That's a really good book on the subject. My kid read it in college and I read her copy.
That's a really good book on the subject. My kid read it in college and I read her copy.
One of my uncles was a two-war Marine (Pacific landings and Korea). He had a visceral dislike of MacArthur. The book gave me a better understanding of why that was so.Originally Posted by blues
If we have to march off into the next world, let us walk there on the bodies of our enemies.
Everything I've ever read pretty much substantiates the same. Thankfully there were individuals of high character, integrity and possessing great initiative able to overcome his flaws.
Last edited by blues; 12-14-2019 at 09:48 AM.
There's nothing civil about this war.
I have relatives who would have concurred with the opinions about McArthur. Both have passed on, but the word "visceral dislike" would have covered it nicely.
I remember a rare time when they discussed their time in the WWII Pacific. Both were combat Marines who survived multiple landings. One was called back for Korea, the other was too shot up. They rarely ask one-armed Marines back for a second war.
That was the first time I ever heard someone say "I hope he's doing cartwheels in Hell now."
I was a teenager sitting on the back porch at a Fourth of July BBQ, refilling Bourbon glasses. They admired the heck out of Nimitz, Bradley and a few others I cannot recall. They were not exactly effusive with praise for McArthur and Puller.
All of my uncles were either Infantry, Armor or Airborne in WWII or Korea. My father was a submariner in WWII in the Pacific. They were not shy or reticent people.
One uncle was a motorcycle messenger in the ETO. He had a pellet pistol; it had a pump-piston that was on top of the barrel and it came out the front, so you could push against something. He could hit a thumbtack at ten yards. Dad was in tank destroyers and demining (longish story). Another uncle was in Pacific landings and Korea (he was offered a battlefield commission in the Pacific and refused, because they took all those back after WW1. He took the commission when offered in Korea). One uncle was so frail in health that when he was drafted, his mother said it was time to start learning German (the Army soon discharged him). One was doing something with Western Union and was classified as exempt.
A couple of my uncles died when I was a bit young to ask them what they did.
If we have to march off into the next world, let us walk there on the bodies of our enemies.
I do not know if the other branches do this, but the Marine Corps has an oral history program. I participated in it briefly as a photographer. The Corps sent me to a short photography school prior to a deployment, and I was occasionally tasked with shooting pictures for the interviews when we ran across former Marines overseas.
It was a very humbling thing to participate in the process. I listened to a Marine two-star Major General discuss how he landed on Okinawa as a Private, and was a Captain when the fight was over. He was also one of three Marines from his company considered still combat effective at that point. Not unwounded, but still able to fight.
He later was awarded the Medal of Honor in 1998.
I also got to chat with the LtGen who was the senior aviator in the Marine Corps and Department of the Navy for a bit. He flew over 200 missions off a carrier in Vietnam - over 50 of them with a crack lower vertebra after being shot down. The Corp and society was not very enlightened then, he was afraid of being booted out. He was the first black Marine aviator, and the first to join general officer ranks. He was a fierce but gracious man, a fascinating dichotomy.
I do wish the Corps would transcribe them, and publish those interviews as a book. Just from the ones I listened to, they would be a tremendous resource.
Yeah “visceral dislike” completely understates the depths of my dad’s (WW II, through the battle of the bulge) loathing of MacArthur and he wasn’t a Patton fan either.
Last edited by luckyman; 12-14-2019 at 09:24 PM.
Read this and really enjoyed it. I’m reading these books in historical order, meaning the chronological order of Gus and Woodrow’s lives; so for me this is the second book of four. Lonesome Dove is next in the series.
I loved Lonesome Dove. One of my favorite books, period.
The Ultimate Survival Medicine Guide: Emergency Preparedness for ANY Disaster Kindle Edition
Not exactly light reading, but as it's a limited time deal $1.99, might be a worth while resource to have available should there ever be a need.
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