Hello from a Pacific War student

Hello everyone, I'm a baby boomer, born 1953, whose father served in the
5th Air Force in WWII. I'm especially happy to find this group since
no one I know seems to care about discussing or studying WWII, possibly
the most important event in the history of the US other than its founding.

My interest in the war, for some mysterious reason, was sparked by
"Pearl Harbor" (Ben Affleck, Alec Baldwin, ...). The book stores at
that time were overflowing with books to catch the marketing wave and
I bought a book on Hirohito. My memory of what happened after that is
a bit of a blur, but I know I couldn't stop buying and reading books.

I readily acknowledge that the European theater was the more important of
the two, but I am almost exclusively interested in Pacific/CBI theater
and know very little about the other, except w.r.t. global strategy
and planning.

I have talked to my father about his service in the 5th, at Nadzab,
Mindoro, and Ie Shima, as well as a few other places. He was a waist
gunner on a B-24. Only recently I found out he was training on B-32's,
a plane that I didn't even know existed, and he was on Ie Shima when
the fatal B-32 crash occurred, killing members of the press.

My big accomplishment as a Pacwar buff is that I have read the entire
war in detail from start to finish, every battle, every service, in the
Green Books, Morison, and the Marines' red books; as well as a lot of
ancillary material and biographies of MacArthur, Stilwell, Hirohito,
Yamamoto, and Groves. I still have piles of books to go through.

My wife is from the Philippines. Her father was imprisoned by the Japs
and her uncle was taken away and never seen again. We were fortunate
to have been able to visit Corregidor on one of our trips there.
Some of the war stories from her family and others we have met there
are fascinating. One nun I met described how her family was spared
from wholesale slaughter because they spoke a little Japanese.

Because of my book buying, I have fairly respectible personal library,
as well as access to a large university library which is great for
period magazine articles and books that influenced the major figures
of the war themselves.

I am interested in the big picture of the war, its causes, effects, the
planning, logistics, lessons learned, unusual stories, and little known
facts. I love research and can look things up for anyone if they want.

I would like to find something useful to do with all of this study,
such as write my own book(s), or lecture. I think the war and
its lessons are too important to be forgotten. (My daughter's history
textbook had a whole four(!) pages devoted to the Pacific War.)

 

Hello and welcome on the forum. We have several threads dealing with ther Pacific war. I'm certain you's be intetested to read Jack's stories about Darwin, Hollandia, the Philipines etc....

 

Welcome to the forum -- I'm also a newbie, here. We're just aout the same age -- my dad served in the ETO.

Yes... US history books give short shrift to the Pacific Theatre, though I would hardly say that it was "less important" than the European, African, Middle Eastern theatres -- just that same-old-same-old European slant on things in the First World. I majored in history at uni, and I had to hit the library to do my reading on the Pacific theatre -- I recall reading "Stillwell and the American Experience in China" at that time -- I've since re-read it -- among many other things.

I'm with you -- I want to understand how the whole thing started, and I've found that that entails lots of research, which leads to more research on other subjects, because nothing that involves human desires/emotions is ever simple.

It amazes me that the entire subject of WWII can garner so little space in general history books -- this war involved so many countries around the world over an 8-year period of time (if you include the Japanese invasion/occupation of China, beginning in 1937) and was the catalyst for so many of the premises under which we now live, from economic to diplomatic.

Then again, I'm old enough that young people refer to the things through which I lived as "history" -- ha-ha! -- they're the "current events" of my life experience.

 

Well said, there is so much to read about this conflict that a whole life would not suffice. Just a faw examples: Who has heard of the Azzad Hind? These were volunteers from India who joined the Wehrmacht and hoped to gain the Independance of India in case of German victory. Are people aware that Luxembourg made a small contribution for D-Day? Do you know that the Raf had volunteers from Turkey? There is so much to say. So welcome !

 

Thank you, all!

Yes, the war has so many parts and levels of detail to study deeply
that person-centuries of effort would still not touch bottom. But,
that's one reason why it makes a fascinating hobby...you will never run
out of material.

I did see the vet's discussion about Hollandia and New Guinea. Timely,
since I have been reading about the Japanese side of the conflict and had
just finished the Hollandia part (and the whole view from the Japanese
side is *dismal*).

I think my father might enjoy contributing here, *if* I can convince
him to start using the internet. I don't think he ever has and has
probably never used a computer more than a few times. I'll try. I'm
fortunate that he has given me many items from his service...uniforms,
water purification pills, short snorder roll, B-24 pilot's manual,
service patches, waterproof matches, and training materials. The water
purification pills container is a little screw-top bakelite container
that has a tiny compass on the top of the pills (survival kit, I think).

My book collection includes:

. All the Pacific Theater Green Books
. A number of general topic Green Books (Strategy, A-bomb program,
Hemisphere protection, ...)
. Morison's US Navy series
. "History of U.S. Marine Corps Operations in World War II" (reprints)
. 4 volumes of the 7-volume Craven and Cate Air Force set (still looking)
. Biographies: MacArthur, Hirohito, Leslie Groves, Halsey, Nimitz, King, Yamamoto, Stilwell
. Amphibious warfare: Holland Smith, Isley and Crowl, the book of amphibious boats and vehicles (like Jane's for the 'phib crowd)
. Japanese side: "Journey to the Missouri", "Midway", "Japan's War"
. Occupation: "Dear General MacArthur", "Embracing Defeat", "Inside GHQ"
. Atrocities: "The Rape of Nanking", "Prisoners of the Japanese"
. Several books on Japanese culture

I will now jump over to the "War in the Pacific" forum and start posting.
I think some of the first topics I will engage will be the oddities of
the Pacific War, and the planning for the war, which began *decades*
before the conflict; two of my favorites.

See you there!

 

Hi Pac, welcome to this site.

Also, my Dad was in the 8th A.F. in WWII, but in about '47 or so, was transferred to the 5th A.F. seeing service in Korea during that war-as a Master Sergeant in a Weather Detachment.

 

Welcome PTO person !
Dare I say (We) are in short supply.
4 whole pages huh? Let me guess...p1 Pearl Harbor, p2 Iwo Jima, p3 Hiroshima, and lucky (for the world) to have another page.
Looking forward to learning much !
Post away

 

Welcome PacwarPJ !!!

 

Welcome to the forums! You'll leave saying "WOWY!"

 

Welcome to the forum. I'm from the Philippines and I look forward to the stuff you will be posting in the Pacific theater.

 

Welcome to the forum from another relative newcomer.

Cheers

Owen

 

With a central interest in the pacific, you might like to hear a mention of my neighbor, Arrvid Arnson.

A long time resident of Milton-Freewater, Oregon, Arvid Arnson served in the Pacific Theatre. I was his neighbor for about two years, his property adjacent to mine.
During the summer, I would go over and drive truck, hauling grain to storage from his field. Dring that time, I came to know of his service.

His memories of the fighting were very real. He hated the enemy until his death. He was reluctant to talk about the actual expierience.
I can tell you....after the interval of 60 years, his time there was very vivid.

I was struck by this passion. I became even more interested in the roots of the conflict. This interest only becomes larger with time.

 

Welcome to the forums Pacwarpj, looking forward to your contributions namely in the Pacific Theatre.

 

It's when the Germans bombed Korea...the was even a TV show about it...duh!

 

I thought that the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor. That's what Bluto said in "Animal House" anyway....

And like Brother Biak said, post away mcgama88. That's what we're here for!