John WukovitsReseñas

Glad I read this book. It was entertaining and well-written, and undoubtedly took a lot of research. For me, it filled in empty spaces in my knowledge of the Pacific war, specifically the role of the Destroyer. I did not appreciate how much work these sailors put in, nor how much damage a destroyer could do in the right circumstances. The destroyer O'Bannon is a great story, going from Guadalcanal to Tokyo Bay without a casualty.

Well done, Mr Wukovits!

3.5 stars. Could use some editing to ratchet up the tension.

I am always going to read non-fiction about plane crashes, especially when they involve celebrities, as Eddie Rickenbacker was in his day. It was an interesting story but somewhat repetitive in places.

Great account of the Wake Island fight which was hopeless but gave hope to the people back home at a dark time in early World War II just after Pearl Harbor.

Well written account of American history that should never be forgotten.

Notes: Damaged Cover

I then picked up Hell From the Heavens, by John Wukovits, 2015. It is story of USS Laffey and its fight in April,1944, when it survived being dived on by 22 Japanese kamikazes off of Okinawa. It is an excellent book and you guys out there that enjoy stories of the naval war in the PTO should thoroughly enjoy it.

10/10 Will read it again sometime.

Most realistic war book ever.

My main quibble with this book is that there is no table of contents for the maps. Perhaps this is because there are only two maps but each appears twice. Also, and this is a common problem with books, the maps fail to depict many of the place names mentioned in the text.

The editing or proofreading is almost flawless. All I found wrong was that on page 274 "rebounded" should have been "redounded." Also there is an odd reference to a "Cpl I” (i.e., Corporal, he uses these type abbreviations throughout). The index doesn't list such a person or anyone relevant whose last name starts with that letter; nor was there anyone named Eye.

The author criticizes Carlson but never expresses a personal opinion about him; he leaves it to the reader to draw these inferences. What's clear is that Carlson had a short career in WWII and his active involvement on the battlefield was over by the end of 1942. He retired soon after the war ended and died in 1947 so the only record he left behind is in his official reports. His accomplishments were overshadowed by place names like Tarawa, Iwo Jima and Okinawa and his innovations and tactics were not applicable to those titanic battles.

Still, I was long curious about Carlson's Marine Raiders and now I know the full story. I am glad this book was written and that I have read it. The bottom line is that Carlson was a maverick and his career suffered accordingly. Once President Roosevelt's son James aka "Jimmy" was no longer assigned to the Raiders, Carlson's star faded quickly.

This biography primarily focused on Eisenhower's war years, with a single brief chapter covering his post-WWII life; combined with a few chapters that discussed growing up in Abilene, the academy and his staff maturation...many years on the staff. It also focuses on his mentors with the effect they had on his life. MacArthur was one of them, but a good influence? Wukovits produced a readable narrative of Eisenhower's military life--does a good job relating the stresses that the man faced as he balanced political and military personalities (prima donnas). The audio version had about a dozen irritating repeats of a sentence or two--a little like the needle slipped on the vinyl. Overall, a readable and concise history.

While I wouldn't call this book bad, I was left with the feeling that it was less than the sum of its sources and a significant number of those sources are dated. If you're just looking for inspirational history I suppose it will do though. To be fair, I'm not the person who this book was written for.

Actually, the question this book reminds me of is just why were the operational commanders of the American surface forces so slow to learn tactical lessons in combat with the Imperial Japanese Navy. That Daniel Callaghan and Norman Scott both died in action didn't help, but one wonders if the USN surface-warfare officers had learned all the wrong lessons serving with the British Grand Fleet in the Great War; having absorbed Jellicoe's fixation on control. Certainly the generation of officers that came before and after them seemed more intellectually flexible. It is known that the USN had a bad habit of assuming that the IJN thought like they did when lacking better information until rather late in the day; though that can be taken as a commentary on Japanese success in keeping their doctrine and technology secret.

The battle off of Samar, Philippines on 25 October 1944 pitted 3 US destroyers and 4 destroyer escorts which were protecting 6 lightly armed, slow moving, escort carriers against a task force of 23 Japanese surface ships comprised of 4 battleships, 6 heavy cruisers, 2 light cruisers, and 11 destroyers. By all of the logic of war the US forces should have been obliterated within minutes of the opening salvos. Instead, the seven ships used skillful, aggressive maneuvers to get much closer to the Japanese ships than anyone would have expected. Once they had closed they fired their torpedoes to great effect and used their 5 inch guns to wreak havoc on the superstructures of several of the enemy ships. This rapid response in combination with attacks by aircraft from the 6 escort carriers, convinced the Japanese commander he was outgunned. Much to the surprise and amazement of everyone on the U.S. side the Japanese withdrew.

Of the seven destroyer/destroyer escorts three, destroyers Hoel and Johnston and destroyer escort Samuel B. Roberts were sunk. This book, For Crew and Country, is about one ship in that fight – the Samuel B. Roberts.

The book covers the history of the ship and crew, from the Roberts keel laying on 6 December 1943 at the Brown Shipbuilding Company to her sinking off Samar less than a year later. Through the pages of author Wukovits’s book the reader is introduced to the captain and crew. The introduction includes details of lives of various individuals before their induction into the Navy, their Navy experiences (if any) prior to assignment to the Roberts, and their change from a group of men assigned to a ship to a well-trained command of a new U.S. destroyer escort.

The author follows the ship and crew through training, shakedown exercises, initial training assignments off the Atlantic coast, their assignment to the Pacific theater of operations, the move to the far east, and their assignment to the naval group designated Taffy 3 off the Samar coast.

Starting with the captains address to the men over the public address system “This will be a fight against overwhelming odds from which survival cannot be expected. We will do what damage we can” and blending survivors’ stories of the fight and its aftermath, the author provides an almost minute-by-minute account of the near suicidal torpedo attack by the Samuel B. Roberts, its going down with all guns blazing after a successful torpedo run, and the three-day ordeal of floating in the sea waiting for rescue that was the lot of those who escaped the ship with their lives.

The book is very well written. The author paints vivid word pictures which gives the reader a sense of being on board the Roberts from the beginning to the end. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in history of any kind.½

This is the story of the USS Laffey and WW I's greatest Kamikaze attack against a single vessel. Twenty- two different Japanese planes attacked the vessel in a period of 80 minutes with eight of them actually crashing into the ship or dropping a bomb on her.

Wukovits commences his story with the construction of the ship followed by the selection of her captain, officers and crew. Then he moves on to her training and first experience in war on D-Day off Normandy. Following her action off the coast of France, she went to the Pacific where she took part in battles around the Philippines, Iwo Jima, Okinawa and the coast of Japan.

When she was assigned picket duty off of Okinawa which put her between the Pacific Fleet and Japan, her role was to warn of kamikaze assaults that were on the way. The Japanese fliers were usually inexperienced and attacked the first vessel they spotted which in this instance was the Laffey, The Laffey gunners managed to shoot down the first eight attackers while receiving minimal damaged but eventually some planes of the twenty-two attackers made it through and that is when the episodes of heroism and death took place. Called the ship that would not die, the Laffey may be visited at the Patriots Point Maritime Museum in Charleston, NC.

Very readable and excellent book about one of the best sea admirals for the U. S. Navy in WW2. He was the navy's equivalent on the sea to Patton on the land. Early in the war, he was often at the forefront of our initial confrontations with the larger, better trained and more experienced Japanese Navy. With few resources, especially carriers, he managed to keep them of balance and at Guadalcanal stopped their march in the Pacific. Better than most of the US Surface Admirals,, who were really outclassed in most early battles of the war, Halsey, hit and ran and kept the Japanese off balance. As Wukovits deftly points out, he did not do well in his later role as a fleet commander..
Some early decisions; to have Spruance replace him at Midway, to bypass Mindanao and Peleliu(overruled by Nimitz) were correct and brilliant. Chasing the decoy carriers at Leyte Gulf, as a personal vendetta and getting caught in not one but two typhoons would have gotten any other admiral relieved of his command. But, as he covered for the ugly transgressions of Miles Brown, Nimitz, as did Eisenhower for Bradley in the Battle of the Bulge, covered for Halsey. Academy ties were incredibly strong and buried many serious and casualty generating mistakes. Halsey was flawed but he was the right admiral at the right time.½

A complicated man who was a member of the Nazi party, who loved to drink, to party, to womanize, to forget his commitment to his wife while fathering three illegitimate children, Oskar Schindler realized he could no longer turn the other way and avoid the atrocious, inhuman acts performed on Jews at the hands of Hitler and his henchmen.

He was a millionaire who died penniless after bribing the authorities to allow his factories to continue to run so that approximately 1,200 Jews were spared the brutality of certain death.

As Jewish people were systematically rounded up, hunted down by dogs, fed to the flames of ovens at death campus, Oskar Schindler did all he could possibly do to feed, shelter and keep what came to be known as "his Jews" alive.

Time after time, he devised ways in which the barbaric, sadistic killer Amon Goeth could not touch those working in his factory.

He did not have to do what he did! He could have ignored what was happening all around him, yet a man who loved luxury and expensive food, wine and women, consistently put himself in danger to help the helpless. When asked why he gave all away so that 1,200 could survive, he said "I hated the brutality, the sadism, and the insanity of Nazism." He did what his conscience told him to do.

He remains a shining example of what one man can do to make a huge difference.

Pappy Boyington was an alcoholic, he couldn’t hold a job, he was irresponsible, and he was the best pilot and an outstanding leader of the Black Sheep Squadron. No one was on the fence, he was either loved and admired or hated. Many people credited him with saving their lives or making their careers work. What drove this dichotomy?

As a youth, Gregory Boyington was drawn to flying. As a child, he scrambled to get $5 from his parents so he could have his first flight. Learning to fly wasn’t readily in his future, though. He found an opportunity with the Marines to learn to fly.

Before the US became involved in World War II, Boyington found another opportunity to further his own goals, of flying and experiencing combat. He resigned his commission to join the Central Aircraft Manufacturing Company and support China’s resistance to the Japanese invasion. He became a member of the Flying Tigers.

The squadron leader was an experienced pilot who understood the real characteristics of the Zero and of the US aircraft. He bucked traditional teaching and taught unique combat strategies. These impressed Pappy in his future career and laid the foudation for his own teaching.

With the Flying Tigers, he impressed his peers with his flying, but destroyed any opportunity he could have by his drinking and fighting. He only had one friend, and no opportunities. Although threatened if he resigned, he did anyway. He expected to resume his career with the Marines. The CO was determined to force him into the Navy, and preferably apart from flying. Boyington frantically contacted congressmen and friends in the Marines until he got his wish.

When Boyington rejoined the Marines, he got his commission and his squadron, only there weren’t any pilots or planes. He managed to collect a number of unattached pilots and eventually received the Corsair, a new plane intended for the Navy, but unsuitable for aircraft carriers.

Pappy started to shine for the first time in his life. He impressed the new pilots with his knowledge, he pushed their training to the point of their skills becoming reflex. He forged the unit into the best fighting air unit in the world. He approached his job, not as an officer, but as a coach and mentor. He didn’t follow the dogmatic approach of the military, but forged his own path.

He won the respect of his pilots when he earned enough kills in his first outing to become an ace in a single fight. One month later, he turned an ambush around on Japanese pilots and shot down three Zeros in 60 seconds.

When he started to approach Rickenbacker’s record, he started to become careless, pushing too hard. He was shot down and spent the last 20 months of the war in a Japanese POW camp.

Not knowing whether he lived or died affected everyone in the US. Many pilots lost some hope. Newspapers that had followed him printed his demise. His squadron, although distraught, redoubled their own efforts, doing as much damage to the Japanese as he could. He was awarded the Medal of Honor during his captivity. He learned of it through a new prisoner. Upon hearing it, he commented that he’d gladly trade it for a hamburger.

Even in captivity, he never lost his spirit, nor his will to live. He inspired others to fight to live. One pilot commented that just knowing Pappy was in the prison camp make him certain they would all survive.

Pappy was able to keep the good and bad separate. He never lumped all Japanese into one camp as evil. He befriended one of his captors, and found many Japanese civilians were willing to help prisoners during the war when they would face death when found out. After the war, he commented that what we did to the Japanese Americans was unthinkable.

Three of his pilots achieved ace status during WWII. Some earned it again in Korea. Almost all of them did well after the war.

Pappy reverted to his drinking and failure after the war. He tried, but was unable to overcome his demons. Not able to keep a job, nor a marriage, he had few friends. But the Black Sheep never gave up on him. They always saw him as a hero and mentor.

Pappy Boyington died in 1988. A hero.

I enjoyed the book thoroughly. I’ve always wondered how much of the tv show was accurate. Very little, but I enjoyed finding out. The book has inspired me to read the biography of some of his pilots as well.

Care to discuss this book?
http://books.randolphking.com/?p=721

Molto bello.
si preoccupa di descrivere anche ciò che succede "a chi resta a casa" ad aspettare ... di vedersi arrivare un terribile telegramma

Guadalcanal was the battle that stopped the advance of the Japanese in the Pacific but Tarawa was the battle that clearly demonstrated why the U.S would win. Early in the development of amphibious warfare, many and horrible mistakes were made which were paid for by the blood of marines. Mostly kids: with their rifles and their buddies, they got it done, John Wukovits by focusing on a few participants tells their story poignantly and well.½

4343. One Square Mile of Hell The Battle for Tarawa, by John Wukovits (read 20 July 2007) There is no deathless prose in this account of the November 1943 battle for Tarawa, but the approach of the author turns out to be a good one. He concentrates on a few Marines and tells of what happened to them before and in the battle, as well as what happened at Tarawa overall. The account of the effect on those concerned after the battle is extremely poignant, and the book is an extremely worthwhile book to read. Leon Uris, whose Battle Cry, a novel based on facts, was at Tarawa. (I read Battle Cry on 23 Jan 2000, and appreciated greatly parts of the book.)½