History

Title: Revenge of the Pearl Harbor Survivors
Author: John Nevola
Genre: Non-Fiction, History
Reviewer: Joyce Faulkner

ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): B005EDAROM

This year we commemorate the 70th Anniversary of the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor. All of the U.S. Navy's aircraft carriers survived that assault. The central theme of this article describes the pivotal role played by those surviving American aircraft carriers in the first year of the war.

The article also briefly describes all of the Japanese and American aircraft carriers in service at the time and their relative strengths and weaknesses. It reveals the location of all the American carriers at the precise moment of the Pearl Harbor attack and describes their deployment and operations in the year immediately after the raid.

Thanks to the survival and clever deployment of the carriers in 1942, the United States Navy was able to effectively thwart and delay Japan's military aggression throughout the Pacific despite the tragic loss of many battleships and over 2,400 military personnel on December 7.

This is also a story of valor and sacrifice as only two of these ships survived that first year. By bravely and stubbornly blunting Japanese thrusts until newly built reinforcements could arrive, the surviving aircraft carriers and their courageous sailors and airmen exacted a true measure of revenge for Pearl Harbor.

Title: The Hidden Legacy of World War II: A Daughter's Journey of Discovery
Author: Carol Schwartz Vento
Genre: Non-Fiction, History
Reviewer: Joyce Faulkner

ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): 1934597813

Daughters, fathers and war – three words seldom used together. In The Hidden Legacy of World War II: A Daughter’s Journey of Discovery, Carol Schultz Vento weaves life with her paratrooper father into the larger narrative of World War II and the homecoming of the Greatest Generation. The book describes the seldom told story of how the war trauma of World War II impacted one family. This personal story is combined with the author’s thorough research and investigation of the reality for those World War II veterans who could not forget the horrors of war. This nonfiction work fills in the missing pieces of the commonly accepted societal view of World War II veterans as stoic and unwavering, a true but incomplete portrait of that generation of warrior.

Title: Who Knew? …Reflections on Vietnam
Author: J. Holley Watts
Genre: Non-Fiction, History
Reviewer: Bill McDonald

ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): 0974058521

Not available.

Title: Heart of a Lion: The Leadership of Lt. Michael P. Murphy
Author: Gary Williams
Genre: Military Navy
Reviewer: Jim Greenwald

ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): 0984835121

Over the course of his short life, Michael Patrick Murphy came to personify three critically important pillars of leadership. First, before you can lead, you must positively influence others. Second, you must develop an unshakable moral character. Third, you must always act with integrity consistent with that character… an integrity and character that transcends position-only leadership and provides the all-important moral authority to lead. On June 28, 2005 LT Michael P. Murphy faced two profound moral leadership questions; the first after capturing three civilian non-combatants. The second to deliberately put himself in the enemy’s direct line of fire in a final effort to get help for his men. How Michael P. Murphy chose to answer those two questions will forever separate him from those he fought. This book details the leadership traits of the most celebrated Medal of Honor recipient since World War II.

Title: Unsinkable Sailors
Author: Paul Sherbo
Genre: Military Navy
Reviewer: Jim Greenwald

ISBN (links go to the MWSA Amazon store): 0979164230

"Unsinkable Sailors by retired US Navy Reserve Captain Paul Sherbo is a chilling historical account of the at-sea collision of the USS Frank E. Evans (DD-745), a United States Navy destroyer, and the Australian aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne. This book is the only comprehensive source of original interviews and research along with official naval records that centers on the Evans crewmembers. The story of the collision that sank the bow half of the Evans is told by those who lived the nightmare on the morning of 3 June in 1969. It is a story of personal tragedy, survival and perseverance."