5 comments about Flyboys: A True Story of Courage.

1. From the very first word, this book is tone death. "Fly Boys" is the demeaning title, and the author uses that insulting phrase, even while praising the U.S. pilots. They were not generally referred to as "fly boys" and for most who heard it, it was a slap at the youngsters who gave their lives in the air war. Then, in the text, the books wanders, skips and jumps, often ignoring the "fly boys" for endless pages of anti-war polemic. He is correct, of course, that the United States has proven itself to be a war-like nation, thirsty for battle all over the globe. Our history certainly supports that view. But while most U.S. wars were and are unnecessary and cruel, World War II was justified even if the unnecessary horrors inflicted were not. In any case all that's taught in this book is that humans are blood thirsting. What else is new ?



2. After reading Flyboys in all its horrific detail and the attrocities carried out by both sides during WWII, you might be surprised that I was most moved and surprised by the story of the former president of the United States George H. W. Bush. Having lived through the Reagan and Bush presidencies I assumed that I had a relatively accurate picture of George Bush both as V.P. and President. I knew, as most people did, that he was the child of priviledge. The media told me that he made his fortune in the (gasp) Oil Industry and was a toady for corporate types. The press also portrayed him as a wimp. I remember the Doonesbury columns that wouldn't even show a caricature of him. He was so insignificant that Trudeau represented him with a mere blip on the page. Of course I knew he served in WWII but I assumed he had some cushy appointment that kept him out of harms way.
   
   You can immagine my surprise when I read the account of his service in this book. Here was a man who volunteered to serve his country and became the youngest navy flyer in the service at that time. He flew 58 combat missions including the ill fated attack on chichi jima. Despite his heroic actions both before and after being hit by flack, he had to bail out after giving his crew the best possible chance for survival, even at the detriment to his own safety. His courage and sacrifice earned him the distinguished flying cross and several other citations. Only through the grace of God did he avoid the fate of the other flyboys discussed in this book. How such a man could have been vilified and marginalized by a vicious and partisan press that has to look up the meaning of words like courage and sacrifice is beyond me. I hope to God that all those smarmy, arrogant, self important critics of what can only be described as a great man have the opportunity to read this account of his heroic service. Gary Trudeau isn't fit to lick George Bush's boots.



3. Like the "Imperial Cruise" and "Flags of Our Fathers", "Fly Boys is a 'can't put down' offering.



4. This is not a book you should read quickly. It is meant to be slowly digested, otherwise you will likely draw inaccurate conclusions.
   
   In brief, Bradley put the war into perfect context with the history of both nations. The Japanese did what they thought they had to do as so did the Americans. His condemnation of the Japanese leadership including Hirohito is unequivocal. The reader should note that the author was in close contact with the families of the principal actors as well as Iris Chang (The Rape of Nanking) during his research for the book. I have met and spoken to Bradley personally and can assure the reader that he brooks no "moral equivalency" between Imperial Japan and America. James Bradley holds General Curtis LeMay in the highest regard and made it clear that had America not dropped the "evil" nuclear weapons when they did Japan would have suffered a gruesome end that would have been far more horrible to contemplate. The Japanese got off easy in that sense.
   
   I met the family of young Flyboy Grady York at a booksigning several years ago and they were very satisified with Mr. Bradley's treatment of the Flyboys' story and the historical context in which it took place. In the end Flyboys was not about moral equivalence but rather coming to terms with why nations send young men to war.



5. I was pleasantly surprised by how excellent this book is.
   
   Having read James Bradley's first book, Flags of Our Fathers, I was curious to read his follow-up. But Flags is such a compelling personal story - a journey to discover what happened to his father in World War Two - that I wasn't entirely confident he could achieve the same with a subject he was less directly connected to. I needn't have worried. Flyboys is not only well-researched and truly revelatory. It's also an unusually well-balanced and sensitive attempt to get to grips with the horrors of war.
   
   Most of us are aware of the particularly gruesome nature of the war in the Pacific. But Flyboys delves into a previously untold tale that descends into levels of atrocity and barbarism that are hard to comprehend. And this is where Bradley's writing talent really comes to the fore. He doesn't just dig up the facts and tell the story remarkably clearly. He goes much further, placing the brutality in some sort of context. It's the insight and background he places the events within that takes this book to a higher level, giving the reader a grasp and understanding of otherwise incomprehensible inhumanity.
   
   Some reveiwers have criticised Flyboys as unpatriotic - mainly for taking the trouble to offer a Japanese perspective on the Pacific conflict. But Bradley's credentials are hard to refute. His father, after all, was one of the flag-raisers on Iwo Jima; yet he has also travelled and studied extensively in Japan, acquiring an uncommon grasp of Japanese language, culture and history. And it's this uniquely balanced sensibility that takes Flyboys well beyond the mere unearthing of a harrowing story that it might otherwise have been.
   
   If I have one criticism of Flyboys it's that the author offers so much context and detail that the book sometimes drifts away from its core subject into much wider considerations about World War Two, it's causes, consequences and moral dilemmas. But then again this is not really a fault - it's an integral part of what makes this one of the best books about war you will ever read.

5 comments about Evidence Not Seen: A Woman's Miraculous Faith in the Jungles of World War II.

1. I heard this woman's story when I was a little girl and I finally found her book when I was a teenager. I've read this book over and over and can honestly say that this story has been a driving force in my life.
   
   The book tells the story of Darlene Deibler Rose, a missionary's wife sent to New Guinea during the time of WWII. It tells of her struggle and incredible faith in God during her imprisonment and torture at the hands of the Japanese. This woman lost absolutely everything... even the clothes on her back were not her own... and yet she trusted in her Lord as an innocent child depends upon her Father.
   
   My favorite account she gives in the book is when she was in solitary confinement and literally on death row, she had a craving for bananas. She prayed and asked God to bring her, "just one banana." Then she thought about her prayer and realized that there was no way that anyone could get a banana to her without risking their own life. She quickly prayed again, "Lord, don't ask anyone to bring me a banana. I don't want them to be in trouble. I just saw them from my window and thought I wanted one; but it's OK, Lord." The next day, the camp commander from the concentration camp she had previously been at brought her 99 bananas... yes, she counted them. It was amazing miracle and simple reminder that God really can do anything we can even ask or think.
   
   The simple language of the book makes it easy to read and perfect for children as young as ten. I wish that every young girl would read this book and realize the importance of faith in God. Her trials did not scar her, but rather purified her. Darlene's testimony showed me that the trials of life can be like a refiner's fire and make us more beautiful when we trust in the almighty God.
   
   Here is the lesson to be learned from this amazing book: when all else has been stripped away, will you be scarred and bitter, or will you be like Darlene: as purified gold?



2. I absolutely love this autobiography. It's probably my favorite of all the Christian biography genre. It's the story of Darlene Deibler a missionary who ends up being placed in Japanese POW camps during WWII, while her husband is placed in a seperate camp. There are so many interesting historical/cultural details.
   
   But more importantly, you can see God's hand working in her life. She learns so many spiritual lessons, and we learn them with her. There is a heart-wrenching scene, that always brings me to tears where Darlene is imprisoned by the Japanese secret police and has prayed for something, and then retracts that prayer because she thinks it's impossible for God to answer. And He amazingly demonstrates that nothing is impossible for Him and gives her exceedingly, abundantly above what she had asked for. And, she immediately feels so humbled. I am teary-eyed now just recounting it, and I am not someone that cries at the drop of a hat.
   
   The writing is very capable. Sometimes a good story is handicapped by a so-so writer, and thankfully, that's not the case here. Darlene does a wonderful job describing the scene and bringing you in to it. She does a wonderful job describing the horrors present at times in the camp, without being needlessly graphic.
   
   I read this book aloud to my 8 yo and 6 yo, having to pause for some periodic explanations. They are used to having books read to them that are above their own reading capability, and they enjoyed it. Now several months later, I asked my 6 yo if she liked the Darlene Deibler book, and she said she loved it and that her favorite part was the bananas. I think everyone's favorite part is the bananas, but you'll have to read it!
   
   I also bought copies of this book for my sisters-in-law and mother-in-law this Christmas. I already heard back from one of them that she's greatly enjoying it and will encourage her husband to read it too. I was first introduced to this book by a mother and her adult daughter, both of whom also loved it. My husband has loved the parts I've read aloud to him.
   
   I would highly recommend this book to any Christian for spiritual encouragement and growth. But, it's also a good historical resource on the Japanese POW camps. This is one of those books that I give a 5-star rating, but it's a step above most of my other 5-star books. This is probably one of my top ten favorite books over all genres and categories.



3. I have read this book so many times I've lost count. I've given copies of it to all my friends and relatives. Any time that I feel that life is too much to bear I read this book. It reminds me that my problems are so small in comparison. It reminds me that God is with His children EVERYWHERE. It reminds me that even in the darkest of times God has an awesome plan in progress. Darlene was a modern day Job that went on to live a rich and full life. Anyone who doesn't get to read this book has truly missed a great blessing.



4. Hearing a tale such as this makes me realize how easy I have it, being a Christian NOT called to be a missionary, safe & snug at home in the United States. The story is wonderful. The production is very well done.
   I actually purchased this as a graduation gift for our daughter, who is called to the foreign mission field (I originally heard this audiobook by checking it out from our local library). Darlene Rose's treatment by the Japanese reminds us how cruel Godless people can be to their fellow humans; her eventual outcome reminds us how God cares for us in even the darkest circumstances, and brings us through.



5. I have read this book a number of times and have given this to many of my friends as a gift. It is an amazing story.

5 comments about Farewell to Manzanar.

1. This book is written by someone who truly lived there. Jeanne tells about her life at Manzanar, uprooted from her other life and forced into a a camp for other Japanese Americans by the U.S government, believing these people might be in contact with Japan.
   
   Imagine what it would be like if suddenly, because of your race, you were thrown into a camp lacking supplies and adequate shelter. All your rights as a citizen snatched away and forced to suffer in a huge camp in the middle of no where. This is exactly what happened to Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston, who's whole family was interned at Manzanar for a few years.
   
   This story focuses on Jeanne, who was seven at the time of internment, and her perspective on life there. The families found ways to work around the hardships and get through it.



2. Look, it would be one thing if this memoir were presented as the story of a hard-working and law-abiding Japanese family that was abruptly uprooted and subjected to one indignity after another. Everybody has a story somewhere in them, and if you don't tell yours, someone else will. Sure, the essential part of yours may well have been said before, but there are always new audiences growing up. If Wakatsuki had been my grandmother, for example, I would have been both mesmerized and outraged by this memoir.
   
   This is a book about the time Wakatsuki's family was forcibly removed to the Manzanar internment camp. They were Japanese, and this was shortly after Pearl Harbor. The writing ranges from clear to muddled, but there is the occasionally inspiring passage. E.g.:
   
   ". . . [my father] never really recovered from this, either financially or spiritually. Yet neither did he entirely give up. One of the amazing things about America is the way it can both undermine you and keep you believing in your own possibilities, pumping you with hope. To maintain some hold on his self-esteem Papa began to pursue his doomed plan for . . ." (p. 154)
   
   So the one star is not necessarily for the author, who writes clearly and poignantly most of the time.
   
   My beef is with the publisher, Laurel-Leaf Bantam, who saw fit to advertise Wakatsuki's memoir this as "as harrowing as the Diary of Anne Frank."
   
   Er, ARE YOU JOKING? You can't market this as being anywhere remotely comparable to Anne Frank's diary. This is not even in the same ballpark.
   
   Oh, both were forcibly removed to "prisoner" camps during World War II, and both were innocent girls. Okay, I'll give you that, but let's just consider the following harrowing passages, during which the full misery and hopelessness of Wakatsuki's time in Manzanar is brought home:
   
   "The Caucasian servers were thinking that the fruit poured over rice would make a good dessert. Among the Japanese, of course, rice is never eaten with sweet foods, only with salty or savory foods. Few of us could eat such a mixture. But at this point no one dared protest. It would have been impolite. I was horrified when I saw the apricot syrup seeping through my little mound of rice. I opened my mouth to complain. My mother jabbed me in the back to keep quiet." (p. 20)
   
   "He blinked it away and hugged her tighter. . . 'We'll make it better, Mama. You watch. I'll find out what they're giving us for breakfast.' 'Probably hotcakes with soy sauce,' Kiyo said. 'No.' Woody grinned, heading out the door. `Rice. With Log Cabin Syrup and melted butter.'" (pp. 26-27)
   
   "Unskilled labor started at eight. All volunteer of course. You didn't have to get out of bed in the morning if you didn't want to." (p. 39)
   
   "Some families would vie with one another for the most elegant floor designs, obtaining a roll of each color from the supply shed, cutting it into diamonds, squares, or triangles, shining it with heating oil, then leaving their doors open so that passers-by could admire the handiwork." (p. 97)
   
   ". . . classes of every kind were being offered all over camp: singing, acting, trumpet playing, tap-dancing, plus traditional Japanese arts like needlework, judo, and kendo. The first class I attended was in baton twirling, taught by a chubby girl about fourteen named Nancy." (p. 108)
   
   Oh, good grief. So lemme get this straight: while the sensitive, angelic soul of Anne Frank was dying of typhus in Bergen-Belsen, Wakatsuki was out of sorts because somebody ignorantly poured Log Cabin syrup on her rice?!
   
   If Wakatsuki (or her co-author, husband James Houston) had been better read in WWII literature, she would have realized that the net effect of her recounting of all her "horrors" is simply to make the U.S. look humane and benevolent, which certainly isn't the intention of multicultural public-school teachers who routinely cram this tripe down the throats of hapless students.
   
   (By the way, I love how Asians get on their high horse about people calling them Orientals, but think nothing of labeling all white people "Caucasians" (e.g., p. 171 and elsewhere). Uh, since when can the genealogy of all white people be traced to southern Russia?)
   
   Here's my advice: Read either Solzhenitsyn's One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich or Wiesel's Night (Oprah's Book Club). Then come to this book. You won't be able to take it seriously.
   
   On its own merits, though, the story is fair, not particularly self-indulgent and occasionally boring. (Its central merit is the characterization of her father.) My only point is that, out of respect to the millions who died in real prison camps, those who publish this volume ought to market it more delicately.
   
   (Incidentally, the epigraph beginning this memoir quotes some completely outdated intelligence by Henry Steele Commanger: "The record does not disclose a single case of Japanese disloyalty or sabotage during the whole war." Oh? Check out Takeo Yoshikawa on Wikipedia -- and others. Having pointed this out, though, I concede Wakatsuki's point: there were very few.)



3. When Japan attacked Pearl Harbour and America and Japan were at war, a problem arose as to what to do with the thousands of naturalised Japanese living in the States. They couldn't be returned to Japan but nor could they be left to live freely within the US. The country's solution to the problem was to build huge internment camps in the American desert and ship everyone out there for the duration of the war. This was done very hastily and when 7 year old Jeanne and her family arrived they found only the most basic of provision. They lived in cramped "barracks" with foul toilet facilities and suffered repeated sickness due to insanitary food storage.
   Conditions improved during their stay; schooling was provided and recreational facilities, classes to keep internees occupied, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts etc.
   Eventually, when the whole enterprise was ruled illegal by American legislation, many of the internees did not want to leave. They had heard tales of Japanese "on the outside" receiving abuse from Americans for their country's part in the war, even though many Japanese chose to prove their loyalty by fighting for America in the armed forces.
   They had become so conditioned to life in the camps that they could not envisage starting up again elsewhere.
   The younger members of Jeanne's family left to make a way for themselves but her parents, herself and her brother stayed until the last moment - when Jeanne's father saved face by leaving with a flourish!
   
   The book is an interesting comment on the effects of this loss of freedom on the Japanese culture, particularly its effect on her father's pride. It's a short little book but says all that is needed within its concise 145 pages.



4. I read this book when it was first published. Will be ordering a copy for a neighbor who has never heard of the internment of Japanese Americans. I would have been shocked by that except for the fact that I learned about this disgraceful episode in our country's history only as an adult, long after my years in our educational system.
   
   How sad it is to read the one and two star reviews of this small, thought- provoking, and untilmately inspiring book. The negative reviews are a reflection of our young people's failure to learn from our country's history and their own shallow character, enabled by parental acceptance of their demands that everything exist only for their entertainment. I am shocked by these young readers' self-absorbtion and lack of basic human empathy. Where is their outrage at the injustice of Executive Order 9066? How frustrating for the teacher who tried to teach them the folly of not learning from history. Saddest of all is the review by the mother who complains that the book bored her child. Heaven forbid that the kid should actually learn something! But then, the mother is obviously as ignorant of these events as her daughter. If only she had bothered to read the book herself. Perhaps then she would have been less upset that her child was "bored" and more concerned by her child's failure to understand and appreciate the book's significance.



5. I read this book back in 2000 and i loved it. I recently read it again in two days. There was no need to seclude the Japanese-Americans just because the emperor of Japan gave orders to bomb Pearl Harbor. The Japanese came to America to have a better life but ended up being discriminated against. I am so glad Mrs. Houston wrote this book. She told her story in a very mature, sophisticated manner. I loved how she captured evry detail of Manzanar from the barracks, to the people, the land, etc.

5 comments about Flyboys: A True Story of Courage.

1. I've placed this book with the other "most important" books in my library. James Bradley has connected the dots, masterfully explaining the reasons behind the war in the Pacific and the mindset of the soldiers. Writing about World War II, the largest event in human history, was not a trivial task. This is a concise, accessible history book that I can't praise enough.
   
   Fifty-two years after WWII, documents were declassified describing the gruesome details of American soldiers captured on the island of Chichi Jima. In perfect balance Bradley interweaves the stories of these men within the overall context of the war. In the process he explains an immense amount of history, the politics of world leading up to the war, and reasons why Japan started the war. It is a fascinating book working on both a personal and big-picture level.
   
   My prior knowledge of the Pacific theater was never clear, even though my father was a Navy fighter pilot. History textbooks that I have read never seemed to provide satisfactory explanations about the root causes of the war in the Pacific. This book provides a logical and plausible account that I won't forget.



2. My Dad was in the 26th Marines, 5th Marine Division. He landed in the 5th wave ashore, on Iwo Jima. I served for 6 years in the Corps. So my background reading this book is a little more personal than some, not better - just more personal.
   
   This book points out the spine and character of Americans, coming out of the Depression. Nothing too hard, nothing that they wouldn't do for their country. It also points out the cruelty of War and that other cultures (in this case the Japanese Empire) do not view human life as we do. Isn't this what is happening today with the Terrorists?
   
   The book is well written with the same personal feelings that I have about the topic. Bradley's Dad served on Iwo (see Flags of Our Fathers, by James Bradley)another excellent book by Bradley.
   
   This book is well worth reading. Once you start it you will not want to put it down.



3. I was pleasantly surprised by how excellent this book is.
   
   Having read James Bradley's first book, Flags of Our Fathers, I was curious to read his follow-up. But Flags is such a compelling personal story - a journey to discover what happened to his father in World War Two - that I wasn't entirely confident he could achieve the same with a subject he was less directly connected to. I needn't have worried. Flyboys is not only well-researched and truly revelatory. It's also an unusually well-balanced and sensitive attempt to get to grips with the horrors of war.
   
   Most of us are aware of the particularly gruesome nature of the war in the Pacific. But Flyboys delves into a previously untold tale that descends into levels of atrocity and barbarism that are hard to comprehend. And this is where Bradley's writing talent really comes to the fore. He doesn't just dig up the facts and tell the story remarkably clearly. He goes much further, placing the brutality in some sort of context. It's the insight and background he places the events within that takes this book to a higher level, giving the reader a grasp and understanding of otherwise incomprehensible inhumanity.
   
   Some reveiwers have criticised Flyboys as unpatriotic - mainly for taking the trouble to offer a Japanese perspective on the Pacific conflict. But Bradley's credentials are hard to refute. His father, after all, was one of the flag-raisers on Iwo Jima; yet he has also travelled and studied extensively in Japan, acquiring an uncommon grasp of Japanese language, culture and history. And it's this uniquely balanced sensibility that takes Flyboys well beyond the mere unearthing of a harrowing story that it might otherwise have been.
   
   If I have one criticism of Flyboys it's that the author offers so much context and detail that the book sometimes drifts away from its core subject into much wider considerations about World War Two, it's causes, consequences and moral dilemmas. But then again this is not really a fault - it's an integral part of what makes this one of the best books about war you will ever read.



4. The first third of the books is a non-stop anti-American tirade. For the author, every vice of the Japanese imperial militarist culture is directly inherited from America and learned from American "imperialist" actions in the Pacific (even though the US lacked any concession in China, and had no Pacific territory until after 1898). According to him, the Japanese were only imitating the Americans when it came to brutality, torture, and territory hungry imperialism.
   
   His implication is the Japanese can't be held responsible for their atrocities, because they were taught to do it by the Americans (despite the fact the British and Germans primarily trained the Japanese militarily as they leapt into the industrial age).
   
   The author specifically singles out (over 40 pages) US activities in the Philippines as proof of the favored Yankee pastime of bayoneting babies. Of course, there is some context missing; he only refers to isolated incidents on Samar during which atrocities were committed on both sides over a very short time. He conveniently ignores thousands of counter examples over five years where US forces took extreme pains and great additional risk to minimize civilian casualties, not to mention all the humanitarian efforts on other islands. Perhaps the Japanese militarists, who the author implies wouldn't hurt a fly until they learned brutality from Americans, only read about the battles in Samar.
   
   Another truly bizarre and absurd aspect of the book is the author's attempt to outline a chain of events demonstrating the US government always sought to acquire Chichi Jima (the island that is supposed to be the subject of the book), and the Japanese were therefore totally justified in being particularly defensive of American presence on the island.
   
   To support this fantastic allegation, he points to obscure legislation in congress which sought to establish a coaling station at numerous locations throughout the world, including Chichi Jima. While that never became law, I guess he assumes the Japanese had their "man in Washington" following the threatening bill, during the Meiji reign, and every Japanese soldier to through 1945 was taught about this effrontery...yeah, right. He then points out that various US ships in the late 19th Century stopped and used the island for shelter, while it was otherwise uninhabited. Apart from not even rising to the level of circumstantial `evidence' to support his accusation, he never provides any support to show the Japanese were aware of these events, or more importantly that their opinion and actions were changed by them.
   
   ...but wasn't the book supposed to be about how some US flyers were made prisoners and treated toward the end of the war on a remote island? Yeah, I thought so too...apparently the author became lost during his early rant. He does manage to get to that...eventually.
   
   One disturbing window into the author's method is shown in the photos of him with former President GHW Bush (41). The caption and juxtaposition of the photos clearly suggest President Bush was involved in the research and supports the author's conclusion. In fact, this is simply not true...neither are most of the "facts" used to support his opinions as expressed in the book.
   
   The point is, while Bradley might be a gifted writer (his prose is certainly readable), he is a frustrated American-hating revisionist embittered by his father's experiences and perceived injustices. He is not a historian and is clearly incapable of scholarly research or serious historical analysis, choosing to selectively take from discredited politically correct revisionist texts that support his preconceived notions, while ignoring libraries full of legitimate sources.



5. This story of the fate of American aircrewmen shot down over the island of Chichi Jima in 1945 could have indeed been gripping if told by a competent historian and writer. Unfortunately, James Bradley appears to be neither. As a result, this book is, as pointed out elsewhere, a largely unfocused mishmash. Fully three quarters of the book seems to be an attempt to establish some sort of moral equivalence between the westward expansion of the United States and the imperial aims of Hirohito's Japan, told in a series of cherry-picked, unfootnoted anecdotes whose context and relevance are debatable. The actual incident on Chichi Jima receives relatively short shrift. But let that bide.
   
   To me, and I freely admit that I grow more crotchety with each passing day, the really irritating aspect of this book is Bradley's style of writing. He injects himself into the narrative. He uses numerous quotations without attribution. And he is deliberately breezy -- annoyingly so -- whenever he refers to historical characters or groups. Japanese militarists are "The Spirit boys". General William Mitchell is always "Billy" (were B25 Mitchells ever referred to by anyone except Bradley as "Billys"?). General James Doolittle is always "Jimmy". Franklin Roosevelt is "The Dutchman". And of course, Naval Aviators, Army Air Corps pilots, aviation crewmen of any sort -- Army, Navy, or Marine -- are always "Flyboys". Always. Constantly. Without exception. OK, the title of the book is "Flyboys". I get it. But there comes a point when enough is enough.
   Admittedly, in a better constructed, more tightly focused, less biased work, this would be only a minor quibble. However, anyone having at least a cursory familiarity with the war in the Pacific should not attempt to read this book while commuting on public transportation. Your snorts of disbelief and mumbled obscenities will get you uncomfortable looks from your fellow passengers.

5 comments about Baa Baa Black Sheep.

1. It's an enjoyable read. Who doesn't like the myth surrounding this squadron's, & Boyington's, exploits (except Lard)? I just started reading The Black Sheep (Bruce Gamble) to see how much light that sheds on the truth. Boyington's real life story is interesting enough. Some claims are impossible to disprove due to no witnesses. Others? Well, here's what stood out the most for me: He said he bailed out through a closed & locked canopy bubble... Simply by pushing the stick forward w/his foot. He claimed centrifugal force did the rest. Ahah... He then claimed to be repeatedly strafed by a couple of Zekes while helplessly treading water. Despite strafing him for about 30minutes. He said they never got a good hit on him. He claimed resultant serious wounds that magically healed without proper care (I'm a Nurse) Suuure.... He was a self-admitted pathological liar. He also did enough without the embellishments to deserve respect. I feel for him, especially his life-long battle w/the bottle. He shouldn't have had to walk such a hard road after the war. A hard road he doesn't allude to in great detail, BTW. It's a worthy read. The author of the book I'm reading on the Black Sheep, Gamble. He apparently doesn't like Boyington @all. He wrote another book specifically about Boyington. He supposedly slams Boyington throughout the book. I think I'll take a pass on that one. I like Greg the way I envision him now. Part BS, part truth, warts & all, a plucky regular Joe. RIP, Pappy ;-).



2. Greg "Pappy" Boginton was a colorful person, a rebel, a maverick and a helluva good pilot. He did not take any nonsense from anyone. Back in WW2, it was more acceptable to be a hard drinker, but even by those standards, Pappy had problems, which he admits to in his Bio of 1958.
   
   Of course the media make a huge deal out of who shot down how many Japanese planes, and Pappy felt this pressure, as well as those of leading a squadron of Marine pilots. Back in the early days of WW2, the US was just beginning to reign supreme over the Japanese.
   
   After 26 victories, he was shot down and spent time as a guest in a Japanese POW camp for 20 months where torture was routine and brutal.
   
   Success did not come so easily to Pappy after the war, but after finally winning his struggle with alcohol, things improved and he enjoyed a resurgence of popularity and fame when the 1971 TV series came out with Robert Conrad playing Pappy. Anyone familiar with the show knows that it is a very Hollywoodized version of what happened.
   
   This is a good bio, the writing style is understated, which was common back then. People did not write graphic tell-alls like they do now. But it still is a good read, a must for fans of air combat in WW2 in the Pacific and what it was like fighting in primative conditions at the long end of a logistic pipeline.



3. great service and a book in great condition at a price well below similar offerings.



4. i could not put the book down until i finished it. make sure you have time to read this book before you start it.



5. My family and I enjoyed this show so much that my wife actually started clapping at the end of one episode! She didn't even realize it! I watched this show as a young boy and loved it. We really hope that the second season is put out on DVD!!!

5 comments about Some Survived: An Eyewitness Account of the Bataan Death March and the Men Who Lived Through It.

1. Excellent book. Puts the reader in the midst of this incredible true story. This amazing story will rend your heart and amaze you with the incredible courage exhibited by our soldiers.



2. The worst of the worst Japanese soldiers responsible for the horrific savagery inflicted upon allied soldiers and civilians during the Bataan Death March were tracked down, tried, and executed after the war. Still, once can't help but be deeply troubled by reading over and again, of the pleasure Japanese guards took in the starving, beating and killing of allied prisoners during World War II.
   
   Ignoring even the most basic rules of international humanitarian law, Japanese soldiers behaved in as depraved, evil and barbaric manner as one can imagine. They slapped, kicked and brutalized prisoners on a daily basis, beheaded others at will, and - by war's end - they had enslaved, tortured, and killed thousands of civilians and defenseless allied soldiers.
   
   The author, Manny Lawton, takes the reader back in time, back to the beginning of the Pacific Campaign. He is a 23-year-old Army Captain, a couple of years out of Clemson University's ROTC program and the U.S. Army's Infantry School. Assigned as a "battalion military advisor," to the 500-man, 1st Battalion, 31st Infantry of the Philippine Army, he is the only American in the battalion. Then, when the American forces are overrun in the Philippines - four months after Pearl Harbor - we see that he and the other soldiers are already shell-shocked, exhausted, starving, and suffering from malaria, beriberi and a host of other tropical maladies.
   
   We follow Lawson, from the beginning when he is captured and joins the thousands of others as they are force-marched five to six days, on the notorious "Death March"; then we follow him as he is moved and marched from one prison to another, one ship to the next, through the Philippines, to Japan and then - by war's end - to a hard labor camp in Korea.
   
   We meet his friends from his old units, from the ROTC program back home and then - as the years pass - from previous prison camps. We hear him, as he tells in his own words, his feelings of fear, anger, and then sheer determination, as he suffers and watches hundreds of others go through sheer hell. We read of the horrendous suffering and thousands of men who died aboard the Shinyo Maru, the Arisan Maru, the Oryoku Maru, the Enoura Maru and the Brazil Maru.
   
   Lawson honors the dead by telling their story very effectively. With the guidance and assistance of William Emerson -- former editor of the Saturday Evening Post -- and the noted Southern scholar, and editor, Dr. Louis D. Rubin, Jr. his words flow easily. The reader can't help but feel that they "are there" in the bunk, in the foxhole in the ship's hold, there with him. He tells the story in a patient, painstaking way; the truth, and nothing but the truth -- allowing the reader to learn what really happened during those years, in a manner that is not exaggerated, not overly emotional or glossed over in any way, just the truth.
   
   It is important that this story not be forgotten, that we honor the memory of all of the American, British and soldiers of other nationalities, who died so savagely at the hands of their murderous and truly evil Japanese captors during World War II.
   
   Lawson's book is a testimonial - a story of sorrow and thanksgiving - it belongs on the bookshelf of every public library in America, the Philippines and Japan. Highly recommended.
   
   Note: This review is written in memory of my old friend, Sgt. Pasquale S. DiGiacomo, of Brooklyn, New York. Captured as a Japanese prisoner of war at age 29 on Bataan on April 9, 1942, "Pat" participated in the "Death March," was imprisoned at Camp O'Donnell and then shipped to Japan where he was a slave-laborer in the Osaka Camp steel mill. Beaten almost daily, starved, and suffering from malaria and broken bones, by war's end he had worked 3-1/2 years of his life as a slave for the Japanese. Now deceased, Sgt. DiGiacomo never understood why he never received a penny of reparation or an apology of any kind from the Japanese government.
   
   R. Neil Scott
   Middle Tennessee State University



3. Amazing details and a true story of survival! This is a first hand account of the cruelty of the Japanese Army! As I read about the beatings, lack of food, and cruel conditions they were put through I wonder if I would have given up and died or struggled on. Great details of how man can turn into animals under any circumstances! Try living off a spoon of water and a handful of rice for 4 days at a time then you will know how they lived.The stories of prisoners on transport ships is AMAZING! The cruel treatment from the Japanese Army and the Joy the Japanese army had in watching prisoners die can raise a little bit of hatred and resentment to the Japanese army after reading this book.
   
   If you want to know about POW survival under Japanese rule during WW II then read this book!



4. This book is a must-read. These guys literally went through hell. You must get this book, it is outsading. If you feel terrible about how your life is, read this book. You'll realize how good you have it.
   
   Well written book. Hard to put down.



5. I am reviewing the 1984 hardback edition of this book which was entitled "Some Survived. An Epic Account of Japanese Captivity During WWII."
   Although this is not the first book on The Death March I have read, it is probably the best. It is well written and easy to read. The thing I liked best was the fact that not only did it give, in great detail, an eye witness account of the atrocities committed by the Japanese on American POW's in the Phillipines, it went on to describe life in the camps after the march, then on to a very detailed description of their treatment on the 'Hell Ships' that took the prisoners to prison camps in Japan.
   This is not a book of despair only. It is also of faith, guts, determination, and final victory by Manny Lawton and a few others that survived this horrible period of time. It also prompts us to remember those that didn't. God Bless them.

5 comments about Stubborn Twig: Three Generations in the Life of a Japanese American Family (Oregon Reads).

1. Stubborn Twig covers the lives of 3 generations of Japanese from the early 1900's when they settled in Hood River, OR to the present. It includes the prejudice they encountered, the internment during WWII and a detailed account of how they dealt with these and other challenges according to their cultural beliefs. Also,the changes from generation to generation were interesting. I thought this was a very good book.



2. Even if you think you are informed about the internment of Japanese- Americans during WWII, this will surpise you. The personal,cultural and historic are perfectly blended. This is primairly a human story and a tragic one.



3. Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts, St Martin's Press, N.Y., N. Y. 2003, 933 pages
   
   This is the most gripping and fun read I had in a long time. A friend, we met on a trip up the Columbia River, recommended this. I bought it out of respect and curiosity but put it aside until I read most of the books described above and below these Booknotes. It is a rollicking good novel and like all fiction combines memory with fantasy. Even science, history and biography combine fact with memory and fantasy. But fantasy has less free reign in most history, biography and science.
   I suspect the author lived or knew people who lived most of the events described in this novel. It feels true even if, at times, it reads like the Perils of Pauline. And naturally the central character comes out as the most admirable.
   That said it is a tale of redemption and a look at a world where all ethnic, cultural and religious groups are equal. The book will give you a realistic look at prisons, the city and people of Bombay, crime lords and criminals and corruption in general. There is plenty of high-level philosophical conversation. To paraphrase one exchange,
   One million evil men, ten million stupid men and one hundred million cowardly men rule the world. The rest of the five billion of us endure them all.
   The one million evil men are the top criminals, religious, political and business leaders. The ten million stupid but brave men are the police and soldiers and the one hundred million cowardly men are the functionaries and bureaucrats who know what is going on and say nothing. There are also some interesting talks about the definitions of good and evil, right and wrong, The Big Bang and the evolution of the Universe. It is a very hard book to put down once you start reading.
   In short you will get an interesting and exciting tour of a world that, God willing, you will never see or experience. And you will find it filled with interesting, believable, admirable and likeable people. They all are, like us, a mixture of bad and good but no one is condemned and all struggle toward the light.



4. As an Oregon resident, I particularly appreciated this book and the story. I would recommend it to anyone interested in the personal histories of those affected by the WWII internment camps.



5. As a child we lived in the Yakima Valley. Some summer afternoons my father would take me with him to buy vegetables from a Japanese farmer. My father, normally outgoing, was reserved and deferrential. Dad explained that the farmer before the war had been a successful engineer, but had lost everything when he was forced to go to "the camp" - a tragedy and great waste. I've been haunted by that guiet farmer ever since, so it was with enthusiasm that I began Stubborn Twig, the story of a Japanese family's American experience.
   
   Stubborn Twig is well researched and chock full of details about the Yasui family. Reading their story should be compelling. It's not. It's repetitious, tedious and a slow, difficult read. The last 50 pages, the third generation, is a mix of biography and sociologist psycho babble. So why read Stubborn Twig? Because it's an important story, an American story that has much to teach us, and one that shouldn't be forgotten.

5 comments about Lost Names: Scenes from a Korean Boyhood.

1. My youngest child is adopted from Korea. Linda Sue Park has written wonderful books which allow him a window into the history of his birth country. I am eternally grateful. When My Name Was Keoko is one of my favorite books for kids of all time. Beautifully written and covering an era of history that most people in the West do not realize existed, this book wraps history in an engaging story. Impossible even for this adult to put down. Thank you so much.



2. While reading this book I got the impression that it was a memoir. It is actally not so please be aware of this when reading. Considering that it is fiction the author was surprisingly "tame" in telling the story. I was expecting another depressing memoir of a family destroyed by the Japanese occupation. In Kim's book, however, the family's suffering is more subtle and their eventual triump refreshing. It's nice to not read a book where everyone and their mothers die a painful death. This book gave a lot of insight into the lives of Koreans during the occupation. It was also nice to know that not all of the imperial Japanese soldiers were as gruesome as they were in the Rape of Nanjing.



3. The "scenes from a Korean boyhood" in this book, which are evidently based on actual events, are very compelling and convey powerfully what life was like under the Japanese occupation of Korea. So that's the reason to read this book. Unfortunately, these scenes are set in a kind of fiction jello that connects one episode with another by means of impressionistic accounts of the Korean landscape and so on. This sort of writing is much less successful, and you'll find your eyes sliding past some of it. Kim is not as skillful at blending fiction and nonfiction as, say, Dave Eggers, and one wishes the author had related more about the father, who had been imprisoned by the Japanese, or the grandparents, or even the village, which was located in what is now North Korea. However, that would be a different book. Lost Names is not difficult reading and is certainly a good place to begin learning about what Koreans endured during World War II.



4. Imperialism is something that is often associated exclusively with the West. The histories of the British colonization of India and the Spanish colonies of Latin America abound, but many fail to notice the history of the Empire of Japan, which held Eastern Asia prior to and during the Second World War. Richard Kim writes about his childhood experience in Korea from 1932 to 1945 in his book Lost Names: Scenes from a Korean Boyhood and focuses on the situation of Japanese imperialism on the Korean peninsula, and the effects of the colonization.
   Richard sees first hand how Japan influence on Korea is affecting his family life, school, and friendships. The book begins with an image of Kim's family leaving Korea for a job and being stopped by the Japanese Imperial Army. This was the first of the scenes that were told through the eyes of Richard Kim. The book goes on to depict six more stories, separated by chapters.
   Japan is painted as an outside influence, which is taking over Korea in a more passive way. The narrator describes the Japanese as not bad people, but people who are distinct from the native Koreans, and collectively more powerful and all-surrendering when it comes to their Emperor. This is shown when the narrator talks about how the books gets it's name, in which the Koreans are made to give up their Korean names in exchange for a Japanese name. Showing the strong nature of his family the name chosen by his father means "Foundation of Rock."
   Throughout the book, Koreans are portrayed as being in control in Korea behind the thick wall of Japanese occupation. This is largely personified in the character of Kim's college-educated father, whose firm anti-Japanese standpoints are looked-up-to by much of the local community. In spite of this, many Koreans are portrayed to be people who are indebted to the Japanese - shown by the character of Kim's teacher.
   Aside from the educated people, Koreans are portrayed as being unaware of the events around the world at the time, shown by the narrator's mother's obliviousness to the unfolding of German invasions in Europe and Japanese occupations in China. These chapters's focus on day-to-day event, which make it very important to the overall understanding the reader, gets of the depth of the effects of the Japanese colonization.
   Overall this book was very informative, one is able to see the true impact of the Japanese during World War II. However, not every event depicted in the story is completely true is still shows a first hand perspective in a new way, through a child eye. I would recommend the book to anyone interested in history or the impact of war. Just keep in mind this is not completely factual, but it will give you a better understanding of Korean history.



5. This was probably my favorite of the books we read in the Japanese History course I took my senior year of college. Young Richard Kim spent the majority of his childhood in his native Korea while it was under occupation by the Japanese, who were not very nice to or tolerant of his people, no matter they were the majority and the occupying Japanese were the minority. There are many hardships and much prejudice he faces growing up, from neighbors, the government, teachers, and schoolmates, but he never loses his sense of pride and Korean nationalism, constantly being reminded by his parents (who are ministers) and his grandmother to remain aware of where he comes from, his identity, the sustained hope that the Japanese won't always be in Korea, and to do well in school and set a fine example to the Japanese, since he mustn't let those Japanese boys at school think they're better than he is. When WWII comes along, everyone suffers the normal wartime deprivations, such as food shortages and bombing raids, but it is especially hard for the Koreans in the midst. Young Richard is forced, along with his classmates, to bow in the direction of the Emperor each morning, recite an ode of allegiance to the Emperor and Japanese government, and, worst of all, to even change his family name. All Koreans are forced to change their surnames to Japanese surnames, although Richard's father is clever and changes their family's name to one with the root meaning "rock," which of course is a reference to Saint Peter and the family's religious faith, a reference the Japanese won't get. It's enough to take away and try to usurp one's culture, traditions, customs, language, and way of life, but when you take away someone's name, that is in a way the ultimate erasure of their identity. Even when forced to, at least on the surface, speak a foreign language, submit to foreign leaders, and follow alien customs, there's still the comfort of knowing your base identity, your name, is still the same, but taking it away makes this prejudice and attempted usurpation of Korean culture incredibly personal and insulting.
   
   It didn't really bother me that some of these memories and thoughts are very complex and detailed for a child as young as Richard is in the beginning. Many times memories of traumatic defining events are stronger and more vivid and real precisely because they were so awful and traumatic, leaving more impact than something as mundane as, say, eating breakfast or walking the dog. And even if some gaps in Richard's memory may have been filled in by what he imagines happened or what his family have told him happened, it doesn't lessen the emotional impact of these events in the slightest. And I like how it was told in the present tense; since discovering quite some time ago that books can be written in the present tense and there's no rule written in stone saying you must only and always write in the past tense, I've much preferred books written in the present tense. It makes the events seem more real and gripping, full of suspense and tension, like constantly wondering what's going to happen next, living right in the moment.

5 comments about To End All Wars.

1. An excellent eye-witness account from World War II, telling of Allied POWs building the Burma-Thai railroad and the River Kwai Bridge. In the midst of the horror and suffering, there is an amazingly inspiring story here. We must not forget World War II history in these lesser-known theaters.



2. "To End all Wars" is a recent republish of the late Ernest Gordon's story of survival and finding Christian faith while enduring the hell of the Thai Burma Railway. Gordon (who later became a college chaplain in the U.S.) starts off describing an unsuccessful ocean escape attempt from the Dutch East Indies which led to his capture by the Japanese in 1942. Then came the forced labor camps in the jungle, brutality, starvation, malaria, etc. From a general bleakness the story eventually transitions into one of forgiveness and the strenght of faith. The book has its share of memorable scenes and lessons to be learned. One memorable scene was the destruction of the Bridge over the Kwai by an allied air raid. Another part that may stick with readers was where Gordon learned the fate of the man who probably more than any of the others led him to a deeper Christian faith (a Japanese officer crucified him on a tree). The descriptions of Gordon's return to England were rather fascinating as they highlighted challenges of returning to civilian life. One of the few drawbacks was that I would have personally been interested to have heard more about the author's combat experiences prior to his captivity and after his release how his POW experiences influenced his chaplain capacity in more detail. Overall though I can't complain. This book was excellent. It was well-written, powerful, and has the potential to inspire. I should warn readers that it is also quite graphic in its depictions of the squallor and mistreatment endured by POWs and other slave laborers. In conclusion, I recommend it.



3. I assume that this book is similar if not the same as Ernest Gordnn's original work, Through the Valley of the Kwai. I read the original 3o years ago and became a disciple of Jesus Christ as a result. No other work better illustrates how the love of God affects man than this work.



4. This was one of the most moving Christian testimonies I have read. It is the amazing biography of Ernest Gordon, a British POW in Japanese occupied Thailand. The book is more than that though. The personal and historical account of To End All Wars provides the reader with tremendous hope born in the midst of suffering. In the same spirit as Corrie Ten Boon's the Hiding Place, this work writes about the difficulty of finding and protecting the value of human life through the power of God's love and forgiveness. Such was the key to Ernest Gordon's end to the war and for many of his fellow inmates, and it is a message that is repeated throughout the account. There are many moments when such self-sacrificing love is put to the test. One defining moment was when the prisoners administered aid to wounded Japanese soldiers who were previously their captors at the very end of the war. The title of my review comes from a quote from Mr. Gordon taken from this event. The book itself is a testament to the grace and mercy of God, which offered these defeated men a restoration of their souls through forgiveness rather than maintain in their hearts the bitterness of hatred despite the cruelty they suffered. A truly powerful and soul-stirring book!



5. My wife and I had watched the movie a couple months ago (be warned: it is incredibly brutal) and been moved by the power of the story. Unfortunately, as it turned out, the book and the move are not the same story. In fact, other than the similarity of the major premise (a British officer in a Japanese POW camp during WW2), they had almost nothing in common.
   
   However. . .
   
   That was only disappointing insomuch as I kept waiting for certain events from the movie to show up. The movie had colored my expectations for the book, which meant I couldn't take the book on its own merits. Which is too bad, because, upon completing the book, I would say it is as powerful as the movie, perhaps even more so. But you have to let the book speak for itself. The story is truly miraculous, as this band of prisoners devolve into a wild bunch of animals at the hands of their captors, only to be transformed by the Spirit of Christ into a true Community of compassion and care. Somehow, in the midst of hell, these men found the power to love each other, to care for each other, to even forgive their Japanese tormentors. When people ask "Does Christianity work?", the story of this book says "absolutely!" And in a day and age of spiteful attacks, divisive language, polarized religions and selfish money-grubbing politicians and religious leaders, there is a real lesson here about what being a True Follower of Christ is all about.

5 comments about Flyboys: A True Story of Courage.

1. This book seems to be more a collection of random events leading up to and including WWII. We hear about the Japanese war in China, Lindbergh's flight over the Atlantic, Mitchell's campaign for air power and sinking of the captured German battleship Ostfriesland (in grossly simple terms and lacking a great many facts), the brutal training of Japanese army enlisted personal and some stories from the home front in Japan. Not to mention a brief description of the American-Philippines war, with stories of American brutality thrown in for good measure. Then we cover the bombing campaign against Japan and the implications of moral equivalency that the Japanese attorcities during WWII were some how comparable and even rational.
   
   While others have criticized his attempts and "revisionist history", my main complaint is simply that the book jumps from narrative to narrative, occasionally filling in the blanks of the fliers who were captured and executed at Chi-Chi-Jima. It's as if Bradley had a word quota for this second book and he pulled from every angle he could to fill the pages.
   
   I had trouble finishing the book and had to force myself to read it to the end. Overall a very poor effort after his first book.



2. I am a fan of true WWII stories about the sacrifices that generation made and fully appreciate all they did. This book though is way too graphic for me. I know war is hell but honestly I had to stop reading it and am haunted by what I learned about the U.S and our history that I did not know about such as some of the Indian Massacres and how we started the war in Mexico and the war in the Philippines. I am in the military and have been in light combat in Desert Storm but of course the two wars cannot be compared. War is War. I had my experience but it was noting like the horrors these guys went through. I tried skipping a few chapters to read just about the flying but the book kept reverting back to Japanese decapitating heads and tons of other gory stuff. My favorite book and autobiography is BA BA BLACK SHEEP the Pappy Boyington story. Just good history with a mild dash of gore.



3. I was pleasantly surprised by how excellent this book is.
   
   Having read James Bradley's first book, Flags of Our Fathers, I was curious to read his follow-up. But Flags is such a compelling personal story - a journey to discover what happened to his father in World War Two - that I wasn't entirely confident he could achieve the same with a subject he was less directly connected to. I needn't have worried. Flyboys is not only well-researched and truly revelatory. It's also an unusually well-balanced and sensitive attempt to get to grips with the horrors of war.
   
   Most of us are aware of the particularly gruesome nature of the war in the Pacific. But Flyboys delves into a previously untold tale that descends into levels of atrocity and barbarism that are hard to comprehend. And this is where Bradley's writing talent really comes to the fore. He doesn't just dig up the facts and tell the story remarkably clearly. He goes much further, placing the brutality in some sort of context. It's the insight and background he places the events within that takes this book to a higher level, giving the reader a grasp and understanding of otherwise incomprehensible inhumanity.
   
   Some reveiwers have criticised Flyboys as unpatriotic - mainly for taking the trouble to offer a Japanese perspective on the Pacific conflict. But Bradley's credentials are hard to refute. His father, after all, was one of the flag-raisers on Iwo Jima; yet he has also travelled and studied extensively in Japan, acquiring an uncommon grasp of Japanese language, culture and history. And it's this uniquely balanced sensibility that takes Flyboys well beyond the mere unearthing of a harrowing story that it might otherwise have been.
   
   If I have one criticism of Flyboys it's that the author offers so much context and detail that the book sometimes drifts away from its core subject into much wider considerations about World War Two, it's causes, consequences and moral dilemmas. But then again this is not really a fault - it's an integral part of what makes this one of the best books about war you will ever read.



4. I was disturbed after reading some of the other reviews that stated that James Bradley was accusing the brave men who he wrote about of being war criminals. This was not the case at all. He explains in depth the horrors of war and the atrocities committed by both the United States and the Japanese. He never places any blame on the pilots, but rather the generals and leaders who manipulated soldiers and pilots to do terrible things. This book is unsettling, and it is very graphic in describing war crimes, but that doesn't mean that the truth should remain buried. The greatest respect we can pay the men who died for our country is to ensure that they didn't die in vain. Remember that they died protecting our way of life, which includes freedom of speech, and to say that Bradley should have suppressed the truth is an insult to them. Just as it is important to remember our successes, it is important to warn future generations of our mistakes. This book does a superb job of both, and it reminds us that war brings out the worst in people, but also the best in people. It is a powerful book and I would recommend it to anyone mature enough to handle the material it details.



5. TGhe product is what I expected but waiting for it for 25 days is entirely too long.