2 comments about Japanese Army Air Force Units and Their Aces: 1931-1945.

1. This handsome, detailed book lifts the curtain on the Japanese army units that fought in China, Southeast Asia, and the home islands during World War II. It's based on a Japanese-language text by a noted historian and an aviation buff, and rendered into workable English by the British historian Christopher Shores. The result is a much more accessible book than the earlier one by the same Japanese authors about the larger Japanese navy air force. There are many photos, side-views of JAAF fighters, accounts of the major campaigns, biographies of the aces (happily arranged in alphabetical order so you can quickly look them up), and an appendix listing every major air combat and every JAAF pilot lost in 15 years of war. A solid book that belongs in the library of every serious student of the Pacific War. -- Dan Ford



2. The careful translation of the original text into a more nicely-flowing English; the influence of the master historian, Chris Shores; the decision to publish by the renowned Grub Street Press: this should be a much better book than the volume detailing the naval fighter units of Japan by the same authors.

   But it's not.

   If you spend the better part of forty dollars hoping for a book that is more like Mr. Shores' "Bloody Shambles", Mr. Ford's "Flying Tigers", or even Mr. Bergerud's "Fire in the Sky", then you'll be sorry.

2 comments about Last Man Out: Surviving the Burma-Thailand Death Railway: A Memoir.

1. I have had the pleasure of knowing the author for going on 8 years now. His memoir of his time as a prisoner of the Japanese, building the Death Railroad, the real Bridge on the River Kwai, is riveting, and sadly the suffering of POWs is little known.
   
   In the decades since returning from the War, the author has had a distinguished career requiring excellent writing and editing skills, and this book reflects that. It's an easy read, and when you've finished it, you will most likely re-evaluate the struggles and low points of your daily routine.
   
   Lastly, the man who is the subject of the book, Dr. Henri Hekking of the Dutch Colonial Army, will instill in you a sense of awe in the medical skills he learned from native Javanese sources, and how these skills, scorned by English and American doctors, saved *so many* of the men under his care, the author included.
   
   This book adds greatly to, and dovetails with, Hornfisher's latest, and compliments Winslow's "Galloping Ghost...".



2. This was a very uplifting writing about surviving the deplorable and dire circumstances during WWII in a Japanese prison camp. Dr Hekking was a very remarkable man practicing medicine under such conditions. After reading this book...I have a deeper respect for veterans and survivors.
   In ending, the doctor and the Americans seemed to help each other psychologically to survive....

No comments about Three Modern Novelists: Soseki, Tanizaki, Kawabata (Kodansha Biographies).

No comments about Opium Tea.

5 comments about Last Man Out: Glenn McDole, USMC, Survivor of the Palawan Massacre in World War II.

1. This book should be required reading for every high school student in America - most people have no idea what many ordinary young men endured as prisoners during World War II, how they behaved under the unbelievable burden of watching their friends die and how they overcame the horror of being POWs of the Japanese in the Philippines - this book is extremely well-written, simple and concise without self promotion concerning one of the worst atrocities in modern warfare - it's an easy although uncomfortable read - it'll make you proud to call McDole and other POWs fellow Americans



2. This book was very good even though it tells a terrible story. There is a lot of detail about massacre of 139 American prisoners of war and the survival of just 11 as they hid in garbage and swam 5 miles in the ocean to safety. This is a great source for a national history day project. This book would be 6 stars if that rating existed.



3. This should be a must read book!!! Although written by someone else, the actual Veteran, Glenn McDole was there right by his side and threw in plenty of quotes and first hand accounts.
   
   Read the book and get a good example of what happened in some of these Japanese P.O.W. camps. I can assure you that your jaw will drop to the ground!!!



4. This is by far the best book ever. Finished in in 3 or 4 nights, just kept thinking "then what, then what."
   
   Must read for any military or war buff.



5. This book had special relevance to me as my uncle was one of the POW's at Palawan who did not survive the Japanese internment. The facts of how and when they were captured shed light on the chronology and daily hardships they encountered as slave laborers. The cruelty and starvation inflicted by the guards at the camp were incredible.
   As a U.S. Marine Vietnam veteran it was always my resolve to NEVER be captured alive should it have happened. This story exemplifies why. Being alive in a POW camp was NOT living.
   This book is very interesting, a good read, and one you cannot put down until the very last page. The cross-section of American men who lived and died is remarkable.

No comments about The Sound of the Wind: The Life and Works of Uno Chiyo.

No comments about The Shogun's Reluctant Ambassadors: Japanese Sea Drifters in the North Pacific (North Pacific Studies).

No comments about Conversations with Kazuo Ishiguro (Literary Conversations Series).

2 comments about A Spy in Their Midst: The World War II Struggle of a Japanese-American Hero.

1. A vivid tale of horrifying torture told by a man who experienced it all. Richard Sakakida was a true hero. For those who love books on survival, war, adventure, or the American spirit.



2. This is one of those books that makes you wake up everyday and appreciate everything you have, espeically your freedom. Sakakida's inner strength must have been tremendous to stand up to the torture, stress, starvation and disease that he endured. And he still continued to do his duty and send intellegence back to the US forces.

   The author presented the material in a good straight forward manner that included other sources to back up and bring context to Sakakida's story. Especially interesting was the subtle nuances of Japanese culture and tradition that brought out how complex their social interaction is. Also that in every nationality there are good soldiers and bad soldiers and kindness and respect can be found even in the worst of circumstances.

   I highly recommend this book, a very good read.

No comments about Sawtelle: West Los Angeles's Japantown (CA) (Images of America).