Download or read book A PT Skipper in the South Pacific written by Kenneth W. Prescott and published by CreateSpace. This book was released on 2011-12-22 with total page 146 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Merriam Press World War 2 Memoir Series Second Edition 2011 From training at Melville, Rhode Island, to the South Pacific where as XO and CO of PT 61 and CO of PT 48 he served at Tulagi-Florida Island, Guadalcanal, and the Russells, as well as on different assignments in Torokina, Bougainville, and Emirau, New Ireland, back to Melville and on to the USS Jamestown (AGP-3) as XO, home based in the Philippines, and finally to his post-war career in the Navy. Included are his bird collecting and taxidermy efforts during and after the war, as well as an encounter with future president John F. Kennedy. Contents Acknowledgments Chapter 1: Pearl Harbor and Joining the Navy Chapter 2: Motor Torpedo Boat Training, Melville, Rhode Island Chapter 3: To the South Pacific Chapter 4: The Old-Timers: Heroes of the PT Saga Chapter 5: Calvertville Chapter 6: XO of PT 61 Chapter 7: Patrolling and Boxing Chapter 8: The Russells, Rats, and Poker Chapter 9: Taxidermy-South Pacific Style Chapter 10: CO of PT 61 Chapter 11: Kennedy, Crocs, and Gunboats Chapter 12: CO of PT 48 Chapter 13: Torokina and Malaria Chapter 14: Bougainville and Bird Collecting Chapter 15: Emirau and Back to the U.S. Chapter 16: Melville Again Chapter 17: Back to the Pacific; Chapter 18: XO of the Jamestown Chapter 19: Japan Surrenders and Jamestown Returns Home Chapter 20: Recuperating in Hollywood Chapter 21: My Post-War Studies Chapter 22: Naval Reserve and Civilian Life Chapter 23: Epilogue 100 photos/illustrations

Download or read book A PT Skipper in the South Pacific A Naval Officer s Memoir of Service on PTs and a PT Boat Tender written by Kenneth W. Prescott and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2023-04-20 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: by Kenneth W. Prescott, Captain, USNR (Ret.) Merriam Press World War II Memoir From training at Melville, Rhode Island, to the South Pacific where as XO and CO of PT 61 and CO of PT 48 he served at Tulagi-Florida Island, Guadalcanal, and the Russells, as well as on different assignments in Torokina, Bougainville, and Emirau, New Ireland, back to Melville and on to the USS Jamestown (AGP-3) as XO, home based in the Philippines, and finally to his post-war career in the Navy. Included are his bird collecting and taxidermy efforts during and after the war, as well as an encounter with future president John F. Kennedy. 100 photos

Download or read book Fast Boats and Fast Times written by David M. Levy and published by AuthorHouse. This book was released on 2008 with total page 138 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the gruesome battle for Guadalcanal, David Levy was skipper of PT 59, one of several Patrol/Torpedo boats that were among the first U.S. Navy vessels to engage Japanese warships at the beginning of World War II. Dave's wartime experiences in the South Pacific marked one of the most transformative periods in his life. In the Navy he quickly learned to assume a "deal-maker" persona that helped him get along with fellow PT boat skippers, many of whom, like future president John F. Kennedy, came from privileged East Coast families. He got to be known in the Navy by the nickname "Hogan," famous as "the guy to go to," who could get things done, organize parties well-stocked with liquor and women, obtain supplies when none seemed available, and, in those early, desperate days of the battle for Guadalcanal, also perform in the top ranks of competent PT boat skippers. The PT boats were small, maneuverable, and fast, and they were given the seemingly impossible mission of regularly engaging and sinking the much larger and more numerous destroyers, cruisers, and battleships of the Imperial Japanese Navy. Dave's PT 59 was in the thick of all the action. These brave PT boat skippers, many of whom were graduates of Ivy League colleges or the U.S. Naval Academy, were a hard-partying group, and their "fast times" during World War II epitomized the intensity with which life was lived by those who, like Dave, were fully engaged in the deadly struggles of the Pacific War. Dave's wartime experiences shaped the rest of his life, a long journey that has included a successful law career, annual ski trips to his vacation home in Aspen since the early 1950s, and fishing all over the world.

Download or read book Condition Red Destroyer Action In The South Pacific Illustrated Edition written by Commander F. J. Bell and published by Pickle Partners Publishing. This book was released on 2015-11-06 with total page 647 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Includes the Second World War In The Pacific Illustration Pack – 152 maps, plans and photos. Commander Frederick Bell recounts his wartime experiences on the USS G (Grayson) during the Pacific War. “CONDITION RED” was an expression that we used to indicate the imminence of any type of engagement. Aboard the G it was a colloquialism that served to express the conviction that the next few hours or days or weeks were going to be packed with action. We first heard it soon after we arrived in the Solomons, where the term was used on Guadalcanal and Tulagi to indicate the approach of the enemy, and when our voice radio blared out the words we went to General Quarters and prepared to greet the Tokyo Express or the Zeros and Mitsubishis when they came within view. Little has been written of the part that our destroyers are playing in the Pacific War, where they are called upon to fulfil such a variety of missions that they have become multipurpose ships, engaging in any form of combat. Because we lacked suitable escort ships we used destroyers to protect convoys as well as to guard our combatant Task Forces. We used them to bombard enemy shore positions and to carry bombs and aviation gasoline and stores to Guadalcanal during the lean weeks early in our campaign in those far-distant seas. By nature as well as by name, the purpose of the destroyer is wholly offensive. Bantamweights in comparison with the great battlewagons, they pack a punch out of all proportion to their size. They are triple-threat weapons, built to strike at any enemy on or over or under the sea. In the words of Rear Admiral Tisdale, “They are the fightingest thing afloat.”

Download or read book Swell written by Liz Clark and published by Patagonia. This book was released on 2018-04 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sailing Ten Years and 20,000 Miles In Search of Surf and Self

Download or read book MotorBoating written by and published by . This book was released on 1944-06 with total page 126 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Devil Boats written by William Breuer and published by . This book was released on 1996 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mark Rupert traces the relationship between American global power and the rise of mass production. The United States was propelled to the apex of the global division of labor, ensuring victory in World War II and enabling postwar reconstruction under American leadership. Through a study of Ford Motor Company between 1914 and 1952, he examines the political and ideological struggles through which industrial labor was incorporated into the coalition of statesmen and capitalists that constructed the postwar world order.

Download or read book One Marine s War written by Gerald A Meehl and published by Naval Institute Press. This book was released on 2012-05-15 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One Marine’s War recounts the experiences of Robert Sheeks, a Marine combat interpreter, and how he underwent a remarkable transformation as a consequence of his encounters with the Imperial Japanese Army, Nisei Japanese-American language instructors, Japanese and Pacific Island native civilians, and American Marines. It is the first time the entire story of one Marine Corps combat interpreter has been told, and it provides a unique insight into an aspect of the Pacific war that is not only fascinating history, but also a compelling personal struggle to come to terms with a traumatic childhood and subsequent harrowing combat experiences. The son of an American corporate executive, Bob was born and raised in Shanghai until the family fled the impending Japanese occupation in the 1930s. He was emotionally scarred by grisly atrocities he personally witnessed as the Japanese military terrorized the Chinese population during the “Shanghai Incident” in 1932. However, his intense hatred for the Japanese military was gradually transformed into tolerance and then compassion. He was recruited out of Harvard after the Pearl Harbor attack to be a Japanese language interpreter in the Marine Corps. When he encountered kind and considerate Japanese-American Nisei instructors during the intensive course at the U.S. Navy Japanese Language School at the University of Colorado, he began to re-think his attitudes toward the Japanese. Ultimately, through an intriguing set of circumstances, he developed an empathy for the Japanese enemy he formerly despised. This began during the invasion of Tarawa where he was frustrated by the near impossibility of capturing Japanese combatants, partly because there was no way to communicate with them in their bunkers where they fought to the death. That led him to devise methods to use a combination of surrender leaflets and amplified voice appeals to convince the enemy to surrender. As a consequence, he personally ended up saving the lives of hundreds of Japanese civilians and military by being able to talk them out of caves during combat on Saipan and Tinian in 1944. He was able to find humanity in the midst of war. For his efforts he was awarded the Bronze Star with a unique commendation, certainly one of the few medals ever given to a Marine officer for saving the lives of the enemy.

Download or read book Tales of the South Pacific written by James A. Michener and published by Dial Press Trade Paperback. This book was released on 2014-09-09 with total page 386 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Tales of the South Pacific is the iconic, Pulitzer Prize–winning masterpiece that inspired a Broadway classic and launched the career of James A. Michener, one of America’s most beloved storytellers. This thrilling work invites the reader to enter the exotic world of the South Pacific and luxuriate in the endless ocean, the coconut palms, the waves breaking into spray against the reefs, the full moon rising behind the volcanoes. And yet here also are the men and women caught up in the heady drama of World War II: the young Marine who falls for a beautiful Tonkinese girl; the Navy nurse whose prejudices are challenged by a French aristocrat; and all the soldiers and sailors preparing for war against the seemingly peaceful backdrop of a tropical paradise. Praise for James A. Michener and Tales of the South Pacific “Truly one of the most remarkable books to come out of [World War II] . . . Michener is a born storyteller.”—The New York Times “Riveting and emotional . . . Ever since James Michener wrote Tales of the South Pacific, the dreamers among us have been searching for our own Bali Ha’i.”—The Washington Post “Atmospheric . . . [Tales of the South Pacific marks] the beginning of Michener’s long exploration of what happens when cultures connect, or fail to.”—Los Angeles Times “Few writers changed the face of American fiction as profoundly as did James Michener.”—San Francisco Chronicle

Download or read book Pacific Glory written by P. T. Deutermann and published by St. Martin's Press. This book was released on 2011-03-15 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A thrilling, multi-layered World War II adventure following two men and an unforgettable woman, from Pearl Harbor through the most dramatic air and sea battles of the war Marsh, Mick, and Tommy were inseparable friends during their naval academy years, each man desperately in love with the beautiful, unattainable Glory Hawthorne. Graduation set them on separate paths into the military, but they were all forever changed during the Pearl Harbor attack on December 7, 1941. Glory, now Tommy's widow, is a tough Navy nurse still grieving her loss while trying to save lives. Marsh, a surface ship officer, finds himself in the thick of terrifying sea combat from Guadalcanal through Midway to a climactic showdown at Leyte Gulf. And Mick, a hotshot fighter pilot with a drinking problem and a chip on his shoulder, seeks redemption after a series of failures leaves him grounded. Filled with wide-screen action, romance, and heroism tinged with the brutal reality of war, Pacific Glory is a dynamic new direction for an acclaimed thriller writer. One of Library Journal's Best Historical Fiction Books of 2011

Download or read book Into the Dark Water written by John J. Domagalski and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2014-04-19 with total page 429 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The complete World War II record of one of the most celebrated warships in American history—made famous by her final commanding officer, John F. Kennedy. Fleshing out the little-known chronicle of this patrol torpedo boat under two officers during the swirling battles around Guadalcanal, “John Domagalski brings PT-109 and her crew back to life once again and, in doing so, honors all who served in the patrol torpedo service” (Military Review). In these mainly nocturnal fights, when the Japanese navy was at its apex, America’s small, fast-boat flotillas darted in among the enemy fleet, like a “barroom brawl with the lights turned out.” Bryant Larson and Rollin Westholm preceded Kennedy as commanders of PT-109, and their fights leading the ship and its brave crew hold second to none in the chronicles of US Navy daring. As the battles moved on across the Pacific, the PT-boat flotillas gained confidence, even as the Japanese, too, learned lessons on how to destroy them. Under its third and final commander, Kennedy, PT-109 met its fate as a Japanese destroyer suddenly emerged from a dark mist and rammed it in half. Two crewmen were killed immediately, but Kennedy, formerly on the swim team at Harvard, was able to shepherd his wounded and others to refuge. His unsurpassed gallantry cannot resist retelling, yet the courage of the book’s previous commanders have not until now seen the light of day. This book provides the complete record of PT-109 in the Pacific, as well as a valuable glimpse of how the American Navy’s daring and initiative found its full playing field in World War II.

Download or read book At Close Quarters PT Boats in the United States Navy written by Robert J. Bulkley and published by Historical Studies. This book was released on 2012-09 with total page 683 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Small though they were, PT boats played a key role in World War II, carrying out an astonishing variety of missions where fast, versatile, and strongly armed vessels were needed. Called "weapons of opportunity," they met the enemy at closer quarters and with greater frequency than any other type of surface craft. Among the most famous PT commanders was John F. Kennedy, whose courageous actions in the Pacific are now well known to the American public. The author of the book, another distinguished PT boat commander in the Pacific, compiled this history of PT-boat operations in World War II for the U.S. Navy shortly after V-J Day, when memories were fresh and records easily assessable. Bulkley provides a wealth of facts about these motor torpedo boats, whose vast range of operation covered two oceans as well as the Mediterranean and the English Channel. Although their primary mission was to attack surface ships and craft close to shore, they were also used effectively to lay mines and smoke screens, to rescue downed aviators, and to carry out intelligence and raider operations. The author gives special attention to the crews, paying well-deserved tribute to their heroism, skill, and sacrifice that helped to win the war.

Download or read book Under a Blood Red Sun written by John J. Domagalski and published by Casemate. This book was released on 2016-11-30 with total page 523 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The author of Into the Dark Water “balances scholarly research with accessible storytelling” to tell the heroic WWII account of Torpedo Boat Squadron 3 (Midwest Book Review). During the opening days of World War II in the Pacific, a small group of American sailors in the Philippines were propelled into the forefront of the fighting against the navy and air power of Imperial Japan. They were manned with six small, wooden PT-boats and led by a courageous, larger-than-life character in Lt. John D. Bulkeley. As America’s defense of the Philippines crumbled under the weight of a massive Japanese assault, the courageous activities of Bulkeley’s Torpedo Boat Squadron 3 made headlines across the United States—often as the only good news coming from the bleak Pacific front. The unit achieved everlasting fame by evacuating Gen. Douglas MacArthur from the front. Then, the squadron continued to fight on until all six of its torpedo boats were lost under fire. The fate of the doomed American defenders was sealed when the Japanese won the battle for the islands in the spring of 1942. The exploits of the unit were immortalized in the blockbuster 1945 movie They Were Expendable, starring John Wayne and Robert Montgomery, but since then, the saga of Bulkeley and his men has slipped into history. Under a Blood Red Sun revives the story of the Philippine PT-boats through the intertwined accounts of Bulkeley and his subordinate officers and men. It is a story of the courage and sacrifice of men thousands of miles from their homeland, representing American gallantry and fighting prowess, giving the Japanese a taste of what was to come their way.

Download or read book United States PT boats of World War II in Action written by Frank D. Johnson and published by Blandford. This book was released on 1980 with total page 168 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An account of the development of American motor-torpedo boats and their important role in naval operations during World War II.

Download or read book All Hands written by and published by . This book was released on 1978 with total page 676 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Kennedy written by Mark White and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 2013-11-07 with total page 201 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An exploration of the creation and development of John F. Kennedy's image, one of the most powerful and enduring in modern history.

Download or read book Dark Waters Starry Skies written by Jeffrey Cox and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2023-03-02 with total page 537 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Esteemed Pacific War historian Jeffrey Cox has produced a fast-paced and absorbing read of the crucial New Georgia phase of the Guadalcanal-Solomons Campaign during the Pacific War. Thousands of miles from friendly ports, the US Navy had finally managed to complete the capture of Guadalcanal from the Japanese in early 1943. Now the Allies sought to keep the offensive momentum won at such a high cost. Determined not to repeat their mistakes at Guadalcanal, the Allies nonetheless faltered in their continuing efforts to roll back the Japanese land, air and naval forces. Dark Waters, Starry Skies is an engrossing history which weaves together strategy and tactics with a blow-by-blow account of every battle at a vital point in the Pacific War that has not been analyzed in this level of detail before. Using first-hand accounts from both sides, this book vividly recreates all the terror and drama of the nighttime naval battles during this phase of the Solomons campaign and the ferocious firestorm many Marines faced as they disembarked from their landing craft. The reader is transported to the bridge to stand alongside Admiral Walden Ainsworth as he sails to stop another Japanese reinforcement convoy for New Georgia, and vividly feels the fear of an 18-year-old Marine as he fights for survival against a weakened but still determined enemy.