Flamethrower : : Iwo Jima Medal of Honor Recipient and U.s. Marine Woody Williams and his Controversial Award, Japan's Holocaust and the Pacific War

Locations
Call Number: 940.54 Ri
On Shelf At: Downtown Library

Location & Checkout Length	Call Number	Checkout Length	Item Status
Downtown 2nd Floor 4-week checkout	940.54 Ri	4-week checkout	On Shelf

Forewords / by 31st USMC Commandant, General Charles C. Krulak, 29th USMC Commandant, General Alfred M. Gray Jr. and USMC General Anthony Charles Zinni -- Introduction: background on WWII and Woody Williams -- A nation rises up-events before and at the beginning of war -- Growing up in West Virginia -- Outbreak of war -- Joining the Marine Corps -- Background on the Japanese military: brave soldiers and psychopathic rapists and killers -- Deployment-New Caledonia -- Guadalcanal -- The Marianas -- Japanese attack and occupation of Guam 1941-44 -- Battle for the Marianas: background and preparation -- Amphibious warfare: the Marine Corps' forte -- The attack at Saipan -- Philippine Sea Battle: "The Great Marianas Turkey Shoot" -- The attack at Saipan continues -- The attack at Tinian -- The liberation of Guam -- "Banzai" attacks on Guam -- Battle's end for Guam -- Events leading to Iwo Jima -- Iwo Jima landings begin -- Woody's landing on Iwo -- The pillboxes -- The attack on Iwo continues -- Battle on Iwo winds down -- Justification for Iwo Jima -- After Iwo Jima -- Receiving the Medal of Honor -- Observations about military awards and Woody's MOH -- Life after the war -- Appendix #1 (legal document of Rigg's motion to dismiss Woody's frivolous lawsuit).
"Imagine strapping on a highly flammable 70-pound pack and entering combat as a surefire walking target - and you'd only begin to understand the job, and the horror, of [a] Marine Corps flamethrower man. That's precisely what Hershel "Woody" Williams did in World War II, most importantly in February 1945 on Iwo Jima, one of the Pacific War's toughest battles. A few days into the battle, Marines were fighting hard for an airfield, and his captain asked Woody if he could do anything. He responded, "I'll try"--And for the next four hours, he virtually singlehandedly took on and ultimately destroyed seven enemy pillboxes and helped secure the airfield. Accomplished military historian Bryan Mark Rigg reconstructs Williams' remarkable story, from his youth in West Virginia to his experiences on Guadalcanal, Saipan, Guam, and most significantly Iwo Jima. In Rigg's telling, Williams' Medal of Honor action is not "just" a brave deed, but one of only a few strategically significant brave deeds - one that secured a strategic objective during a major campaign. Rigg tells Williams' story vividly, and objectively, and places it in the context of the broader Pacific theater of World War II."-- Provided by publisher

REVIEWS & SUMMARIES

Summary / Annotation

COMMUNITY REVIEWS

Not an enjoyable read submitted by GJBarnett2 on January 9, 2023, 1:17am Although this appears to be an interesting and important book, I found it almost unreadable. Notwithstanding the author's academic credentials include graduation from Yale with Honors as well as an MA and PhD from Cambridge, it reads more like the work of a non-native English speaker. Its excessive length is due, at least in part, to awkward grammar and word choice which also slows the pace of the narrative. Might have been saved by a co-author or at least a good editor, but wasn't. Rigg clearly has much to say but, unfortunately, doesn't say it well.