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