Hell from the Heavens

Hell from the Heavens
Author: John Wukovits
Publisher: Da Capo Press, Incorporated
Total Pages: 338
Release: 2015-04-07
Genre: History
ISBN: 0306823241

From acclaimed historian John Wukovits, the untold story of the USS Laffey and her crew, who heroically withstood twenty-two kamikaze attacks at Okinawa which the US Navy describes Òas one of the great sea epics of the warÓ

We Were Pirates

We Were Pirates
Author: Robert D Schultz
Publisher: Naval Institute Press
Total Pages: 231
Release: 2009-09-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 1612510213

A sailor’s extraordinary experiences on an American submarine in the Pacific are candidly reported in this eyewitness account of war from a torpedoman’s perspective. Robert Hunt managed to survive twelve consecutive war patrols on the submarine USS Tambor. During the course of the war, Hunt was everywhere that mattered in the Pacific. He stood on the bow of the Tambor as it cruised into Pearl Harbor just days after the devastation of the Japanese air raid, peered through binoculars as his boat shadowed Japanese cruisers at the Battle of Midway, ferried guns and supplies to American guerilla fighters in the Philippines, fired torpedoes that sank vital Japanese shipping, and survived a near-fatal, seventeen-hour depth-charge attack. For “exceptional skill and proficiency at his battle station” Hunt received a commendation from Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz. This WWII torpedoman’s account of the war offers the rare perspective of an enlisted seaman that is not available in the more common officer accounts.To capture and recount the progress of the Pacific War through Hunt’s eyes coauthors Robert Schultz and James Shell examined the young submariner's war diary, as well as crew letters, photographs, and captains' reports, and they also conducted hours of interviews. Their vivid descriptions of the ways in which sailors dealt with the stress of war while at sea or on liberty show a side of the war that is rarely reported. The fact that Hunt’s submarine was the first of a new fleet of World War II boats and the namesake of a significant class adds further value to his remarkable story.