Customer Reviews

The Last Lieutenant: A Foxhole View of the Epic Battle for Iwo Jima

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is a pretty good read. It is not a first person account but stands alone fairly well. It wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to anyone who has an interest in the battle of Iwo Jima. It's well written, well documented and has a host of photographs that are not that common in other books on the subject.

I did have some minor technical issues with the book, but I think they were based on the fact this book was written by the nephew of a combat veteran and not the man himself. These in no way overshadowed the value of this book.

Accounts of the Pacific War aren't as common as those from Europe so I will recommend the following. Goodbye Darkness, Helmet for my Pillow, With the Old Breed, and Flags of our Fathers.

Iwo Jima was the last of the really big battles in the Pacific. It was taken for two reasons:

First, the Japanese radar on the island gave the warning of coming air raids two hours before the B-29s would get to Japan, plenty of time to get the air defenses ready.

The long flight back from Japan cost a lot of American lives in the crashing of planes damaged or otherwise failing during attacks on Japan. Iwo was the only place an airstrip could be built that would take B-29s and provide maintenance and hospital services.

To get Iwo, on the other hand would cost 28,686 casualties. On the part of the Marines, Iwo cost just about one-third of all the Marines killed in the Pacific. Was it worth it? Returning B-29's that landed at Iwo held just about 30,000 airmen. While some of these would not have made it back to their bases, most wouldn't have. And we will never know how many B-29s were not shot down because the radar station was taken down.

This book is the story of one Marine platoon. It began Iwo with 41 men, received 19 replacements and after four weeks of combat came away from Iwo with the Lieutenant and ten men. From a total of 60 men, twenty were killed and thirty evacuated because of wounds. All this in 28 days. This book is the story of that Lieutenant, the uncle of the author.

Thank God for these men. Thank God again that I didn't have to go where they did.

I have to agree with all the foregoing reviews -- this book accurately portrays the Marine's bitter battle against determined defenders for that island. I've read nearly a dozen documentary sources of this battle, and learned some personal accounts from my dad, a platoon sargent in the 3rd Marine division. Ironically, he fought next to the airfields and areas where this 2Lt also fought. I'd say the author, though not a veteran of this campaign, got it right. And it's a fast and compelling read. If you know of Iwo, this is another and more personal accounting. Well Done, Mr. Shively, Five stars.

As with FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS, I found THE LAST LIEUTENANT to be completely riveting. I'm a big fan of military books, and this is as good as it gets.

I'm so glad we have people writing books like THE LAST LIEUTENANT while the heroes who fought historic battles like those on Iwo Jima are still with us.

Actually I enjoyed this book. It's a pretty short read, but not short on content. It doesn't contain as much vivid and gory details as most books on Iwo Jima, but what it does do is to introduce you to a warrior, man, and Uncle. The fact that this is not a first hand account of the battle actually enhances it. The collaboration between the author and his uncle makes a very nice read. I would reccommend this one.

This is an amazing story of one man's experience during the battle for Iwo Jima. Jim Craig was a young lieutenant in charge of a platoon of Marines, commanding and protecting his men throughout one of the bloodiest battles in history. Unlike in FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS, this book doesn't waste time on the story of the famous flag-raising episode. That happened a few days into the battle. Jim Craig continued his fight until the end of the month-long campaign, and never had time to notice a small event like a flag-raising. This is the true story of Iwo Jima in all its ugly brutality--this book spares no punches. You'll never look at war the same way again.

The Last Lieutenant is an epic tribute to a brave man thrust into the hell of Iwo Jima. This book becomes a riveting read as you move from training to battle, to the savagery that is war at its most merciless.

True to its press, this is indeed a "foxhole view" of one of the greatest battles in American history--with a personal twist that will leave you moved to tears.

The research was there, and the writing kept me glued to this book until the end. At times, I felt the need to bury myself in that volcanic ash. This is the sort of book that should be standard reading for junior officers, at the service academies--and by our politicians, who place our best in harm's way.

let me tell you that I had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Shively on a trip to Bataan and Corregidor and I must say that his passionate interest in the Pacific War is evident--and led to a terrific depiction of hell on earth: Iwo Jima.

I live in Indiana near the subject of this book and I was impressed by his bravery. One third of the Marines on Iwo Jima were either killed or wounded and he was the only surviving Lieutenant in his Battalion. He is an inspiration and we can never thank his generation enough for their sacrifice while preserving our freedoms.May God bless him.

"Iwo Jima was the last of the really big battles in the Pacific," writes an earlier reviewer as if to parade historical spin. Yes, the fighting on Iwo Jima became the symbol of the savagery of Pacific War combat, savagery that all but shut out other considerations. But images --in this case the stirring photograph of the flag-raising on Mount Suribachi--have the power to cloud and negate reality. What reality? That the far longer, therefore much harder fighting on and around Okinawa starting weeks later caused more than twice as many Americans casualties than on Guadalcanal and Iwo combined. That's not to take away from the men who fought in any of the horrific battles, or "merely" existed on any of the islands; it's to plead for a little knowledge on the part of those who pass judgment on such things. By the way, Iwo was a garrison island, with no civilian population, whereas Okinawa was home to an ancient, truly peace-loving civilization, and a third of its population perished in the battle: more than the civilian victims at Hiroshima. But the loss of the 150,000-odd Okinawans--more than ten times the Americans killed in action--is scarcely known here, let alone regretted.

This is an absolute must read for anyone interested in World War 2, the Pacific battles, the Battle of Iwo Jima, or close combat war stories of any type. I found it hard to put this book down. The horrible sights these men witnessed while in combat must still haunt them in their dreams. Thank God for men who were willing to go through these battles so that we don't speak Japanese today.