Pearl Harbor Books

I enjoy listening to old folks remember and witness to what they have seen. Their experience-laden viewpoints often provide insight into significant issues. So often today we are left with the vacuous opinions of self-appointed experts with limited exposure to reality, and are poorer as a result.

This book provides a method of listening to a large number of the survivors of the attack on Pearl Harbor. But more, it provides the salient portions of their memories in well-written context.

As I read the book, I found myself exploring Pearl Harbor, much as if I were able to control time and position and witness this historical event from many simultaneous vantage points. However, in each position, I saw through the unique eyes of these witnesses. Their memories are revealing and frank. Mr. La Forte provides just enough background on each eyewitness for me to picture each character as a friend.

I have enjoyed talking and listening to many of this now-vanishing generation. We have in our hands the technology to preserve what they say, but I wonder if future generations will be able to profit from this bounty. As the years stream by, who will be able to appreciate the accents, the state of mind, the resourcefulness, the discipline, and the determination of this generation?

Great regional accents have almost disappeared in the last 50 years, and with them much regional culture and experience. All has been caught up in the In-sink-erator(tm) of life. I can see how difficult it is to learn from History: much of it vanishes. It slips though the fingers of even the most dedicated historians, just as dry sand at the seashore.

Robert La Forte's books help capture some of the essence of our heritage and provide us a bit of clarity on our current situations. Other of Mr. La Forte's books include, "With Only the Will to Live: Accounts of Americans in Japanese Prison Camps 1941-1945", and "Building the Death Railway: The Ordeal of American POWs in Burma, 1942-1945", both also available on Amazon.

Remembering Pearl Harbor is, I believe, one of the best oral histories I have ever read. The book is composed of personal memories of the military men and women who were there when the attack began. It is their story, in their words.

The book relates their stories from several different areas at or near Pearl Harbor: battleship row, Schofield Barracks, Wheeler and Hickham Fields, Ford Island and other locales. Each narration begins with a one to two page introduction of the person relating the story, followed by their narrative of that eventful day. The stories conclude with a followup of their WWII service followed by what they did after the war. The authors indicated that some of the veterans later died from cancer or other illness in the 70s and 80s; it is absolutely heartbreaking to read these finales - to have survived one of the greatest attacks and then die from cancer.

I was quite touched by all of the stories. One should add this book to their WWII library as it is one of the greatest stories ever told!

Veritas - the truth. That is what this book presents from the best evidence possible - eyewitnesses. While this volume does not address the precursor events that led to this milestone event in world history, the accounts from the eyewitnesses are riveting. If your imagination can put you in their place, a cold sweat is sure to follow. The accounts are congruent with the personal stories my dad has related. He was aboard the USS Dale DD-353 on that fateful day, and thankfully was not even injured. Drs. Marcello and LaForte must be congratulated for compiling and chronicling such important recollections while they are still available. Their work on the Oral History collection at the University of North Texas will be a gold mine for those interested in avoiding the mistakes of the past. Keep America alert! - Remember Pearl Harbor

There are many interesting insights into Navy life during the two years prior to Pearl Harbor offered by Captain Ruhe. The Neutrality Patrol was something I had just heard of before and found very interesting.

It is too bad that Ruhe couldn't get over his grudge toward his CO's "mis-treatment" of him. He sounds like Ensign Willie Keith in the "Caine Mutiny" and his relationship with LCDR DeVries. You would think that 50 years would take the edge off some hard feelings. It is interesting that Ruhe waited so long to write and p;ublish his books; did he want to make sure anybody he slammed had died?

I REALLY like this rather short but engaging book about the author's actual service aboard a destroyer prior to World War II.

Probably one reason is that it closely reflects the recollections I have of my experiences as a fresh caught Ensign on a WWII vintage destroyer during the Vietnam era (ie misery loves company !). Another is that, as a bottom line, author Ruhe grudgingly acknowledges that his nemisis, the destroyer captain, probably made him a much better naval officer through what, at the time, seemed like senseless harassment by the captain of his subordinates .... particularly of Ruhe himself.

The author quite vividly captures, in a very entertaining way, what life aboard a destroyer during peacetime is all about. In addition, he reflects the special feelings that prevailed in that twilight period of 1940-41, when the U.S. military was waiting for the shoe to drop before entering into the fray then raging in Europe and which would shortly expand accross the Pacifc.

Many of the incidences that are described in this book concerning senior officer foibles, both humorus and serious, will be clearly recognized as similar to those experienced by most people that have served on U.S. Navy ships. Because he does such a masterful job of making these incidences so very interesting and entertaining, these "sea stories" should find a receptive audience both with people having served in the navy and those who are just interested in what it is REALLY like to be aboard a warship.

The one area that I initially found fault with the author's writing is his "wise acre" attitude toward his own accomplishments. According to his narrative, he has exceptional talents as an artistic painter, musican, aquatic and tennis athelete, superior night vision, is a technical expert on just about everything, a manager extra-ordinaire, and is even a master of destroyer seamanship.

On reflection, though, the author most likely injected this attitude purposedly to make the point that, as a junior officer in his early twenties, his perception of what seemed like harassment was probably just a to-be-expected reaction by others to his immature braggadocio. The "grown-ups" were just "facilitating" his maturity into a full fledged naval officer.

Over-riding all this whining about ill treatment and abhorent behavior by his superiors is the more serious impact of world events that the author's destroyer gets swept up into: delivery of part of the fifty lend-lease destroyers to the British, early involvement by US forces in convoy operations in the Atlantic, survellience of French belligerent naval forces in the Caribbean, and serious accidents during fleet work-up exercises off of Hawaii. Heady stuff that is presented by the author in an interesting and enlightening manner.

And it is these latter events and considerations that emerge as the catalyst for the bottom line message of this book: Despite the hardships and perceived stupidity endured by the men in the pre-war ships, they accepted their station in life and did the best job that they could under the circumstances, without rebelling against authority. As a result, they became better prepared for the even more difficult hardships that followed when the war became a reality.

This is reflected in the postscript to the book: All of the officers described in the book went on to exceptional service during World War II. Most became commanders of their own ships, and a few were even promoted to admiral.

If only Herman Wouk's fictional junior officers had the fortitude and foresight to follow the same path !!

Get this book ... you will enjoy it. A true overlooked naval gem.

I am the author's granddaughter, writing in response to the review I just read by Robert B. Shirley. I had to laugh to myself when reading about Mr. Shirley's reaction to the bragging about my grandfather's many talents. I can assert here that he was a very talented artist, very athletic, and sang in many a barbershop quartet. And I can also state that to understand his reason for writing these facts is to understand the man who wrote them. He was very proud of all of his accomplishments, and he worked very hard to achieve every talent, every award he received. He was born on a small farm in Pennsylvania and worked his way to the Naval Academy in Annapolis, along the way acquiring many talents and perfecting them. Quite simply put, I appreciate Mr. Shirley's explanation of why he placed such facts about himself in there, but I am not even sure if there is a deeper reason other than the fact that the book truly reflected him as a person. He was a bit cocky, even at 83 years old when he released this book. He passed away just today, the fact that led me to post this review. I hope all who get a chance will read his books he was a very good writer, an interest he passed down to me.

The author-Stephen Bower Young-served as a gunner on one of the main turrets of the battleship U.S.S. Oklahoma. He was aboard the ship when she was torpeodoed during the surprise Japanese attack. This story is about his personal experiences during the December 7, 1941 attack and the escape from the ship when it rolled over.
Young offers recollections about the life aboard the battleship and the sailors he served with. Many of these sailors would not survive the attack (448 died).
The majority of the book was about the attack and the subsequent escape. I was most interested in Young's successful escape, when other sailors drilled holes into the bottom of the ship so those trapped could escape. A most interesting read.

This book is absolutely spellbinding. Once you open this book, you won't be able to put it down. The impact of this first-hand account of being trapped inside the capsized hull of the battleship USS Oklahoma at Pearl Harbor is resounding. Buy it for yourself but share it with anyone upon whom you wish to impress the courage of what has come to be called the Greatest Generation. The next time you hear someone complaining about how tough they have it (perhaps your kids or grandkids whining about not having the coolest sneakers or the latest Nintendo), give them this book to read. Perhaps the reality of how pampered our current lifestyle really is will sink in. I suspect this book will also help you put your own problems in perspective as well.

The author recounts his days in the pre-WWII navy with candor and affection. Honest without being coarse or too sentimental, he talks of his experiences and shipmates, good and bad. The account of USS Oklahoma's sinking and his later rescue is thrilling. I read it in one sitting.

Considering the lack of published US Army photos of the war in the Pacific, Gawne's book is an excellant entry into an almost empty field. If I see another book on the PR savy Marines, I think I'll explode. The captions are quite good with some little known uniform and equipment details. The publisher reproduced a couple of the photos a bit fuzzy and some more early war photos would have been of interest. I'm quibling because overall this is a very good book ... As the Army committed some 21 Divisions to this theater, this book finally gives the Army some of its due.

This book is part of the G. I. series of short illustrated studies covering a period or a series of campaigns. All of these books are vertical studies covering a period of years. Though sometimes the illustrations serve to identify individual items of equipment, these works are not intended for that purpose. They are not catalogs intended for materiel collectors. They are of such a length and of such a level of detail that they will serve the purposes of the general reader with a curiousity about what grandaddy did in WW II or great great great grandaddy in the Civil War and what he looked like and how he lived. This is not to say that the specialist such as myself cannot find useful nuggets herein. I can. I use these for general surveys of periods I do not study in detail, such as the Civil War, and the War With Mexico, etc. And to look up the odd facts. I have yet to be disappointed with any of them.

This is a good collection of WW2 photos I had not seen before (and I've seen a lot of them). My Only complaint is the reprodiction, which is slightly soft. Otherwise NEW and unseen photos from WW2, and really interesting captions. A nice mini-history of the Pacific war from the Army's viewpoint.

The best history of the 864th in WWII available. Mr. Bob George is an excellent historial with a gift for telling the story of this skilled battalion as it met the challenges of combat.

Who better to write a unit history then someone who honorably served in it during WWII. Author and Army veteran Bob George has preserved and captured the unit history of the old 864th Aviation Engineers in his book called "Aviation Engineers Avenging Pearl Harbor!". This book dispels the myth that all the work in the Pacific was done by just the Navy Seabees. It opens up the unknown history of those who served and what they did. I think the men of the 864th have much history to be proud of and George has certainly done this unit proud with all his detailed research which will allow future generations to have access to an important element of the war effort by the Army.

The book details the training and bases and the equipment and even the operations they were involved with but the strength of the book is the personal little stories about the men in the 864th that makes this a standout telling of history. George adds photos and documents to the back of the book along with orders and letters as well.

I would think that anyone who served as an Army engineer or has had a relative do so would love to read this story of this particular unit--which I think is representative of many such units in that war. The book is easy to read and it is refreshing to me that there is no profanity as I find in recent trend of telling of war stories--so it is family friendly and can be read at any library or class presentation.

The writing is organized well and the author does a creditable job presenting his old unit's history. I would think that those surviving members of his old unit will find this an excellent preservation of their story.

It is to John Toland's tremendous credit that so much information about the Second World War has been collected for countless generations.
But Not In Shame represents Toland's incalculable hours of research, traveling throughout the former Pacific Theater not long after so many bitter battles had ended.
Unlike many early WWII scholars, Toland's writing style is surprisingly contemporary, comparable to current historical writers.
But Not In Shame is a volume of detailed anecdotes and play-by-play accounting of the America's desperate dawn days of WWII.
Much of Toland's writing centers around the Japanese invasion of the Philippines and the climax of Midway with great stories of the men and women at Pearl Harbor, Wake, Guam and the atrocities of the march from Bataan as well.
An excellent book that will provide readers with perhaps one of the best understandings of the events surrounding the Filipino-American retreat to Bataan and Corregidor and their subsequent fall.
REVIEW EVERY BOOK YOU READ, AUTHORS DESERVE YOUR OPINIONS. REVIEW EVERY REVIEW YOU READ, CRITICS REQUIRE CRITICISM TOO!

John Toland's book proves to be well written and covered the period right before Pearl Harbor to the Battle of Midway. The book is written with certain amount of balance in presenting both sides of the fence, the clarity of text is clear and it appears to be well researched.

The book explains why the Allies suffered from series of military defeats during the first six months of the war which ended ironically with the Battle of Midway which sealed the fate of the Japanese effort to win the war. The book goes into details of the Allied defeats. While it does covered the entire Pacific area in general, the American efforts are presented here in greater details. The Philippines Campaign for example, got a lot of attention compared to the Singapore Campaign. In the typical Toland's style, the narratives were taken from individuals which were then woven into the general history format.

I found the book to be interesting and informative. Only real deficit appears to be that the book was published in 1961 and some of the information presented may be old news to veteran military readers. But for newcomers to the field, this would be a great introduction to the subject matter at hand.

"Don't Call Me Rosie" is very inspiring! These women and men are terrific role models and proud Americans. I gained a greater appreciation of my father's war experience after reading this book. Everyday people who made a difference!

This was truly a different view on life in a world at war. Women and men building ships to defend our country and the type of people that applied to do the job. Truly an interesting and enlightened viewpoint to a time period I did not know. My father served on one of those ships that were built and I would like to thank the women who carefully built the ships and the way they suffered through cold and nasty weather and long days to make sure they were top notch. Thank you.

This is a mass market version of Gerald Astor's magnum opus, a doorstop of a book that was so big I looked at it and actually laughed. I don't normally back off from large books: in this case, I wondered how much he could fit into the pages he had, and how much he'd have to leave out. The answer is, first, a great deal, second, more that he probably wanted to.

The book has been divided into three volumes. The first covers the war to the conquest of Tunisia. The first half of the book mostly deals with the war in the Pacific, with the only European sequence being a bit on the Eagle Squadrons. The action doesn't jump around much, just from chapter to chapter, and the author keeps you in the picture, generally at least, as to the course of the war, so that all of the action that you are presented with is in context. It's all reasonably well-done.

He does miss stuff, leave things out. The battle of Guadalcanal gets only a bit of coverage, and some of the smaller naval battles around the island are completely ignored. Some of the oral histories used have been in his other books, so if you've read a lot of Astor, be prepared for a bit of familiarity, here and there. Most of the stuff, however, is new.

Overall this is a good book. I didn't give it five stars mainly because I will admit to a bit of a prejudice against oral histories: they're only semi-useful in deciding why things happened the way they did. Astor's only so-so at working this into his books, so I deducted a star

This is a clear, informative and enjoyable oral history. Numerous eyewitness accounts coupled with the facts surrounding events make for great and credible reading.

One of the best historical books I have ever read. I purchased a few for gifts for my family. Any patriotic american would enjoy this book.

I read this book and bought 2 more to give as gifts. Very detailed. The veterans experiences, as told by them; not someone else's commentary or "historical" account of the war but what these veterans actually experienced and their perceptions of war. This book has increased my gratitude for our veterans and I've read several excerpts to my sons to help them to understand the value of sacrifice and patriotism and gratitude for our veterans and our freedom. This would be a great book to use in history classes.

It is amazing how Hill's small book overwhelmingly and convincingly marshals massive evidence to debunk the myths surrounding Pearl Harbor yet receives almost no recognition so far from the history professions. By enlisting FDR's speeches, the Congressional Record, a large number of important newspapers as well as various polls, etc. he proves that between 60 to 70 percent of all Americans believed that Hitler and the Germans were behind the attack on Pearl Harbor, that the Nazis planned it, financed it and partially carried it out. This myth, if not giant lie, foisted upon America, was believed by most until May 8, l945 when captured German documents proved no connection whatsoever. So, what to do now? Well, historians then reformulated America's war declaration against Germany to be the result of Hitler's Dec. ll war declaration against the U.S. This diplomatic historian, for the first time, read Hitler's presumed war declaration, found it surprisingly informative and more of a defensive declaration against the undeclared war FDR initiated against Hitler and against the assault FDR planned against Europe according to Plan Rainbow Five which envisioned a l0 million member armed forces for America by '43 of which 5 million would invade Europe to get Hitler. This secret plan was leaked on Dec. 4, '41 to the Chicago Tribune and Hitler made reference to it in his presumed war declaration on Dec. ll. After America's war declaration against Germany, the German Foreign Office clarified the fact that H's speech was not a war declaration at all. It was merely a clarification of facts, but it was to no avail. FDR was able, a according to Hill, to transform a pre-Dec.7 limited naval war against Germany into a TOTAL WAR.
Hill's book was favorably reviewed in the American Historical Association Review, yet it still has not received much recognition in spite of its objective and apolitical approach to assess and evaluate correctly a crucial event of the 20th century.
Historians interested in analyzing the causes and background of major wars might want to compare the fact that 60 to 70 percent of all Americans believed Hitler to be behind the attack on Pearl Harbor with the fact that about the same percentage recently believed Saddam Hussein was connected with 9-ll--a myth that is being dismantled more rapidly than the post-Pearl Harbor myth.

The information conveyed in this book pretty much demolishes the notion that one of Hitler's worst and most mind-boggling of mistakes was to declare war on the US on 12-11-41 thereby bringing about total war against the US. Think how history would've been different, we are told, if Hitler had not so stupidly declared war on us.

This book demonstrates through marshalling of the very real evidence of political speeches, newspaper editorials, and public polling data that virtually all Americans were convinced that the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor was directly instigated by Adolf Hitler, and therefore a US total war on Nazi Germany was inevitable the instant the Japanese attacked Hawaii.

As another reviewer has said, the parallel between the falsity of this cassus belli with the notion that Saddam Hussein was somehow linked to the 9-11 bombings is uncomfortably close. An interesting question to ponder is this: what if all America KNEW on Dec. 7th that Hitler and the Nazis were inactuality scrambling for the nearest Atlas to find out where Pearl Harbor was when they first heard the news of the attack; that the Germans were as surprised if not moreso than we were by the attack. Would a big expeditionary force still have been sent to Europe?

The only negative in this book is that the author can be repetitious of certain facts and arguments. It has the feel of a paper or article that has been crudely stretched out to justify a book-size publication, though it is a pretty small book for all that. A good editor might have come in handy.

Otherwise, highly recommended.