Customer Reviews

War in the Pacific: Pearl Harbor to Tokyo Bay

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I picked up this book while visiting Pearl Harbor. I have read many books on the Pacific War, and while this book may have lacked intricate details about events in the Pacific Theater of operation, one must remember that this is a SINGLE volume. In that capacity, in fills the niche quite nicely. If you are looking for a lavishly illustrated book on the Pacific War, from the very beginning to the very end, this is it!

I bought this book in order to read get "the big picture" and read more about the history and locations where my Dad was during WWII as an officer/bomber pilot against the Japanese in the South Pacific with the hopes to write his story while he's still alive (he's 79 years old). He enlisted into the Army Air Corps (now the Air Force) on his 20th birthday in November 1941(before Pearl Harbor!) and flew B-24s, B-25s, and B-26s in dozens of missions early in the war, based in the jungles of New Guinea. He was also involved some in intelligence so he knew a lot about where troops were at any given point and what was going on with the enemy in the various areas during the first 2-3 years of the war. Only in the past 10-12 years has he finally been able to talk about his experiences over there. He's one of a dwindling group of surviving veterans still around to tell their stories. When I showed this book to my Dad, he spent a couple days looking through it and much to my surprise was extremely critical of it. He said it was fine as a photo book of uniforms and equipment possibly used during the war plus some photos of people, but the written stories were filled with inaccuracies regarding events, locations, and errors of omissions. Very disappointing! He insisted I return the book and get my money back because it not only was not worth the paper it was printed on, it was actually dangerous because of its inaccuracies. Since he lived the war and was there, I trust his knowledge and judgement, and thought I'd pass on this info to those who might be curious about this book. He (and I) think there must be better books out on the market, so save your money for those.