D-Days in the Pacific

Donald L. Miller

Jun 2008 · Simon and Schuster

About this ebook

Although most people associate the term D-Day with the Normandy invasion on June 6, 1944, it is military code for the beginning of any offensive operation. In the Pacific theater during World War II there were more than one hundred D-Days. The largest—and last—was the invasion of Okinawa on April 1, 1945, which brought together the biggest invasion fleet ever assembled, far larger than that engaged in the Normandy invasion.

D-Days in the Pacific tells the epic story of the campaign waged by American forces to win back the Pacific islands from Japan. Based on eyewitness accounts by the combatants, it covers the entire Pacific struggle from the attack on Pearl Harbor to the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The Pacific war was largely a seaborne offensive fought over immense distances. Many of the amphibious assaults on Japanese-held islands were among the most savagely fought battles in American history: Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Saipan, New Guinea, Peleliu, Leyte Gulf, Iwo Jima, Okinawa.

Generously illustrated with photographs and maps, D-Days in the Pacific is the finest one-volume account of this titanic struggle.

Ratings and reviews

twenty-year-old centerfold-posed gunner's mate is none other than my father V.L.Henderson, known as [Deacon}, fresh off the crippled S.S.Ingraham,a class D destroyer,after three Kamikazi planes were shot down,a forth hit forward portside at the water line exploding a six foot whole into the CIC and flooding officer's quarters,the mess hall.The number2 magizine took the brunt,Deacon was only five feet away.Fire broke out,some were dead,some were trapped. My father was one of the volunteers that pried the casualties from the walls. The S.S Ingraham was towed in stern first, with her bow less than a foot aboard-draft.Leon Henderson and the S.S.Ingraham were also in the Liberation of the Phillipians,and battled in the Leyte Gulf,and Luzon (The Ship once out-ran a typhoon in the Mariana trench,as four destroyers capsized in waves over one hundred feet high.) After the "Mighty I" was hit it was decommissioned and eventually sold to Greece. It's sister ship the S.S.Morrisson was attacked by kamikazies,and sunk in a couple of minutes,just prior to the attack on the Ingraham. Others my dad recongnizes in the same photo are: on the post on left hand side is Papi Krammer gunner in mount two standing in rear fifth from left is Scotty a gunner in mount-one Happy Note: while these brave young men awaited orders for a new ship, the war ended,Great Job, Thanks Sailors!!!! A Great job by Donald L. Miller, Thank You for keeping these rich histories alive! Maureen Montes

About the author

Donald L. Miller is the John Henry MacCracken Professor of History Emeritus at Lafayette College and author of ten books, including Vicksburg, and Masters of the Air, currently being made into a television series by Tom Hanks. He has hosted, coproduced, or served as historical consultant for more than thirty television documentaries and has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, and other publications.