Thomas F. (hardtack) -
It may be true John McKinney's story had never been 'told' in a book before this one, but I have run across mention of his exploit in other books. So I was glad to finally read an entire book about him. In many ways McKinney was another Audie Murphy---another Medal of Honor awardee---in that he came from a poor Southern family, was poorly educated and provided them with food due to his ability with a rifle. Except John McKinney never went on to become a movie star. By the way, I am a fan of Audie Murphy and enjoyed watching many of his B-Westerns. Sadly, both suffered from life-long, Post-traumatic Stress Disorder.
This is a wonderful story and I recommend it. Officially McKinney was credited with killing over 40 Japanese soldiers. But this is based on the accounts of eyewitnesses. However, he actually killed well over that, perhaps as many as 100, as many died in the shallow river and their bodies drifted away. It's important to note McKinney always felt bad about killing these soldiers.
However, while the author tells McKinney's story well, he makes a number of historical mistakes. Some of them are exceptional. And being who I am, I have to list them.
On page 86, he states Admiral Halsey "led the Navy fleets." Halsey always commanded the Third Fleet. Admiral Spruance commanded the Fifth Fleet. The problem is both fleets were mostly the same ships. The fleet number depended on who was in command at the time. This confused the Japanese, and allowed one fleet commander and his staff to be planning the next major operation while the other fleet commander and his staff were engaged in actual operations. He makes the same mistake on page 120. Many writers of World War II history still don't understand this.
On page 93, he has the Japanese army planning to invade Australia. This was never a part of Japanese planning, as they didn't have sufficient resources to do so. They simply wanted to neutralize Australia.
As filler for his book on several pages in different sections of the book, the author discusses German plans to supply the Japanese with enough material to build an atomic bomb. This is substance to this story as a German or Japanese submarine loaded with materials and plans for a bomb and perhaps a jet fighter was sunk by the British in the Indian Ocean near the end of the war. I remember reading about it in several books, but can't recall specific details. Where the author really blunders is he has German Admiral Doenitz in command of that submarine. Doenitz was commander of the German submarines fleet until 1943. In that year he became the commander-in-chief of the entire German Navy. At war's end, after Hitler committed suicide, he became the leader of Germany for about a month before Germany's unconditional surrender. So he never left Germany. How the author made such a stupid blunder bewilders me.
On page 255, he has Private John McKinney promoted "one grade" to sergeant after his heroic stand. Well, actually that would be three grades. After private the next rank a soldier would normally hold is private first class, then corporal, and after corporal a sergeant. This is another really silly mistake. Obviously, the author never served in the military.
But it is not hard to look up the real facts. The book was published in 2017, and all of that information was available online, even if he just searched Wikipedia. Mistakes like these makes you wonder about mistakes the author made which you didn't find.
This is a wonderful story and I recommend it. Officially McKinney was credited with killing over 40 Japanese soldiers. But this is based on the accounts of eyewitnesses. However, he actually killed well over that, perhaps as many as 100, as many died in the shallow river and their bodies drifted away. It's important to note McKinney always felt bad about killing these soldiers.
However, while the author tells McKinney's story well, he makes a number of historical mistakes. Some of them are exceptional. And being who I am, I have to list them.
On page 86, he states Admiral Halsey "led the Navy fleets." Halsey always commanded the Third Fleet. Admiral Spruance commanded the Fifth Fleet. The problem is both fleets were mostly the same ships. The fleet number depended on who was in command at the time. This confused the Japanese, and allowed one fleet commander and his staff to be planning the next major operation while the other fleet commander and his staff were engaged in actual operations. He makes the same mistake on page 120. Many writers of World War II history still don't understand this.
On page 93, he has the Japanese army planning to invade Australia. This was never a part of Japanese planning, as they didn't have sufficient resources to do so. They simply wanted to neutralize Australia.
As filler for his book on several pages in different sections of the book, the author discusses German plans to supply the Japanese with enough material to build an atomic bomb. This is substance to this story as a German or Japanese submarine loaded with materials and plans for a bomb and perhaps a jet fighter was sunk by the British in the Indian Ocean near the end of the war. I remember reading about it in several books, but can't recall specific details. Where the author really blunders is he has German Admiral Doenitz in command of that submarine. Doenitz was commander of the German submarines fleet until 1943. In that year he became the commander-in-chief of the entire German Navy. At war's end, after Hitler committed suicide, he became the leader of Germany for about a month before Germany's unconditional surrender. So he never left Germany. How the author made such a stupid blunder bewilders me.
On page 255, he has Private John McKinney promoted "one grade" to sergeant after his heroic stand. Well, actually that would be three grades. After private the next rank a soldier would normally hold is private first class, then corporal, and after corporal a sergeant. This is another really silly mistake. Obviously, the author never served in the military.
But it is not hard to look up the real facts. The book was published in 2017, and all of that information was available online, even if he just searched Wikipedia. Mistakes like these makes you wonder about mistakes the author made which you didn't find.
