[.ca] Into the Rising Sun: In Their Own Words, World War II's ... (ISBN 0743214811)

From Amazon.com:
The author of Beyond Valor offers a new collection of oral histories from veterans of the Second World War, this time from the Pacific theater. In an introduction, Patrick K. O'Donnell warns, "oral histories are perhaps the best means available to reveal the horrors and pathos of the foxhole." Indeed, several of the accounts he compiles on these pages are grisly, such as the story of Tom Lyons, stabbed in the neck by a Japanese soldier on Guadalcanal. Lyons survived, but only after being heaped on top of a pile of dead bodies. Rumors of his death reached home: "My mother got a check from my insurance company saying I was dead the same day she got a letter from me written by a nurse at a hospital in New Zealand." Combat stories abound, including a firsthand account of Gunnery Sergeant William G. Walsh jumping on a grenade to protect his squad on Iwo Jima, a feat for which he was posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. O'Donnell organizes his material chronologically and introduces each chapter to help readers understand the context of the soldiers' individual narratives. For those who enjoy real-life war stories told from the perspective of the men who were there, Into the Rising Sun is hard to beat. --John Miller

Very unusual, readable format which grips your attention:
I found this an unusually readable book as first person narratives of combat. The emotion was left in the accounts and you can't help but be touched by the various stories as opposed to a detached historical rendering. The latter is important as a context for these highly personal accounts. There is no attempt to cover the gore and pathos of combat. The accompanying maps were very good also and helped to pinpoint actual events; many of the battles I never heard of. Reminds me of With The Old Breed and Pacific War Diary for its impact, also Flags of Our Fathers. It's great that these veterans lived until a time when they could have permission to express these emotions; they weren't allowed this I don't think until the last decade or two.

Thanks so much, Patrick:
My dad has shared some, but not a great deal, about his S. Pacific experiences as a demo specialist w/ the rangers. Your work will allow his grandchildren to get a sense of the sacrifices that he and others made. Thank you so much for researching and publishing it.

Stories about the Pacific War.:
A fairly interesting book. O'Donnell lists the campaigns of the elite troops of this theater of command, details the plan of battle, and then gives the oral histories of those who served in those campaigns. Most of the veterans are at the end of their lives, so these oral histories present a heartfelt tribute to the difficulties these soldiers endured during combat. What surprised me most was how these soldiers/veterans got choked up recounting the battles they went through, and the friends they lost. Freedom isn't cheap, and these soldiers are living proof of how America was affected by the battle. This is a good read. Oral histories are good at describing the personal experiences of soldiers, but they don't put perspective on the actual battle campaigns. If one wants to know more about the War in the Pacific, one needs to read a general history, before reading this book.

ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS I'VE EVER READ:
This book is one of the best documentaries of Pacific war veterans that I have ever read. I was spellbound for the two days it took me to read this book. I would recommend this for anyone who wants to know what it was like on the front lines against a vicious and determined enemy in WW2.

Experience Battle from your Armchair!:
I read this book after "Beyond Valor" by the same author and I wasn't disappointed. "Into the Rising Sun" is a collection of first hand accounts of the brave men who fought in the Pacific. The author sets up the accounts with some background material to make more sense to it all. After re-living some of these battle through this book, I started to understand what a living Hell these guys lived through. The intensity of the Japanese soldier was astonishing. This book has special meaning to me since my father was a Marine fighting the Japanese in the Pacific. He was at Guadalcanal and Okinawa .I now know what a hero he was!