Volume VIII: On To Tokyo—The Things Our Fathers Saw [2022]

In VOLUME 8 of The Things Our Fathers Saw® series, you will return to the Pacific with our veterans as they recall the chaos in the aftermath at Pearl Harbor, the first challenges on land at Guadalcanal, island hopping with the Marines, Navy, and Army at the Marshalls, Marianas, Iwo Jima and Okinawa. You will witness the most horrific banzai charges of the war, accompany airmen on their B-29 missions over Japan, and lean over navy corpsmen as they work to save the wounded. 

374 PAGES.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
AUTHOR’S NOTE 15
PART ONE/THE HARD ROAD BACK 21
THE PEARL HARBOR SURVIVOR 31
HAWAII 34
‘WE WERE GOING TO GO TO WAR WITH JAPAN’ 35
‘SMOKE, FLAMES, EXPLOSIONS, SIRENS’ 36
GUADALCANAL 39
THE GRENADE 40
‘IT DIDN’T TAKE US LONG’ 41
DOG TAGS 42
‘JUST KEEP GOING’ 43
HOME 44
‘I HAVE NEVER TALKED MUCH ABOUT IT’ 46
THE MARINE RIFLEMAN 49
‘I FEEL LIKE I HAVE TO DO SOMETHING’ 50
‘A GUY WHO WANTED TO KILL SOMEBODY’ 52
JIM CROW 53
SHIPPING OUT 55
‘ISLAND PARADISE’ 55
‘HE GOT KILLED LAST NIGHT’ 56
THE PATROLS 58
‘DON’T WORRY ABOUT THE WORMS’ 59
THE BEACH 60
‘I WOULD FOLLOW HIM INTO HELL’ 62
‘THIS GUY’S DEAD’ 63
‘I WAS IN VERY BAD SHAPE’ 64
THE BOXER 68
CAPE GLOUCESTER 70
STATESIDE 71
‘HE HAD TO KISS IT’ 72
‘I THOUGHT THEY WERE ANIMALS’ 73
‘IT’S NOT YOUR JOB TO DIE FOR YOUR COUNTRY’ 74
THE INVASION RADIOMAN I 77
RADIO SCHOOL 79
THE JOINT ASSAULT SIGNAL COMPANY 80
COMMANDO TRAINING 81
ATTACK IN THE ALEUTIANS 83
THE SCR-284 85
ATTU AND KISKA 87
‘SURVIVING YOUR FIRST COMBAT’ 88
LIBERTY 89
THE GILBERTS-MAKIN AND TARAWA 90
LANDING AT MAKIN 92
‘I’LL SEE YOU ON THE BEACHES’ 93
THE TIDES 95
‘THE ONLY THING THAT SAVED ME’ 96
THE 165TH IN ACTION 97
MAKIN MARY 98
KWAJALEIN 101
THE RATS OF TOBRUK 103
THE MARINE MECHANIC I 107
THE JAPANESE GENTLEMEN 109
‘WHERE'S PEARL HARBOR?’ 110
‘I WANT YOU!’ 111
PARRIS ISLAND 115
LEARNING THE ENGINES 116
MUD MARINES 118
THE EARLY LANDINGS 119
JUNGLE ROT 120
BOUGAINVILLE 121
THE SEABEES 123
KEEPING THE TANKS IN ORDER 124
GUAM 127
THE FEVER 130
ZEROES 131
PART TWO/BANZAI 135
THE RUNNER 137
‘WE’RE GOING FOR A YEAR’S VACATION’ 138
JUNGLE TRAINING 141
SHIPPING OUT 143
THE LANDING 145
WOUNDED 152
‘THEY HAD BAKER PROPPED UP AGAINST THE TREE’ 153
‘HE SWUNG THE SWORD’ 155
THE REPLACEMENT 156
HOME 159
THE MARINE GUNNER I 161
‘YOUR ASS BELONGS TO THE MARINE CORPS’ 163
TRAINING TO BE A MARINE 163
‘AWED BY THE DESTRUCTION’ 165
THE MARSHALLS 166
‘LOSE IT AND IT’S YOUR ASS’ 167
THE ‘INSTRUMENT CORPORAL’ 168
SAIPAN 169
‘THE MOST HORRIBLE MOMENT OF MY LIFE’ 170
‘THE PLACE WAS FULL OF BODIES’ 171
RUNNING INTO THE 27TH DIVISION 172
MARPI POINT 174
THE LITTLE GIRL 175
TINIAN 175
‘NOBODY KNEW WHO THE GUY WAS’ 177
‘REVENGE FOR THE DEAD’ 179
THE AMERICAN LANDINGS 180
MOVING THE PATIENTS 182
PREPARING FOR BANZAI 183
‘SADNESS, PITY AND ANGER’ 184
‘MY FOXHOLE IS MY GRAVE’ 186
‘PLEASE CUT SKILLFULLY’ 188
‘THE END HAS COME’ 189
PART THREE/‘I HAVE RETURNED’ 193
THE INVASION RADIOMAN II 195
LEYTE 196
ABANDONED 197
KAMIKAZES 198
‘YOU DON’T WANT TO GET STUCK HERE’ 200
THE LUZON CAMPAIGN 201
THE BABY 202
‘I HAVE RETURNED’ 203
THE MARINE MECHANIC II 205
IWO JIMA 206
TANK RETRIEVAL UNDER FIRE 208
HIT ON IWO 210
GOING HOME 211
‘IT SAVED A LOT OF AMERICAN LIVES’ 214
THE TRUCK ACCIDENT 216
‘HE HUGGED ME, AND HE STARTED TO CRY’ 217
‘SO MANY STORIES’ 219
THE BAR MAN 221
‘I HAD A PREMONITION’ 222
‘YOU WON’T HAVE A SCAR’ 223
‘THE HORRORS OF WAR’ 226
‘A DEAD COMPANION FOR THE NIGHT’ 226
THE EXPLOSION IN THE CAVE 228
FRIENDLY FIRE 229
‘DROWNING IN HIS OWN BLOOD’ 230
GOING HOME 231
‘PEOPLE WHO DETEST WAR’ 234
THE MARINE GUNNER II 235
IWO JIMA 235
‘SOMEBODY MADE A BIG MISTAKE’ 236
‘THAT WAS MY LAST VISIT TO A CAVE’ 237
‘I HOPE IT’S OUR GUYS!’ 238
‘YOU DIDN’T GET A CAKE’ 239
‘I NEVER SAW A HERO’ 240
‘MY TEN MINUTES OF FAME’ 241
THE B-29 RADIOMAN 243
FLIGHT TRAINING 245
A PIONEER CREW 248
‘WE GOT CLOBBERED’ 249
OVER THE TARGET 251
THE INCENDIARY BLITZ 251
‘KOBE IS BURNING!’ 252
SAVING THE CREW 256
CLOSE CALLS 257
‘I KISSED THE GROUND’ 260
PART FOUR/OKINAWA AND BEYOND 263
HACKSAW RIDGE 265
‘GREETINGS FROM UNCLE SAM’ 268
THE 77TH DIVISION 269
LEYTE 270
THE RUN-UP TO OKINAWA 270
THE KAMIKAZES 271
HACKSAW RIDGE-THE MAEDA ESCARPMENT 272
‘HELP ME!’ 273
JAPANESE INFILTRATORS 274
‘BURN THEM OUT’ 275
‘FIX BAYONETS, NO ROUND IN THE CHAMBER’ 277
DESMOND DOSS 277
MORE LOSSES ON THE ESCARPMENT 281
‘OLD PEOPLE AND CHILDREN’ 282
ERNIE PYLE 283
RETURN TO OKINAWA 284
THE NAVY CORPSMAN 287
HOSPITAL CORPS SCHOOL 288
THE INVASION OF GUAM 291
OKINAWA 295
‘HE WAS LEFT THERE TO DIE’ 295
‘A LONG TRIP HOME’ 297
THE RESERVES 298
ON TO KOREA 299
THE CHOSEN RESERVOIR 301
CHESTY 303
THE STOLEN CIGARS 304
THE GREEK AIR FORCE 305
THE CHINESE ON THE MOUNTAIN 307
BLOOD 308
‘THE CHOSIN FEW’ 309
‘YOU PLAY THE HAND YOU’RE DEALT’ 309
THE INVASION RADIOMAN III 311
OKINAWA 311
MEETING ERNIE PYLE 312
GI REPORTER 315
PUSHING THE ODDS 316
PART FIVE/FINAL THOUGHTS 319
OCCUPATION DUTY 321
TRAINING TO BE AN OFFICER 324
‘AN EDUCATION BEYOND BELIEF’ 324
‘THEY THOUGHT I WAS SENT FROM HEAVEN’ 325
THE JAPANESE HOUSEBOY 327
AN EXTENDED STAY 328
TRANSITIONING TO HOME 329
‘FROM SMART-ASS BOY TO A MAN’ 331
REUNION 331
THE INVASION RADIOMAN IV 335
‘THE STYLE OF THE TIMES’ 337
HOME 339
ADJUSTING TO CIVILIAN LIFE 340
‘I’M NOT GOING TO BE A PART OF IT’ 343
LESSONS OF WAR 344
‘YOU HAVE TO HAVE BEEN THERE’ 345
THE ‘GREATEST GENERATION’ 346
THE RESTING PLACE 349
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 363