Korean War

Jul 8 2011

Such Men As These: The Story of the Navy Pilots Who Flew the Deadly Skies over Korea by David Sears

Continuing my two-book review series on the Korean War, I turn to Such Men as These: The Story of the Navy Pilots Who Flew the Deadly Skies over Korea by David Sears.  The book is 395 pages with 46 black and white photographs.

Generally, the book covers the Navy pilots that flew over the skies of North and South Korea during the War.  Many of the accounts of the pilots are from the pilots themselves.  Sears follows the pilots from their deployment to their way home (if they were lucky enough to survive).  He includes many stories of survival and loss during the war.

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By Jeff Grim • Reviews • 0 • Tags: , , , ,

Nov 15 2010

In the Mail: Give Me Tomorrow

Give Me Tomorrow: The Korean War’s Greatest Untold Story–The Epic Stand of the Marines of George Company by Patrick K. O’Donnell

From the Publisher

“What would you want if you could have any wish?” asked the photojournalist of the haggard, bloodied Marine before him. The Marine gaped at his interviewer. The photographer snapped his picture, which became the iconic Korean War image featured on this book’s jacket. “Give me tomorrow,” he said at last.

After nearly four months of continuous and agonizing combat on the battlefields of Korea, such a simple request seemed impossible. For many men of George Company, or “Bloody George” as they were known—one of the Forgotten War’s most decorated yet unrecognized companies—it was a wish that would not come true.

This is the untold story of “Bloody George,” a Marine company formed quickly to answer its nation’s call to duty in 1950. This small band of men—a colorful cast of characters, including a Native American fighting to earn his honor as a warrior, a Southern boy from Tennessee at odds with a Northern blue-blood reporter-turned-Marine, and a pair of twins who exemplified to the group the true meaning of brotherhood—were mostly green troops who had been rushed through training to fill America’s urgent need on the Korean front. They would find themselves at the tip of the spear in some of the Korean War’s bloodiest battles.

After storming ashore at Inchon and fighting house-to-house in Seoul, George Company, one of America’s last units in reserve, found itself on the frozen tundra of the Chosin Reservoir facing elements of an entire division of Chinese troops. They didn’t realize it then, but they were soon to become crucial to the battle—modern-day Spartans called upon to hold off ten times their number. Give Me Tomorrow is their unforgettable story of bravery and courage.

Thoroughly researched and vividly told, Give Me Tomorrow is fitting testament to the heroic deeds of George Company. They will never again be forgotten.

By Kevin Holtsberry • In The Mail • 0 • Tags: , , , ,

Jun 8 2010

In the Mail: Such Men As These

Such Men as These: The Story of the Navy Pilots Who Flew the Deadly Skies over Korea by David Sears

Kirkus Reviews

Quality military history of naval aviation during the Korean War. Historians traditionally bemoan America’s enthusiastic disarmament after World War II, and former U.S. Navy officer Sears (At War with the Wind: The Epic Struggle with Japan’s World War II Suicide Bombers, 2008, etc.) does not rock the boat. Budgets shrank, both draftees and skilled career men were discharged, ships were scrapped and vital military-technology research-jets, helicopters, new carrier designs-was shelved. North Korea’s 1950 invasion of the South found the United States with only a single, old aircraft carrier in the Pacific. After a scramble to refurbish the ships, recall reservists and spend generous new appropriations, Navy leaders assembled an impressive fleet that rained destruction on the North. As with Vietnam, North Korea was a poor, agricultural country with few of the key industrial targets bombers prefer, so airmen concentrated on railroads, bridges, tunnels and road traffic, which provided only occasional dramatic destruction in exchange for a steady stream of casualties. Sears does not shy away from politics and technical developments, but he focuses on an almost day-to-day account of carrier ground-attack missions. He follows the lives of a dozen Navy airmen, painting a vivid picture of their background, flight training and problems flying obsolete propeller aircraft, rudimentary early jets and the first futuristic but alarmingly dangerous helicopters. The author includes the moving story of the first black naval aviator, as well as the horrendous experience of several pilots taken prisoner. Military buffs will enjoy the nuts-and-bolts battle details, but Sears also offers a solid general history of naval air warfare.

By Kevin Holtsberry • In The Mail • 0 • Tags: , , , , , ,

Jan 4 2010

The U.S. Army’s First, Last, and Only All-Black Rangers by Edward L. Posey

I have always been interested in the history of individual military units, especially ones written by a former member.  Thus, I was intrigued by Edward Posey’s The U.S. Army’s First, Last, and Only All-Black Rangers when I found out about it.  Although the unit was only in existence for ten months during the Korean War, its members proved to many skeptics (some high ranking generals in the Army) that African-Americans could fight.  I believe their example and the efforts of others pushed the Army leadership in Korea (and worldwide) to finally end segregation in the U.S. Army - the armed forces were ordered to desegregate by President Truman, but the Army took its sweet time in carrying out the order.

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By Jeff Grim • Reviews • 1 • Tags: , , , , , , ,