Recommended Reading.

      Regular readers of this blog may have noticed that it's been awhile since a book report was offered. Borrowing an 800 page biography of Hamilton to read on Kindle I was about two-thirds finished when borrowing time was up and the library reclaimed it. Because others were waiting for I had to re-enter a queue of several weeks to finish it. Registering for Kindle books from the library often requires weeks of waiting. When they suddenly become available if I don't claim it the next person in line gets it.

     That explains my next reading recommendation. Wanting to read about the history of the Second WW in the Pacific I requested the three volumes of the Pacific War Trilogy, by Ian W. Toll. When the second volume became available before the first I accepted it and temporarily suspended reading Caste. Now I'm ready to recommend The Conquering Tide: War in the Pacific Islands, 1942-1944. 

    This New York Times bestseller is very readable. Toll not only tells the story of the battles but gives background on command structures, commanders and interservice rivalries, both American and Japanese. The inclusion of eye witness accounts enlivens the reporting. His writing is such that it verges on a "page turner" as he recounts the decisive encounters during this pivotal phase of the war. Having spent several months at sea in the Pacific as a Marine rapid landing team, fortunately in peace time, the equipment, landing craft, procedures and routines were familiar to me. (A little discursive here. When I was stationed at Camp Pendleton, CA, we embarked on two week training exercise. Our battalion, 5th Marines, were loaded unto sea going ships to practice going ashore as in combat. We went over the side of the ships, down cargo nets, into small landing craft that would take us to shore.  It was flat bottomed, with a Navy coxan running the diesel powered boat from the back, and designed to run up on a beach. When it was beached the front would lower outward making a ramp which we'd run over an unto the beach. When the one in which I was riding ran aground the front ramp lowered I was the first Marine to run off into water that was over my head! We were on a sandbar several yards from shore! So my two weeks in the field began with a salt bath for me, my rifle and my provisions. Another such training exercise had us landing at night. Over the railing, down the cargo nets, into the landing craft we went. There were about 100? landing craft so they circled until all were filled so that they could all hit the beach at the same time. While the last landing craft were filling fog rolled obliterating any sign of the shore. These small boats had no navigational equipment so we circled for 8 hours waiting for the fog to lift o they could find shore. Finally it did and we were put to shore 20 miles from the intended landing site. You can imagine how we got to the correct place. No one was shooting at us so these were minor inconveniences. In the chaos of war it would likely have been disastrous.)

     Now I'm looking forward to the next volumes of this trilogy.

Takk for alt,

Al

PS Did I mention that we were carrying 100 pounds of equipment down those nets? Steel helmet, rifle, two canteens, ammunition, mess gear, clothing, half a tent, etc. "Grab the vertical ropes not the horizontal ones so your fingers aren't stepped on. Drop quickly into the landing craft so you don't get caught between it and the ship."😁