Customer Reviews

Green Hell: The Battle for Guadalcanal (Hellgate Memories Series)

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Since my father served on Guadalcanal, I have naturally been interested in this epic, six month struggle, for many years. I have read many books on the subject including the "classics" dealing specificaly with the Marines, Army, and "Cactus Air Force" as well as stories of the coast watchers (Martin Clemmons).

I have found Mr. Owens works the best, one source, book on the subject. It is a very thorough, well researched, chronological work on the battle. It treated all branches of the service equally and evenhandedly.

Two particular techniques Mr. Owens uses very well are his "close ups" of various combatants, letting us know them as individuals from their hometown with mothers, families and the such, and his WW-II "snapshots" where he "zooms-out" to give us insight into what is happening elsewhere in the war at a specific time. I have never seen the struggle for Guadalcanal shown in time relation to the fighting in Africa, etc.

If you choose to read one authoritative work on this pivital battle of the second world war, Green Hell by William Owens is the book to read.

It was the most comprehensive book on Guadalcanal that I've ever read. As a World War II veteran, I really appreciated and related to Owen's coverage of personal stories. I still remember landing with the 35th Regiment and Division Hqs. of the 25th Division on December 17, 1942. Our Division released the first Marine Division. There were still two months of jungle fighting ahead for the army. The book so accurately recounted my experience of reducing the GIFU pocket and the Galloping Horse, plus several other strong points. We pushed the Japanese all the way back to Cape Esperance where they evacuated their troops over two nights in early February. Overall, this is certainly one of the best books I've read on this subject and would recommend it for history buffs, veterans and interested parties alike.

This book by Army Security Agency veteran Owens of the Korean War is like Audie Murphy's To Hell and Back. It's the story of people who'll live again, like General Lewis "Chesty" Puller, the most decorated Marine of World War II (also of the Korean War) who inspired his men by one of the most unusual philosophies in history - he fought alongside them. You'll find Marine Captain Joseph J. (Joe) Foss from Sioux Falls South Dakota who won the Medal of Honor and was the first aviator in World War II to exceed the record of Captain Eddie Rickenbacker in WWI and kept surviving his planes being shot down. You'll find Admiral Halsey here and the whole 1st Marine Division and the Second Marine Division and Army who relieved them later on and the Navy that lost so many men. You'll find Sergeant "Manila" John Basilone of Buffalo, New York, who did an "Audie Murphy" and won the Medal of Honor.

I knew that the war in the pacific was a hard fought battle but Green Hell: The Battle for Guadalcanal shows that it was even more than that. This book tells the story of man at war with man and man at war with nature. The island itself claimed more lifes than the bloody battles fought between the men involved it the struggle to control this tiny island. Mr. Owens starts his reader with the events leading up the need to occupy the island. Then he take you through the hell these men endured there and ends his narrative with the island frimly in the hands of the Americans. Mr. Owens shows us that the battle was more than just a battle for a small out of the way island but reveals its importance to the entire war effort. My hat's off to Mr. Owens for this well written book and my thanks for the men who fought there.

Green Hell is bad history. Owens is a journalist not an historian and it shows. The book draws primarily on secondary sources and is riddled with the same errors that have plagued earlier works. Moreover, there are no maps. Owens solicited inputs from veterans and these accounts, when they appear in the book, are simply wonderful. Indeed, they're the only thing which raises this book to the level of mediocrity. If you want an accurate and informative work on the Guadalcanal campaign, read Richard B. Frank's book.