Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: fbWldcat on November 09, 2010, 09:32:50 PM
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I have now read "The Red Badge Of Courage," "With the Old Breed," and am now about 60 pages into "Flyboys" and plan on reading "Helmet for my Pillow."
Anyone have any more suggestions for excellent WWII books? I'm particularly interested in the battle of Okinawa, seeing as my Grandfather fought there.
Speaking of which: my uncle told me a story that one night after my grandfather and his platoon had taken flamethrowers into this one cave and waited till dusk to sleep in it. My grandfather couldn't sleep because he felt something he thought was a rock underneath him, and when he pulled it out... It turned out to be a Japanese skull. This is what I heard a long time ago and is a bit spotty at best, but it's true.
So anyway, any and all WWII books but especially if they have to do with Okinawa. Thanks in advance. :salute
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Gods and Generals, The Killer Angels and The Last Full Measure. They fit into WWII about as well as Red Badge of Courage.
One of the best books I read this past year was If You Survive by George Wilson. Get it, read it and remember it.
Forever Flying - Bob Hoover is a fantastic read.
Fighter Pilot - Robin Olds' memoirs. Very good read and a heck of a guy.
I enjoyed Bruce Gamble's book on VMF-214 called The Black Sheep. Read that a few times when I was in high school as I did Parachute Infantry by David Kenyon Webster. You'll recognize him from Band of Brothers however his memoirs were published in 1994 just after the original release of Stephen Ambrose's book who wrote the Foreword for Webster's Memoirs.
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CC, thank you for the quick reply! I'll head down to Joseph Beth ASAP to see what I can find.
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My favorite book is Dragons on bird wings, It covers the unit my grandpa flew with in the war (812th IAP)
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Okinawa: The Last Battle is pretty good as well.
You can read this one online at www.history.army.mil/BOOKS/WWII/OKINAWA/
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Anything by Stephen E. Ambrose if you haven't read it already.
'Retribution' and 'Armageddon' by Max Hastings. I just finished Armageddon, and will start reading Retribution soon. Armageddon is about the last 2 years of the war in Europe, Retribution about the last 2 years in the Pacific.
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Oh let's see.... Pacific war books....
Unfortunately I don't see anything on the shelf right now about Okinawa but I have a few here. You already mentioned "Helmet For My Pillow" which I thought was great, Leckie actually writes really well and has a good command of language.
Memoirs:
"Nanette" by Edwards Park - a favorite among the 80th here in the game, Park was a P-39 and P-47 pilot with the 41st Fighter Sqd. in New Guinea.
"The Grim Reapers: At Work in the Pacific Theater" by John P Henebry - Henebry was a B-25 pilot in the 3rd attack group and later CO.
"Samurai" by Saburo Sakai - A6M ace with the famed Tainan Air Group
"New Guinea Skies" - Wayne P Rothgeb - P-38 pilot with the 39th Fighter Squadron
Unit Histories:
"Protect and Avenge" S.W. Ferguson & William K Pascalis - 49th Fighter Group
"Attack & Conquer" John Stanaway & Lawrence Hickey - 8th Fighter Group
"Possum, Clover, & Hades" John Stanaway - 475th Fighter Group
"Cobra in The Clouds" John Stanaway - 39th Fighter Squadron (this one is pretty small only about 40-50 pages, but good while it lasts).
"Warpath Across The Pacific" Lawrence J Hickey - 345th Bomb Group
Campaigns and general Pacific war hitory
"Flying Buccaneers" Steve Birdsall - great survey history of the 5th Air Force, probably find it pretty cheap online.
"Fire in the Sky" Eric Bergerud - long and a bit dry at time it's still a great analysis of the air war in the south pacific
"Touched with Fire"Eric Bergerud - same in depth look at the ground war in New Guinea and The Solomons
"Guadalcanal" Richard B Frank - a good study of the battle for Guadalcanal, land, sea, and air.
"The First Team" - John B Lundtstrom - probably the definitive study of U.S. Naval Aviation from Pearl Harbor to Midway
"The First Team and the Guadalcanal Campaign: - companion to previous title, focus on Marine and U.S. aviation during Guadalcanal
"Clash of the Carrires" Barret Tillman - The Marianas Turkey Shoot
"Hellcat" Barret Tillman - good accounting of the F6F's service record during WW2.
"Corsair" Barret Tillman - The F4U in WW2 and Korea
"The Battle for Wau" Philip Bradley - Australian defense of a remote gold mine town in New Guinea during the early stages of WW2.
"Miracle at Midway" Prange, Goldstein, Dillon
"The Big E" Edward P Stafford - The Story of the USS Enterprise
"Carrier Clash" Eric Hammel - The invasion of Guadalcanal & the battle of the eastern Solomons, August 1942.
I think that's most of 'em. :)
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"With the Old Breed-at Peleliu and Okinawa" By E.B. Sledge.
"Goodbye Darkness" by William Manchester
Both vets of Okinawa. Both books must haves if you are interested in that battle.
Oops, missed that you've read the first.
Get the second. Manchester was wounded on Okinawa
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"Samurai" by Saburo Sakai was indeed a great book. I found every page fun and exciting to read. Images of AH experiences continuously flashed in my head as I read this book. Saburo is now one of my top heros.
:aok :aok
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One on my shelf that still stands out to me is "The Cactus Air Force" by Thomas G. Miller, Jr. Great history on the air battle for Guadalcanal, and really gives a sense of just how desperate things got for the pilots there.
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Not Pacific but, "The Big Show" by Pierre Clostermann is a good read..
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Aces High, Its about Dick Bong and Tommy McGuire top U.S. Aces.
A classic is Baa Baa Black Sheep, written by "Pappy" Boyington
Currently reading A Dawn Like Thunder, it's about U.S. torpedo bombers in the pacific
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Lots of good suggestions.
General Kenney Reports by George C Kenney is a great read. Covers the whole ware for the perspective of the greatest Army Airforce General of the war...
Widewing may have a link to a PDF, thats how I got it. I have read it several times.
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Aces High, Its about Dick Bong and Tommy McGuire top U.S. Aces.
A classic is Baa Baa Black Sheep, written by "Pappy" Boyington
Currently reading A Dawn Like Thunder, it's about U.S. torpedo bombers in the pacific
Boyington was a know liar and a drunk and his book is full of toejam.
"Pushing the Envelope" is a much better read on a great Marine Pilot, Marion Carl.
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One of the best books I read this past year was If You Survive by George Wilson. Get it, read it and remember it.
You took the words right out of my mouth. I think I read that about 10 years ago (maybe a little less, but not much) and I still think of it from time to time.