Customer Reviews

DD 522: Diary of a destroyer : the action saga of the USS Luce from the Aleutian and Philippine campaigns to her sinking off Okinawa

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book was so interesting that I could not put it down! A lot of books I read are very interesting, but few are such that it is hard to put them down and pick them up to continue. I read DD: 522 in just two days. It is very well written and fast-paced. Told in the words of those who experienced it, it seems as if "you are there"with them. They should make a movie of this book. It has elements of "Titanic" and "Saving Private Ryan"--i.e., the drama of a sinking ship and the horrors of war. I was even kind of "sad" when I finished it...I wanted it to continue, but of course it couldn't because the story ended. I cannot recommend this book too highly. (I have even started to read it for a second time already!)

My father was one of the survivors of the USS LUCE and by reading this book it gave me great insight into what my dad & his shipmates went through during the sinking. He never spoke about the sinking but I remember him talking about some of the antics they got into. Thank you for letting me see what these brave men went through. Now if someone would only do a movie about this great ship.

When I first started reading this book I could not put it down. It is very well written from the very words of the survivors of the sinking. I laughed at some of the situations the men got into and I also cried at the horror of battle. The book graphically illustrates with startling clarity what men under attack go through. Get this book, read it, and you'll want to tell all your friends and family.

'DD 522: Diary Of A Destroyer' was given high reviews by the US Navy publication "Proceedings", and was on the recommended reading list of the US Naval Petty Officers Association for two years. This book is an oral history by men who survived its sinking and by relatives of some who did not survive. The testimonies of the crew proved the Naval record, which had the ship being sunk by one kamakaze, was wrong and that the ship went down under at least three hits by enemy planes. The book was also instrumental in a medal being posthumously awarded to a heroic crewman who saved others but himself went down with the ship. Commissioned in 1943, the USS`Luce lasted just under two years, sinking off Okinawa after participating in the Aleutian and Philippine campaigns. Almost half of the book's 220 pages deal with the events of the sinking in minute-by-minute action filled details. The book has a full index along with several interesting appendices, including the ship's casualty list. In their own words the survivors describe their experiences and observations which makes this fast-paced tale of fighting men striving to save themselves and others from the carnage and horror around them a fitting tribute of their sacrifice. The book has been added to the Operational Archives Branch of the Naval Historical Center in Washington, DC, as a research source.

I knew the family of a crew member of the Luce. His first Destroyer the DE Haven was sunk.

His next Destroyer was Sunk: the Twiggs

His last Destroyer was sunk: Luce

He died not long ago with no sort of recognition for all this at all...it sure is a waste..so what good are books..Tin Can Sailor