Full Description
This fascinating, richly illustrated survey of all aspects of the Pacific war, from Pearl Harbor to Japan's surrender in Tokyo Bay, offers something unique among World War II histories: an extensive color 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 beautifully 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 travelers. 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 of the more than twenty photo essays 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 color 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.
Contents
Preface Foreword by Joe Foss Chapter I: This Is No Drill! - The Attack on Pearl Harbor - Pearl Harbor - Remember Wake Island - The Doolittle Raid on Tokyo Chapter II: The Time Buyers - Losing the Philippines - The Bataan Death March - Surrendering Corregidor Chapter III: The Long Road Back - Invading Guadalcanal - Guadalcanal - Tulagi and the PT Boats - Munda and the Evolution of an Island Base - Bora Bora the Island Paradise Chapter IV: A Thousand Honored Dead - Overcoming Tarawa - Tarawa - Guam, Saipan, and Tinian, the B-29 Bases - On the Sidelines - Peleliu, the Unnecessary Sacrifice - They Also Serve Who Stand and Wait - Returning to the Philippines Chapter V: Uncommon Valor a Common Virtue - Securing Iwo Jima - Iwo Jima - The Interpreters - Pacific Island Natives - Okinawa, the Last Land Battle Chapter VI: Nothing New About Death - Bombing Hiroshima and Nagasaki - The Atom Bombs and the Japanese Surrender
