THE WORLD WAR TWO GROUP discussion

This thread is open for members who wish to read and discuss any book or books covering a personality of the Second World War.

This thread is now open for members who wish to join in the theme read.

I will be a little bit late in starting off my theme read as I have to finish a book on the Great War first but I'll be here as soon as I can.

For those starting off straight away, enjoy :)

This is an old school WWII aviation classic:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...
by 'Johnnie' Johnson - what I liked most about this was regardless that it was written by a man of stature and status, it was personable, very readable and well written.

A good book Ang and as you say a man of stature and status.

I will be joining but have this read first as it was a library reservation that has come in:

An Officer and a Spy by Robert Harris

I'm reading Fighting Patton for this month via my local library. I like the perspective on old Blood and Guts this book provides. How he was perceived by his opponents.

Fighting Patton: George S. Patton Jr. Through the Eyes of His Enemies

I'm reading The Liberator: One World War II Soldier's 500-Day Odyssey from the Beaches of Sicily to the Gates of Dachau by Alex Kershaw. Enjoying it so far.

Thanks folks and keep us posted on how you progress with your books.

Two good books there John and Betty, I'm sure you with both enjoy their storied.

I hope to start my theme read book soon, just have to finish off a book on the Great War first :)

Here's my book for this month.Ishiwara Kanji and Japan's Confrontation with the West

I first came to know about Ishiwara Kanji when I was reading Kazutoshi Handō's "Showa Shi". What caught my attention was Kanji was about the first one to advocate the concept of The Final War, with none other than the USA. That was way before anyone in Japan thought of ever fighting them. He had a reputation as something of a rouge, especially when he was serving in the Kwantung Army in Manchuria, plotting various "incidents", the most famous of which was what the Chinese called the Nine One Eight Incident (Sep 18). He was the mastermind behind the blast along a small section of the Southern Manchuria Railway which was used as an excuse to seize Manchuria.

Sounds very interesting so will look forward to your thoughts Chin Joo.

It does indeed look like a good book. I'll be most interested to hear your thoughts on it once you have finished Chin Joo.

I am reading Beyond Band of Brothers: The War Memoirs of Major Dick Winters

An excellent choice Laurel.

I hope to start my theme read in a few days time but already I've changed my mind and considering reading this book:

by Adam Makos

'Aussie Rick' wrote: "An excellent choice Laurel.

I hope to start my theme read in a few days time but already I've changed my mind and considering reading this book:

[bookcover:A Higher Call: An Incredible True Stor..."I read it & enjoyed it a great deal. It was very moving. I wrote a review, if you are interested. It should come up when you check the GR listing. If you can't find it, and would like to read it, I can find the link for you. If not, that's ok. There was a very interesting Canadian connection with this book as well. I was very glad that I read it.

Laurel wrote: "I am reading Beyond Band of Brothers: The War Memoirs of Major Dick Winters"

Read that earlier in the year. Think I've read every book written on him :)

Borrowed this from the library today for our theme read: and if I can get to it: but July is super packed for me this year :/

I was saddened to hear of Louis Zamperini's passing yesterday :(
Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption would have been a good choice for this.

'Aussie Rick' wrote: "An excellent choice Laurel.

I hope to start my theme read in a few days time but already I've changed my mind and considering reading this book:

[bookcover:A Higher Call: An Incredible True Stor..."
I know Adam well, you will see where I contributed to the book.

Allie wrote: "I was saddened to hear of Louis Zamperini's passing yesterday :(
Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption would have been a good choice for this."

Hi Allie, Tom posted on the break out thread the news yesterday and I added Mr Zamperini's obituary from the London Daily Telegraph if you are interested.

Hi Geevee. Yes, thanks. I'll go look at that now.

I'm starting one of my theme reads. It is the story of a local gentleman who was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions on Iwo Jima

It should be a great book Happy! I'm nearly finished my book on the Great War so I hope to join the theme read very shortly.

Of course I've changed my mind again and I've decided to pick up this book which has been sitting in my library since 2003 waiting to be read:

by Armin Scheiderbaur

That one looks good AR, added :)

Pretty good so far.

My current book; "Adventures in my Youth" has been quite good so far but there are two things I am not happy with. In the narrative the author mentions photographs of himself and comrades during training - not a single photo in the book! Second negative point is that there are no maps to follow the combat actions of his unit - so I am reading about a defensive action in some village on the Russian steppe but have no idea where that is - very disappointing.

'Aussie Rick' wrote: "My current book; "Adventures in my Youth" has been quite good so far but there are two things I am not happy with. In the narrative the author mentions photographs of himself and comrades during tr..."

Maps are a pet peeve of mine. Can't have good non-fiction without maps!

Same here Manray9!

Another pet hate of mine is art books without any pictures of the art in question.

I finished my book, The Quiet Hero: The Untold Medal of Honor Story of George E. Wahlen at the Battle for Iwo Jima. It's slim, just over 200 pages, has good maps, good pictures (some quite graphic), easy quick read. I gave it 4 stars

He spent 12 days on Iwo until he was finally evacuated for his wounds. He was wounded three seperate occasions, but refused to be evacuated after the first two. He recieved two Navy Crosses and three purple hearts for his actions on Iwo. The Navy Crosses were later upgraded to the MOH. In addition to what happened it him on Iwo, there is also has a chapter on what happened to him after the war (enlisted in the Army just before Korea and retired from the Army as a Major in 1969 a year after a tour in Viet Nam, then spent 14 yrs working for the VA).

His company (F/2/26 Marines) had two MOH receiptiants on Iwo.

Like a lot of MOH recieptiants, kept quiet about the award. His kids claimed they didn't know about it until they were teenagers.

In typical Military fashion, they put a round peg in a square hole. He was a trained aircraft mechanic when in went in the Navy, so they made him a Corpsman :)

The VA hospital in SLC is named for him

That is pretty amazing that his own children didn't know he was a MOH winner and he served in three wars, what a quiet American hero!

He actually didn't make it to Korea during the war. He was on his way, but when he got to Japan the hospital there grabbed him so he spent the Korean War in Japan.

Oh well, he did amazing service regardless eh!

Oh yeah,

a couple of interesting factiods

the corpsmen on Iwo Jima were armed. Whalen landed armed with a cabine, but soon gave it up, because it caught on things and went with a .45 and grenades.

Also the corpsmen did not wear the traditional red cross arm band. It seems the Japanese used them as targets :)

He kept such a low key about the MOH, his wife didn't realize it was such a big deal,until he was called back from Korea in 1963 for a reception with Pres Kennedy for all living MOH winners.

Even his wife didn't realise his role during the war, pretty amazing!

The Navy Cross, Like any other Military Cross award, is the highest honor that the Navy can give directly to one of its members. The Medal of Honor, which is more accurately called the Congressional Medal of Honor, can only be awarded by Congress. So some times politics will keep those that deserve one from getting it. As in the case of the Neisi Battalion or the Red Tails, during WWII.

I have to say though, the thought of anyone being awarded two Navy Crosses, for what amounts to the same campaign has to be a fairly singular event in military history all by itself.


happy wrote: "I finished my book, The Quiet Hero: The Untold Medal of Honor Story of George E. Wahlen at the Battle for Iwo Jima. It's slim, just over 200 pages, has good maps, good pictures (some..."

Thanks for this information Happy, and for the additional information Dj.

Geevee wrote: "Thanks for this information Happy, and for the additional information Dj."

The famed U.S. Marine, Chesty Puller, was awarded the Navy Cross five times!

Chesty, who a Marine friend of mine once paid the hightest homage by calling him a Marine's Marine, was possibly the highest decorated Marine in the Corps history, but his five Crosses came from five different campaigns.
He was a remarkable leader and almost as quotable as either Patton or Halsey.



Manray9 wrote: "Geevee wrote: "Thanks for this information Happy, and for the additional information Dj."

The famed U.S. Marine, Chesty Puller, was awarded the Navy Cross five times!"

Marine Sgt. Maj. Dan Daly had two Medals of Honor, a Navy Cross, a Distinguished Service Cross, and everything down the line. Smedley Butler also had two MOHs as a Marine.

I bit off a lot for this month, and I will probably dabble a lot more than complete everything I'm reading on the theme...

I am more than halfway through "From Shaniko to Pearl Harbor" (which "Bob" from our group was kind enough to send for my review), and I have "Patton's Oracle" by Robert Hays from our group, also, which I haven't begun but have been eager to read for a long time.

Because I neglected to remember these books that I own, I also reserved a couple of library books that both came in last week: "The Admirals: Nimitz, Halsey, Leahy, and King - The Five Star Admirals Who Won the War at Sea" and "Stilwell: And the American Experience in China, 1911-45" to read (both are fat volumes for someone who works 75 hours a week) in my "spare time."

On top of those, I have an 18-disc checkout from the library of the unabridged audio book "Joe Rochefort's War: The Odyssey of The Codebreaker Who Outwitted Yamamoto at Midway" which I will probably begin tomorrow. (I can usually listen to a book for about 4 hours 3 times a week, so that should probably be done in 2 weeks at that pace.)

I'm also reading A.L.'s latest book, "Deadly Alliance" and another friend's fiction book, so I'm not making a lot of progress on any of them, but I'm making a little progress on all of them. :) I'm enjoying all of them - the problem is that there aren't more hours in a day!

Great bunch of books there Paul, it does seem you have taken on a lot this month :)

You are going to be a busy lad Paul!

The Quiet Hero sounds like a great read. It's going on my 'to read' list.

I have the book on Stilwell in one volume edition and I have to say that the author's writing style isn't what I would call riveting. I have starting that book about four times now. I will finish it one of these days.



Paul wrote: "I bit off a lot for this month, and I will probably dabble a lot more than complete everything I'm reading on the theme...

I am more than halfway through "From Shaniko to Pearl Harbor" [bookcover:..."

Geevee wrote: "You are going to be a busy lad Paul!"

Indeed!

I also forgot to mention that, after recommendations from the group on another thread, I also started "Shattered Sword" but will likely postpone that a bit.



Dj, you're right about Tuchman's writing to some degree. Another one that I will probably nibble at for now and read in earnest at a later time.

My July theme book just arrived via ILL:

Man Of Valour: The Life Of Field Marshal The Viscount Gort, VC by John Colville.

I am looking forward to reading it.

I'm looking forward to hearing about it as well Manray9 :)

Manray9 wrote: "My July theme book just arrived via ILL:

Man Of Valour: The Life Of Field Marshal The Viscount ..."

I am hoping you find it a worthwhile read having helped "sell" it to you!

I'm just getting around to Infield's book on Otto Skorzeny, about whom I learned some fascinating things while researching my book on Gen. Oscar Koch. It's a remarkable irony to me that Dr. Murray Zimmerman, Oscar Koch's cousin, became close friends with Skorzeny after the war. He took the position that Skorzeny simply was a good soldier who just followed orders. Oscar Koch felt differently, as I do. Dr. Zimmerman gave me a copy of Skorzeny's book, "Skorzeny's Special Missions," which of course offers a totally self-serving view. (This copy originally had Skorzeny's autograph but, in Dr. Zimmerman's words, "Some SOB took a razor blade and cut that age out.") I'd be interested to hear any views others might have on Skorzeny.
Skorzeny, Hitler's Commando

John wrote: "I'm reading Fighting Patton for this month via my local library. I like the perspective on old Blood and Guts this book provides. How he was perceived by his opponents.

[bookcover:Fighting Patton:..."

John, you might find yet another perspective on Patton to be of interest. I hear that "Patton's Oracle" is pretty good. (Sorry. Couldn't resist!)