For a kid sailor from Las Vegas, NM not NV, Jim Fitch got to see the world as the recruiter promised; at least the part in and around the Pacific Ocean. He started with the prewar "Pineapple Fleet" in Asia. Missed Pearl Harbor because his ship, Northampton, escorted Enterprise on a mission to deliver planes to Wake Island. On return to Pearl, they became part of the escort for the Doolittle mission to bomb Tokyo. Injured when the Northampton was sunk during the debacle of the Battle of Tassafaronga, he recuperated in New Zealand then was assigned to the repair ship Rigel. His final action station was on the Willard Keith during the Kamikaze attacks of Okinawa, eventually returning to the US on the cruiser Chicago.

His quite detailed descriptions of his training and early days in the Navy aptly characterize how many farm boys from the Midwest became "Desert Sailors". His wartime experiences capture; the transition of citizens, kids mostly, into soldiers and sailors as well as the always painful and often tragic learning curve of of very traditional officers into formidable war fighters and leaders.

Then, with the war ended, he used the GI Bill to attend Harvard on the way to a successful career as an executive and writer. ( )