Pacific Legacy: Image and Memory from World War II in the Pacific [Hardcover]

Gerald A. Meehl (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 26, 2002

This illustrated survey of all aspects of the Pacific war, from Pearl Harbor to Japan's surrender in Tokyo Bay, offers an extensive colour portfolio of dramatic wartime relics that have survived decades on most of the Pacific island battlefields. Rusting American landing craft and tanks still can be found on the treacherous reefs and beaches where they were tragically stopped by enemy fire so long ago; aircraft of both sides lie hidden in the jungles where they crashed; battle-scarred Japanese pillboxes and artillery emplacements still stand sentinel; and packed-coral landing strips remain as good as new. Such evocative memento mori have been captured on film by Jerry Meehl, probably the only photographer to have sought out these far-flung battle sites, many of them still dangerous underfoot and now off-limits to travellers. The authors also searched official archives for pictures that show the real terrors of combat and often found images displaying the very tanks and amtracs now decomposing on distant invasion beaches. They also found captured prewar photos of newly built Japanese pillboxes and gun emplacements, which they contrast with images of their current war-torn condition. But "Pacific Legacy" is far from just a "then" and "now" picture book. Each photo essay of particular battles features a lively narrative that relies heavily on the firsthand accounts of men who were there, archival pictures shot during the actual fighting, and colour photographs of the remaining Japanese bunkers and gun emplacements, all of which help the reader visualize what hand-to-hand combat in the Pacific war must have been like.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Rex Alan Smith is a veteran of 36 months with the Army Engineers in the Pacific. His books include: One Last Look (Abbeville), about the 8th Air Force in World War II, and The Carving of Mount Rushmore (Abbeville). Gerald Meehl, the author of more than 90 articles, has traveled extensively in the South Pacific for three decades and has photographed every major island battlefield as well as other related sites. Joe Foss, Medal of Honor winner at Guadalcanal, was the Marine Corps' Ace of Aces, with 26 confirmed kills, the first American fighter pilot to surpass Eddie Rickenbacker's record set in World War I.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 312 pages
• Publisher: Abbeville Press; First Edition edition (April 26, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0789207613
• ISBN-13: 978-0789207616
• Product Dimensions: 10.3 x 10.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,053,107 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating Book, January 15, 2003

By 

Dean E. Robertson (Wooster, OH USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Pacific Legacy: Image and Memory from World War II in the Pacific (Hardcover)

I've read a lot of books about the Pacific war, but this one is definitely my favorite.

Rex Alan Smith served 36 months as an Army Engineer in the Pacific. Since then, he has traveled extensively, visiting and talking with other veterans of the Pacific war. Gerald Meehl has spent years combing the Pacific and photographing the places which played important roles in WWII in the Pacific: places such as Pearl Harbor, Wake Island, Bataan, Corregidor, Guadalcanal, Tulagi, Munda, Tarawa, Guam, Saipan, Tinian, Peleliu, Iwo Jima, Okinawa; along with lesser-known, but exotic outposts, such as Bora Bora and Pago Pago.

What emerges from their work is a series of more than 20 essays on individual battles, in the order in which they occurred, from the attack on Pearl Harbor to the final surrender at Tokyo Bay. The essays begin with explanations of why the battles were fought, and what strategies were employed. Aerial photographs give you an overall view of the operation. First-hand accounts by the men who fought there give you a chilling sense of what it was like to charge up the beach in the face of withering enemy fire. There are hundreds of photographs - about half in black and white, which were taken during the actual fighting; and half in color, taken by Mr. Meehl some years later, often of the same scenes. The color photographs are beautiful and haunting. You'll see the rusting hulk of an abandoned tank, or the crumbling rubble of a bombed-out pillbox, surrounded by sparkling white beaches with swaying palms, crystal clear ocean waters, and blue skies with fluffy white clouds.

In his introduction to the book, Joe Foss, Medal of Honor winner at Guadalcanal, says, "We could not cover every campaign in detail, nor was it our purpose to present a comprehensive history of the Pacific war. Rather, we tried to create for the reader, while the veterans themselves can recall it, what that war was like--how it looked and felt and smelled--and to examine the legacy today of a war so fiercely fought on faraway Pacific Islands."

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pacific Legacy, October 6, 2007

By 

Ted D. Stikeleather "Dave" (Cincinnati, OH) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Pacific Legacy: Image and Memory from World War II in the Pacific (Hardcover)

I normally don't write reviews but for this book I had to make an exception. Of the hundreds of books on the Pacific war I've read over the years, this stands head and shoulders above any I've read. The photos are spectacular and are well laid out. If you have any interest in the personal part of that war, this is an absolute must. Just as an aside, I recommended to a WWII Seabee friend, he bought it, and found his photo.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A hardback trip to semi-mythical Pacific battlefields, July 25, 2011

By 

Swift (Cambridge, UK) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Pacific Legacy: Image and Memory from World War II in the Pacific (Hardcover)

World War II in western europe holds a sort of fascination for people partially because it occurred in environments that, albeit european, are familiar to us and to people that are similar to us (as American readers). The War in the Pacific is the opposite - it seems to have occurred in some otherworldly idyll - beautiful and largely unpopulated or underpopulated, the setting for the Pacific War might well have come out of some video game designer's imagination.

However, it was very much a real war and the places are very much real. And, they do exist! "Pacific Legacy" takes us to places that for many of us have been half shrouded in myth, legend, and imagination through our interpretation of written text. Guadalcanal is a real place, as are Sugar Loaf Hill, Tarawa, Iwo, and Tinian. And yet the author's taking us there, through photos and text, does not fully pop our illusions - they still largely remain somehow otherworldly. Look at the world around you now and think about how it has changed in the last 70 years. Now think about the place on Iwo Jima where American marines planted that flag - it is remarkably unchanged and in fact it seems that even war barely changed the place which seems destinated to ourlive the human race. Let this wonderful book both ground your thinking about the Pacific War in terms of the realities of such places and also provide mental flight for you to them.

I don't know who the reviewer was kidding who wrote that this is the best book he has read on the pacific war - that's pretty silly, since "Pacific Legacy's" take is fairly narrow; but it is certainly unique and invaluable. Beautiful photographs. Very highly recommended.

NB: a book that makes a good complement to this is one called "Perilous Memories" that has been unfairly thrashed on amazon by people who obviously haven't read it. If you appreciate Pacific Legacy, Perilous Memories is an excellent companion.Perilous Memories: The Asia-Pacific War(s)