The Pacific (2 page)

In all the years of research, I have had so many kind people help me. Time and space, alas, prevent me from mentioning them all. Here is the short version. The families of the four men who had passed away by the time my work began (Basilone, Sledge, Leckie, and Shofner) have helped me immeasurably. I was lucky to interview Phillips and Micheel at length and to have the full cooperation of the Shofner family, particularly Stewart, Alyssa, and William "Wes" Shofner. I would like to express my gratitude to Vera Leckie, Joan Salvas, and the other members of the family of Robert Leckie. They all went to great lengths to help us tell the story of Lucky Leckie in the miniseries. The family of Dr. Eugene Sledge--Mrs. Jeanne Sledge and her sons, John and Henry--extended to Bruce, me, and the rest of the crew every kindness and gave of themselves to help us understand him. I have so enjoyed the time I spent with all of them. I hope that what the veterans and their families read below justifies their faith in me.

The 1st Marine Division Association provided me with the opportunity to find the men who had served with the five individuals in this book, and the interviews with these men have made all the difference. The United States Marine Corps, whether through its Historical Division or its Motion Picture & TV Liaison Office, has answered many an odd question from me. The Battle of Midway Roundtable (BOMRT), an online conversation between the veterans of Midway, the historians and experts on the battle, and hundreds of fans, taught me a great deal about it. The roundtable continues to extend our knowledge of this critical event in a spirit of cooperation. To me, the BOMRT represents the promise of the Internet fulfilled. I also gratefully acknowledge the help of Judy Johnson, who leads the team of archivists at Georgia Tech; of Hill Goodspeed, a historian with the National Museum of Naval Aviation; and of my good friend Tom Czekanski of the National WWII Museum.

I would like to thank the President and CEO of The National WWII Museum, Dr. Gordon H. "Nick" Mueller, for allowing me to continue on with the museum on a part-time basis these past few years. I have been the beneficiary of a positive synergy. As I have been able, I have hired people for short periods of time to help with some of the legwork of research.: transcribing interviews, scanning documents and the like. I would like to thank: Julie Mitchell, Kirt Garcia, Rob Lynn, Beth Crumley, Robert Carr, Kristin Paridon, Seth Paridon, Dustin Spence (who found Barbara Garner), David Zeiler, Lacey Middlestead, Jonathan Wlasiuk, Warren Howell, and Kevin Morrow. Dick Beilen of the U.S. Locator Service provided the copies of the military records I needed and is a great guy to work with. I also thank my team of experts: attorney Mike McMahon, accountant Mike Lopach, and agent Brian Lipson, who stuck with me through a lot of lean years.

The team at Penguin/NAL immediately grasped my idea for the book and supported it enthusiastically. In particular, I offer my thanks to Natalee Rosenstein and Michelle Vega for making every effort to help me succeed.

A number of friends and acquaintances have helped me in a variety of ways in the long process of writing the book. I would like to thank James Moll for his sage advice. I am grateful to Kristie Macosko for the many kindnesses she has extended to me. I wish to thank my graduate advisor, Dr. Michael Mayer of the University of Montana, who has been such a great teacher and mentor to me. His review of the first half of the manuscript meant a great deal to me. I'd like to thank the historians Colonel Joseph Alexander, Colonel Jon T. Hoffman, Dr. Donald Miller, Augustine Meaher IV, Alf Batchelder, Eric Hammel, Dr. Allan Millett, and Barrett Tillman for allowing me to gain from their knowledge. I would like to thank Barry Zerby of the National Archives and John Heldt, reference librarian for the Lewis and Clark County Library, for speeding me on my way toward the documents. My friend Martin K. A. Morgan, a talented military historian, has helped me in numerous ways, including drawing the small map inserts. My friends John Schuttler and Kate Cholewa each read an early draft of the first section; their advice and encouragement were appreciated. John also did some research for me. Lou Reda of Lou Reda Productions, assisted by Greg Miller, provided me with transcripts of interviews with Eugene Sledge. The volunteers at the National WWII Museum alerted me whenever a veteran of Iwo Jima passed through the door. John Innes, nicknamed "Our Man in Honiara" by Bruce McKenna, has twice taken me across the battlefields of Guadalcanal, which he knows by heart. Tangie Hesus has twice toured me around Peleliu. Chris Majewski is the "tunnel rat" par excellence who has twice driven me around Okinawa. I also need to thank Commander Jack Hanzlik of the United States Navy, who arranged for Bruce and me to "catch a hook" aboard USS
Ronald Reagan
, spend an evening with her impressive crew, and catapult off her flight deck the next day. Wow.

The experiences we had retracing the battles and the research we conducted have left an indelible mark upon all of us involved. The war against Japan, although part of World War II, was distinct from that waged against Germany. America's victory changed the world. It enabled human civilization to advance. Combat in the Pacific exacted a high price from the men who won it. That cost startled us at every turn. We are grateful to all of the men and women who paid it. We endeavor to honor them by presenting as much of their story as we could, as honestly as we could.

My mother, Moira Buckley Ambrose, read the first draft of the first section of this work. Her encouragement and suggestions meant everything to me. Had she lived to read the full draft, this would be a better book. I treasure my memories of her. May she rest in peace with her beloved husband, Steve.

I conclude this acknowledgment of my gratitude with the most important person of all, Andrea Ambrose. My beautiful and talented wife is my partner in all things. We made the long journey we call
The Pacific
together. I am a lucky guy.

INTRODUCTION

HUNDREDS OF GREAT BOOKS HAVE BEEN WRITTEN ABOUT THE PACIFIC WAR. THE majority of these volumes fall into one of three categories: a book about the war in general; a book that illuminates every detail of a single battle or important aspect; or a book by a veteran about his experiences. While all of these have their place in the historiography of such an important event, there is room for one more.

The goal of
The Pacific
is to take the reader through the Pacific War, from first to last, through the eyes of a select few of the men who fought it. In this way, the reader enjoys the immediacy of the individual narrative, but sees the war as a whole. To achieve this goal, the five stories included here were chosen because they are representative of the experience. Between these men, they fought many of the great battles of the Pacific War. The coincidences and relationships that connect the five men allow their experiences to arrive in the context within which they occurred. The historical perspective emerges in a variety of ways. After carefully choosing the right stories, and developing them to their fullest, the author has chosen to provide only a thin skein of omniscience. Given its goal, this work is self-evidently not a definitive history of the entire war or even of the battles that it covers.

Attempting to tell the story of individuals is fraught with perils. Sources contradict one another. The fog of war leaves mistaken impressions. The fog of time increases these misapprehensions. The documents are incomplete, sometimes inaccurate, and always more revealing of the aggregate experience than that of the individual. Relying on the letters, reports, and journals written during the war, though, solves most of these problems.

History books relate what happened. This work focuses on what the men thought was going to happen, what they endured or witnessed, and what they believed had happened. Determining what someone thought at a particular time, before their understanding was shaped later by new information, is highly problematical. Contemporaneous accounts remain the best source. These accounts form the basis of this book. For reasons that will become obvious, I chose not to distinguish between remarks made at the time and those made many years later. Instead, I took great care to prevent the rosy glow of memory from obscuring the facts.

The diaries, letters, and reports of Austin Shofner, Sid's friend John "Deacon" Tatum, John Basilone, and Eugene Sledge are new to the war's scholarship. They are rare and extremely valuable documents. They have made possible the vivid and unrelenting stories told herein. They also offer new insights and new information on key events and important individuals, as the avid military historians will discern.

The basis of research for four of the individuals whose lives appear in this book (Sidney Phillips, Austin Shofner, Vernon Micheel, and Eugene Sledge) amounts to a core group of documents: their respective military records, letters, journals, memoirs, memoirs of friends, photos, and interviews. Since this book intends to tell the story of these men in their words as much as possible, these sources are quoted and paraphrased liberally (except in the case of Eugene Sledge's memoir). In order to make the endnotes of this book less cumbersome, these sources will be cited in the first endnote of each story, in a "super endnote." The additional material used will be cited in the text as necessary. The story of the fifth veteran, on the other hand, could not be handled in this manner. John Basilone's story was pulled together from a hundred different sources, none of which offers more than a piece of the whole.

THE CAST

THE VAST AND COMPLEX WAR AGAINST JAPAN CAN BE UNDERSTOOD BY FOLLOWING five individuals through it. On the day the Pacific War began, they were (in order of appearance):

Lieutenant Austin C. "Shifty" Shofner
--the scion of a prominent family with a long record of military service, he considered himself a professional marine. He had seen the barbarity of Japanese occupation up close and looked forward to leading men in combat.

Ensign Vernon "Mike" Micheel
--the prospect of being drafted had forced him to leave the family farm and complete the navy's flight school in the fall of 1941. The challenge of being a naval aviator deepened at every turn.

Sidney C. Phillips
--the easygoing teenager went down to enlist when the war started because his buddy William "W. O." Brown said they should do it. They thought they would join the navy because Mobile, Alabama, was a navy town.

Sergeant "Manila John" Basilone
--the son of immigrants had found happiness in the rough-and-ready life of a marine. Having previously served overseas, John had already experienced America's postcolonial foreign policy. He thought it was worth fighting for.

Eugene B. Sledge
--the serious, intelligent son of a famous doctor, he watched as his best friend, Sidney Phillips, enlisted without him. The sight mortified him. For a year he deferred to his parents, who insisted that his elder brother Edward's service would represent the family's contribution to the war effort.

Robert "Lucky" Leckie
--viewers of the HBO miniseries
The Pacific
will note that one of the miniseries's central characters, Robert Leckie, appears briefly in this text. Viewers will also notice that this volume features two men, Austin Shofner and Vernon Micheel, who are absent from the miniseries. The explanation can be found in the imperatives of print versus those of film. While the book and the miniseries share a core story, they are different mediums. Each must do what it does best.

ACT I

"HOUSE OF CARDS"

December 1941-June 1942

AS THE 1930S GAVE WAY TO THE 1940S, THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES thought little of the Empire of Japan. Americans worried about their economy, which had wallowed on the brink of collapse for a decade, and wished to stay out of the world's problems. The speed at which Nazi Germany had come to dominate Europe had, however, provided President Franklin Roosevelt with enough political capital to take a few steps toward preparing the country to defend itself. Roosevelt and his military leadership also opposed the Japanese drive to dominate vast stretches of China. The Japanese government, ruled by a military cabal that included Emperor Hirohito, had created an ideology to justify its colonial conquest and built a military to enact it. Japan obviously intended to seize other valuable areas along the Pacific Rim. The United States controlled some of these valuable areas and it expected to keep the region open to trade. Roosevelt endeavored to curb Japan's expansion by a series of economic and diplomatic measures backed up by the U.S. military--the smallest and least-equipped force of any industrialized nation in the world.

FIRST LIEUTENANT AUSTIN SHOFNER WOKE UP EXPECTING ENEMY BOMBERS TO arrive overhead any second. Just after three a.m. his friend Hugh had burst into the cottage where he was sleeping on the floor and said, "Shof, Shof, wake up. I just got a message in from the CinCPAC saying that war with Japan is to be declared within the hour. I've gone through all the Officer of the Day's instructions, and there isn't a thing in there about what to do when war is declared."
¹
With the enemy's strike imminent, Lieutenant Shofner took the next logical step. "Go wake up the old man."

"Oh," Hugh replied, "I couldn't do that." Even groggy with sleep, Shofner understood his reluctance. The chain of command dictated that Lieutenant Hugh Nutter report to his battalion commander, not directly to the regimental commander. Speaking to a colonel in the Marine Corps was like speaking to God. The situation required it though. "You damn fool, get going, pass the buck up." At this Hugh took off running into the darkness surrounding the navy base on the Bataan Peninsula in the Philippines.

Shofner followed quickly, running down to the docks, where the enlisted men were billeted in an old warehouse. He saw Hugh stumble into a hole and fall, but he didn't stop to help. The whistle on the power station sounded. The sentry at the main gate began ringing the old ship's bell. The men were already awake and shouting when Shofner ran into the barracks and ordered them to fall out. The bugler sounded the Call to Arms. Someone ordered the lights kept off, so as not to give the enemy's planes a target.