Customer Reviews

The Ragged, Rugged Warriors

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The first time I read The Ragged, Rugged Warriors was over thirty years ago. Until then, like many others, I thought the earliest American involvement against the Japanese air forces was the Flying Tigers [before Pearl Harbor]. This book covers not only the American Volunteer Group, but the British and Dutch Empire interests, the Soviet-Japanese Nomonhan Incident, as well that of the Chinese themselves. Forgotten men like George Weigel, Tommy Walker and Gregory-Richmond Board are introduced as they try simply to survive the onslaught of the Rising Sun. There are those luckless Army aviators in their buckish and broken-down P-400's struggling against the nimble Zero's [and with no oxygen at altitude] at Guadalcanal. Caiden regales us with the exploits of Lieutenant Muri and his crew as they suffer their own personal hell at the Battle of Midway in a hauling --- Marauder medium bomber at wavetop level with the ubiquitous Zero's clawing away with guns and cannon. Not dwelling too long in any one setting, Caiden offers insight into the characters of these men who laid down more than just their lives to stem the unrelenting tide of Japanese conquest in East Asia and the Pacific. Not always knowing why, these men were buying what the Japanese could not afford to give in spite of their impressive victories in China and the Pacific islands. They were buying time...and at great cost. This is their story and deserves its place in the annals of history.

My father is one of the featured aviators in this book. The author interviewed my father extensively, and the depiction he provided in his book matches exactly with the stories my father told me.

I would expect that family of other featured men and women would have similar remarks to make.

The author is a talented writer, having many aviation books to his credit, as well as some fine fiction, so if the reader is looking for both an historically correct rendering of some of the finer moments in aviation, and a fine read, this book is for them.

All of us like stories where the good guys win. We are not naturally drawn to tales of mass incompetence and bad decisions resulting in futile bloodshed and losing battles. Martin Caiden sets out to tell just such a story, and he does so compellingly.

In the months and years leading up to Pearl Harbor and America's entrance into World War II several airmen came into contact with Japanese air power. As they consistently encountered the power and technological superiority of the Mitsubishi Zero fighter plane, and the overwhelmingly superior skill of the Japanese pilots, they grew concerned and informed the US. Their warnings were ignored.

Caiden relates the stories of these men, and others who joined them, as they faced alone the Japanese onslaught with outdated planes, having to learn fighting skills "on the fly". He covers in details the stories of these brave Americans as they fought in China, at Pearl Harbor, the Phillipines, Malaysia, and other places.

He finishes his harrowing account with a chapter entitled "The Other Midway", in which he narrates the story of a group of Marauder bombers that attacked the Japanese fleet. Almost all were lost, none hit thier target. But they sufficiently distracted the enemy so other fighters and bombers could move in for the kill. Such is the legacy of the ragged, rugged warriors.

The book is well-researched. The author is very knowlegable in the subject, and sprinkles his narrative generously with first-hand accounts. Once I began reading this book, I had difficulty putting it down.The Ragged, Rugged Warriors

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The author has given us a very good account of the difficult early days of WWII for the allies fighting the Japanese, who had better planes of nearly every type1941-'42.
This book is a true classic and hopefully will be reprinted soon.