Customer Reviews

Pacific Warriors: The U.S. Marines in World War II: A Pictorial Tribute

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

Pacific Warriors is one of those rare books that absolutely captures the essence of an era. Eric Hammel's photo selection and text sets the stage and allows the images themselves to tell the story of a generation of Marines who fought the battles in the Central Pacific during World War II. These photos remind everyone that the cost of victory over Japan did not come cheap. The combat cameramen captured the close-range fighting brilliantly, and some of the best war photography ever taken can be seen within the pages of this book. If you have even a passing interest in this topic, you need to own this work. Get it on your bookshelf right away, you will not be disappointed.

Born in 1940, I lived a serene childhood during the War. Our hardships were rationing and blackouts. My like-age cousin in Southwestern Germany dodged bombs and tanks, lost her father somewhere on the Eastern Front and our great uncle when their town was overrun. Like her, I knew we were at war. Our city streets had plenty of amputee veterans and men in uniform. I saw the Atlantic horizon lined with warships. I played war with my brother and "flew" my toy planes crying, "bombs over Tokyo." How protected we American children were!

It may be a cliche to say it but we should never forget. This book brings back the faces of a few of the men who took the war to the enemy and kept it from our land. It is a tribute to the combat photographers that many of these pictures exist and though black and white stills do not communicate the sound, fury, and chaos of the battlefield, many of the photos capture the action in a way that makes it seem to unfold before our eyes.

The battlefield photos personalize the War. You see the tension and fatigue in men's eyes. Where Marines or Japs lie dead you are confronted with the ultimate impact on the luckless. Where men's faces are clear you are struck by the combination of youthfulness and age that seem intermingled. Among the living you wonder what became of them.

For sheer impact, I recommend the photo at the top left of page 154. Taken on a Tarawa beachead, five Marines are visible in the cover of a disabled Amtrak. One is dead, two are ready for action, and two are condition unknown. Of the five, the first three are the true subjects of the photo. Their faces are clear. The dead man looks young and at peace. The other two are alert and tense facing inland toward the enemy. You can imagine them lunging forward at first opportunity out of the cover of the Amtrak to meet whatever fate awaits them.

The book is more than a collection of captioned photos. Instead, the photos illuminate the textual description of Marine Corps activities prior to and during the War in the Pacific. Chapters are devoted to each of the major island campaigns, to training, amphibious force history and development, experiences early in the war etc. The writing is clear and to the point providing a good overview and summary. Readers wishing to focus on just one book covering Marine Corps participation in WWII will be well served by this book.

This book covers the full scope of the island-hopping Marines, with vivid pictures portraying what they went through in World War II. However, if you want to follow one Marine who hit Tulagi, Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Saipan, Guam, and Iwo Jima, I recommend reading "Pacific War Marine."

I originally received the hardcover version of the book as a gift and was immediately impressed with the quality of the paper and image quality. I am certainly not a military history expert, but if you are a fan of WWII military history or the Marines, you will enjoy Hammel's work as he takes you through a series of famous marine battles of the WWII "Pacific War". I enjoyed the layout and distribution of the photos without being overwhelmed by them. As an earlier review stated, this a wonderful overview, and is not intended to be an in depth analysis. On this basis, this book is definitely worthy of five stars!

I bought this book for Christmas for my elderly uncle. I personally thought the book looked very nice. The pictures are large and a nice quality. But the true value of the book was determined by my uncle. He was in WWII himself, so the man knows his stuff. He opened the present and was immediately thrilled with it. He started reading it and looking through it right away, unable to wait through the rest of the present opening. The pictures were large enough that even though his eye sight is now quite poor, he could see and enjoy the book. We continued opening present and he was totally immersed in the book. Other relatives tried to get him to open his presents from them, and he actually told them no, he was busy reading this book I got him! It is an excellent present for any WWII buff. If you have a history fan on your Christmas list, someone you have no idea what to purchase for, buy him this. I had no idea it could possibly make my uncle this happy.

This is another fine addition to Mr Hammel's series of pictorial essays of the Pacific Islands Campaign of WWII. In this volume, Mr Hammel covers Guadalcanal, New Georgia, Bougainville, Cape Gloucester, Raaul, Tarawa, Marshall Islands, Saipan, Tinian, Guam, Peleliu, Iwo Jima and Okinawa.
The author has assembled many stirring battle scenes that help depict the difficulties the Marines experienced. The photos are choregraphed to a concise narrative of each campaign and with the two working together, it adds to the reader's experience.

The large black and white photos help in another way as well. I've read a number of books of the invasion of Guadalcanal and its neighboring islands to the north where the Marines had a difficult time in securing Gavutu and Tanambogo. This is the first time I've actually seen these two tiny joined islands with smaoke still billowing from the invasion; it helps you understand what you've read. You can read the battle of Bloody Ridge many times but until you see a full page photo of a large field of so many dead American and Japanese soldiers who have died in close action combat that practicaly obscures the ground do you begin to get a real understanding of those terrible days.

This is an excellent book showing the US Marines during WW2 in the Pacific. Both the pictures and text are some of the best I have seen. This book will truly be appreciated by anyone who wants to understand what it was like to be a Marine fighting in the Pacific Theater of Operations during World War II.