Customer Reviews

With the Fifth Army Air Force: Photos from the Pacific Theater

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

 

 

Mr. Gallagher's book is the beautiful story of his experience in the Fifth Army Air Force. To tell his story (that of a simple communications officer), Mr. Gallagher has many personal photo's. While the text does a great job of telling Mr. Gallagher's experience in the Southwest Pacific, the photo's expand things greatly. Mr. Gallagher's photo's show the simple day-to-day life, the natives that helped, and a quite impressive listing of the aircraft used by the Fifth Army Air Force. Most importantly these photos are unique (I've never seen them prior to owning this book. My personal favorites are two with allied aircraft that have markings for the planes they've shot down. On has 5 Germans, 1 Italian, 1 Japanese, and 1 American, the other shows another ace's plane with 1 Australian flag. Also, the nose art is to die for.) and provide interesting insight into the war that took place in the Southwest Pacific.

Rating wise, for me this was a solid 4.5 star book due to the photo's. The down side was that the text is a little thin (but they're his experiences, not those of a historian bringing together many different sources). Because of the text being thin, I decided to only give the book 4 stars. Depending on which is more important to you, this book could be a 3 star book (if interested in personal accounts) or 5 star book if you're interested in the photo's.

In a nutshell this book is just about priceless. From a youthful amateur photographer, these images from the SWPA capture some real history from a theater not known to the general reader.

Gallagher soldiered with the USAAF (5th AF) from 1943 until the end of the war - from all along New Guinea on up to Japan. Along the way he used his camera & film to the best advantage imaginable. Since this is about the USAAF, the collection concentrates on that branch - especially aircraft - but Gallagher has included observations that range wider than that. He concentrates on his radio/ground control companions, and nearby aircraft. But, civilian, native, enemy and other service images are included in this picture collection.

The book itself is a fime example of excellent narration, good image reproduction, and fine composition. All of this is presented in a backwards looking perspective of over 40 years. The reader/viewer will find that they will return many times to this book to obtain insight into what it was like to be sent to a strange forgotten corner of the world to help fight the Japanese war machine.

Excellent choice of well printed B&W photographs.
Aircraft, trucks, boats AND men from the Fifth; but also japanese people and weapons.
Haven't read the text yet, but already worth having !

In doing random Google searches in my boredom, I found that there is a photo of and a short story about my grandfather in this book! It was an incredible shock, because I never knew him, and my family knew very little about his military service. In fact, we only had one picture of him before this book came along! It was great to read about the places and people he would've known, and to gain an insight into family history.

The author has an incredible memory for names and events, and recounts his story of the war in an entertaining, everyman's tone. The photos tell a vivid story of an average man's war experience. I recommend it even if your grandfather is not between the covers.

I never received the book and would like a refund. I do not want to deal directly with the seller as I did not do so when purchasing. I sent one e-mail to the sellar and the English was very poor. It cannot be legitimate. I want a full refund.