Bruce M. Petty served for two years on the U.S.S. Yorktown during the Vietnam War. A California native, he has lived in Saipan. His writings have been published in The Pacific Daily News, The Marianas Variety, Umanidat: A Journal of the Humanities and Journal of the Pacific Society. Formerly a nuclear medicine technologist, he currently writes in New Plymouth, New Zealand.

• Table of ContentsAcknowledgments      Introduction      PART I Micronesian Voices: Oral Histories of Pacific Islanders1. SaipanJapanese Father, Chamorro Mother—Vicky Vaughan      My Two Families—Sister Antonieta Ada      Escolastica—Escolastica Tudela Cabrera      The Fisherman’s Son—Juan Blanco      The Policeman—Gregorio C. Cabrera      Messenger Boy for the Japanese Police—Manuel T. Sablan      Provisional Marine—Cristino S. Dela Cruz      Arrested by the Kempeitai—David Sablan      Carolinian Elder—Felipe Iguel Ruak      With Father Tardio and the Nuns—Marie Soledad Castro      The Boy from Taegu—Taeki Lee      2. Yap and TinianThe Flemings from Yap—Alfred Flores Fleming and Rosalia Aldan Fleming      The White Russian from Yap—Alex Tretnoff      3. RotaDigging Tunnels on Rota—Antonio Shimabukuro Borja      Hungry and Thirsty on Rota—Jose King      Chicken and Corn—Jose Hocog Mundo      4. Palau IslandsI Worked for the Kempeitai—Roman Tmetuchl      The Sailor from Angaur—Manuel S. Sablan      5. GuamThe Interpreter—Henry S. Pangelinan      The Interpreter’s Wife—“Marikita” Palacios Crisostomo      From Sumay to Santa Rita—Gregorio Borja      PART IIAmerican Voices: Oral Histories of U.S. Military Veterans and Their Families6. The MarinesThe First Armored Amphibian Battalion—Dale L. Barker      The Bastard Battalion—Frank Borta      Farm Boy from Oklahoma—Paul E. Cooper      Sixth Provisional Marine M.P. Battalion—James A. Moore      Maug Island—Robert Owensby      Marines Don’t Cry in Public—Robert Roland      Mr. Leary—Carl Matthews      7. The ArmyMilitary Intelligence Service Attached toTwenty-seventh Army Division—Benjamin Hazard      A Nisei’s Story—Nobuo Richard Kishiue      The Thirty-third Coast Artillery Battery—Roland Fronheiser      Field Artillery Officer—Edmund Joseph Lyga      8. The NavyNavy Civil Affairs Unit—Harris Martin      Gunnery Officer: USS Twining (DD 540)—William VanDusen      Patrol Bombing Squadron Twenty-two—Bob Willig      9. The Army Air ForceB-29 Lead Pilot—Ray Brashear      B-24 Nose Gunner—Gerald Shaffer      10. The Home FrontWhen Johnnie Didn’t Come Marching Home—Bill Winnekins      Already I Miss You as Much as I Thought I Would—Jane Broome Plante      Index

“In 2002 when author-anthologist Bruce M. Petty began recording an amazing collection of choice World War II combat reminiscences for a trilogy unsurpassed to this day. All told, more than a hundred interviews were collected over the span of a decade to allow us buffs, enthusiasts, and living-room-armchair historians to relive in serviceman verse and prose battle experiences otherwise unavailable after eight decades…Meeting the military miens of Marines, officers, and their men, in often unforgiving, fathomless milieus, to read the actual words of eyewitnesses is rare. Thanks to the genius of the McFarland Publishing Company editorial staff, we, too, suddenly find ourselves at war…A serious question, reader. Do you earnestly, sincerely want to be there? If so, a must-read trilogy awaits…Each of the three volumes attempts to gather the most significant, easily understood, and authenticated images of the Pacific War…All are individually good and worth reading…vivid…truly capable of placing the reader at the foot of action.”—Argunners Magazine