Thomas F. (hardtack) -
The premise of this book is that those who served in the Merchant Marine service of World War II deserve to be recognized as serving and dying in the service of their country, and deserve many, if not all, the benefits given those who served in the military. Personally, I don't have a problem with this premise. Unfortunately, I think the author's attempt to write a book supporting this fails in its purpose due to the disorganization of the book and it's many errors.
To support his premise the author recounts numerous tales of heroism by members of the Merchant Marine. And I admit to being impressed with many of these stories. This is fine, except there is no organization. I received the impression the author had a pile of notes in front of him and wrote his book note by note, instead of organizing them. For example, he would often write of a sailor serving in the Atlantic and then, two paragraphs later, he writes about one in the Pacific. Then in a later chapter, he writes about the first sailor again. This continues throughout the book as he mentions different individuals.
Plus, in the midst of relating tales of heroism, he often flies off on a tangent about false accusations against the Merchant Marine, repeating what he wrote earlier. He did this throughout the book. Due to his rants and disorganization, this became a difficult book to read. Which is a shame, as the men and women who served in the Merchant Marine---through all our wars---deserve to have their stories told.
Here are a few of the many mistakes he made which I found.
In one chapter he describes a ship sailing "...all the way around South America..." when on the preceding page he states it just sailed down the west coast.
He writes of "American soldiers [who] were jungle fighters, trained in Panama" driving the Japanese back across the Owen Stanley mountain range of New Guinea. First, the American soldiers who fought in New Guinea had to learn their jungle-fighting skills in combat. One infantry division, raised in the upper mid-West, trained to fight in the cold weather climate of northern Europe. Imagine their surprise when they got off the ship at New Guinea. Second, the Americans fought along the coast, as it was the Australian soldiers who fought across the Owen Stanley mountains.
Then he had one group of Merchant Marine sailors destroy their ship to protect "ultrasecret cargoes" when they were "Threatened by Japanese aircraft." Boy, that was stupid. How were the Japanese aircraft suppose to capture the ship?
Then he had a Merchant Marine ship delivering ammo to the "U.S. Marine Corps headquarters" on Iwo Jima, but pull back because a sailor was wounded by Japanese fire, thereby saving countless American lives. Huh? And you don't deliver ammo to a headquarters, you deliver it to the beach where it can be distributed. Does the writer have any understanding of what occurs on an invasion beach?
On one page he states the U.S. Marine Corps was founded in 1784, when actually its birthday is November 10, 1775. I was a Marine myself, so I knew when The Corps was founded.
Then he has the "Japanese being forced out of Okinawa" and poisoning their water system before leaving. The Japanese were never forced out of Okinawa, as they all died there, except for the few who were captured. Much of the Okinawan water systems were destroyed by American artillery fire, which was the heaviest concentration of artillery fire ever used in World War II by the U.S.
For the invasion of Sicily, he has "...an overwhelming force of 467,000 Allied troops..." invading the island. While this was the peak strength of the Allied force during the Sicily campaign, the initial invasion was made with 160,000 troops. The author often plays reckless with facts.
The author also sometimes adds filler with travelogues. For example, he describes Merchant Mariners visiting areas and then relates what happened 50 years later in that area. Why? As there was no connection with the Merchant Marine visitors.
But I had to laugh when he describes one Merchant Mariner arriving in Naples, Italy, on V-E Day on May 8, 1945. Then he states, "In recent days, there had been intense fighting at nearby Anzio Beach." Actually, Anzio is way up the coast of Italy from Naples, and not "nearby." Plus, the breakout from the Anzio beachhead occurred in June 1944, or eleven months before V-E Day. I don't think eleven months can be described as "in recent days."
This author wrote a number of novels. Sadly, he should stick to novels, as he is apparently hopeless with works of non-fiction.
If you can overlook all these problems, the stories of the Merchant Mariners and their contribution to the U.S. war effort is educating.
To support his premise the author recounts numerous tales of heroism by members of the Merchant Marine. And I admit to being impressed with many of these stories. This is fine, except there is no organization. I received the impression the author had a pile of notes in front of him and wrote his book note by note, instead of organizing them. For example, he would often write of a sailor serving in the Atlantic and then, two paragraphs later, he writes about one in the Pacific. Then in a later chapter, he writes about the first sailor again. This continues throughout the book as he mentions different individuals.
Plus, in the midst of relating tales of heroism, he often flies off on a tangent about false accusations against the Merchant Marine, repeating what he wrote earlier. He did this throughout the book. Due to his rants and disorganization, this became a difficult book to read. Which is a shame, as the men and women who served in the Merchant Marine---through all our wars---deserve to have their stories told.
Here are a few of the many mistakes he made which I found.
In one chapter he describes a ship sailing "...all the way around South America..." when on the preceding page he states it just sailed down the west coast.
He writes of "American soldiers [who] were jungle fighters, trained in Panama" driving the Japanese back across the Owen Stanley mountain range of New Guinea. First, the American soldiers who fought in New Guinea had to learn their jungle-fighting skills in combat. One infantry division, raised in the upper mid-West, trained to fight in the cold weather climate of northern Europe. Imagine their surprise when they got off the ship at New Guinea. Second, the Americans fought along the coast, as it was the Australian soldiers who fought across the Owen Stanley mountains.
Then he had one group of Merchant Marine sailors destroy their ship to protect "ultrasecret cargoes" when they were "Threatened by Japanese aircraft." Boy, that was stupid. How were the Japanese aircraft suppose to capture the ship?
Then he had a Merchant Marine ship delivering ammo to the "U.S. Marine Corps headquarters" on Iwo Jima, but pull back because a sailor was wounded by Japanese fire, thereby saving countless American lives. Huh? And you don't deliver ammo to a headquarters, you deliver it to the beach where it can be distributed. Does the writer have any understanding of what occurs on an invasion beach?
On one page he states the U.S. Marine Corps was founded in 1784, when actually its birthday is November 10, 1775. I was a Marine myself, so I knew when The Corps was founded.
Then he has the "Japanese being forced out of Okinawa" and poisoning their water system before leaving. The Japanese were never forced out of Okinawa, as they all died there, except for the few who were captured. Much of the Okinawan water systems were destroyed by American artillery fire, which was the heaviest concentration of artillery fire ever used in World War II by the U.S.
For the invasion of Sicily, he has "...an overwhelming force of 467,000 Allied troops..." invading the island. While this was the peak strength of the Allied force during the Sicily campaign, the initial invasion was made with 160,000 troops. The author often plays reckless with facts.
The author also sometimes adds filler with travelogues. For example, he describes Merchant Mariners visiting areas and then relates what happened 50 years later in that area. Why? As there was no connection with the Merchant Marine visitors.
But I had to laugh when he describes one Merchant Mariner arriving in Naples, Italy, on V-E Day on May 8, 1945. Then he states, "In recent days, there had been intense fighting at nearby Anzio Beach." Actually, Anzio is way up the coast of Italy from Naples, and not "nearby." Plus, the breakout from the Anzio beachhead occurred in June 1944, or eleven months before V-E Day. I don't think eleven months can be described as "in recent days."
This author wrote a number of novels. Sadly, he should stick to novels, as he is apparently hopeless with works of non-fiction.
If you can overlook all these problems, the stories of the Merchant Mariners and their contribution to the U.S. war effort is educating.
Michael W. (mlwonio) - , reviewed The Forgotten Heroes: The Heroic Story of the United States Merchant Marine on + 7 more book reviews
The bulk of this book concerns WWII. The rest of the history of the US Merchant Marine is covered briefly in 2 appendices.
