My Recent Writing on WWII in the Pacific

Bataan Death March survivor Ed L.

Ralph L., Bataan Death March and POW in Japan.

The USS Indianapolis.

Hap Halloran, top center, with B-29 crew.

The little girl at right watched the Pearl Harbor attack from Pearl City, only a few hundred yards from Ford Island.

Pete Benavage is my old Western Civ teacher from high school. He was a sergeant on Iwo Jima. This photo is captured from a Japanese TV documentary about Iwo Jima.

Bill Morrison, Iwo Jima Marine.

Bill Lynne, Navy Corpsman with 1st Marines.

Bob Crowton's Navy Cross, awarded for heroism at Okinawa.

Bob Crowton's wife Marge admires his Navy Cross.

Kay Morris, B-24 copilot, flew many long over-water missions against Japan.

Bill Lynne, Navy Corpsman, Pacific.

Bill Harten, USS West Virginia, Pearl Harbor survivor.

Joe Lajzer, Bataan Death March survivor and survivor of four years in a Japanese prison camp.

I have been working hard on Untold Valor: Pacific and have some fine stories. The book will be arranged chronologically by battles/campaigns and each chapter will feature two to three men or women who were there. Chapters so far include:

Pearl Harbor: Interviews, Pearl Harbor survivor from USS West Virginia; lady who was a 6-year old whose dad was stationed at Pearl and who watched the attack from Pearl City.

Wake Island: Interview: a civilian construction worker who was captured and spent the war as a POW.

Bataan Death March: interviews with three Bataan Death March survivors who also survived hellish POW camps and Hell Ship trips.

Pilots: interviews with two pilots who flew long over-water missions to Japan.

Navy Corpsmen: Interviews with three Navy corpsmen who served with the First Marine Division on Saipan and Okinawa.

Okinawa: interviews with Marines and Navy Corpsmen who were there, including a Marine Lt. who won the Navy Cross there.

Iwo Jima: Interviews with three Marines who were there.

USS Indianapolis: Interviews with three men who survived the sinking of the USS Indianapolis, sunk by a Japanese sub in 1945. The survivors spent days in shark-infested waters before rescue, and most died waiting for rescue. Also interviewed Hunter Scott, who as a young man called attention to the fact that Captain McVay was wrongly accused of negligence.

B-29 POW: Interview with a man who was shot down and was a POW in Tokyo during the March 10, 1945 firebombings.

Possible one or two more chapters, but it depends on if I can find the men to interview. I would like to interview a carrier pilot and a Seabee.

U.S. Navy Seabee R.S. Leslie's WWII Pacific Footlocker

R.M. Leslie was one of my relative's dad. He fought in the Pacific in World War Two as a Seabee. About ten years ago, Jeannie, his daughter, gave me the contents of his old Navy footlocker for my teaching and research on World War Two. These photos show most of the kit. He had two blue cloth jackets, a lighter summer white jacket, and a khaki jacket. He also had pants to match the blues and the whites. The clothing is all in pretty decent shape considering it was packed away in a box for fifty years before I got it. Enjoy this little slice of U.S. Navy history and thanks to R.M. Leslie for his service to his family and his nation. Sadly, I do not have a photo of Leslie, but I'll continue to try to find one.

Note ruptured duck on right breast, bullion insignia device, and 'CB' badge on lower sleeve.

Amazing bullion on the blue and the gray shoulder insignia patches.

Where in the World Have I Been?

Marine Second Lt. Robert 'Bob' Crowton's Navy Cross, awarded for heroism at Okinawa.

My former teacher Pete Benavage as a Marine Sergeant before heading to Iwo Jima.

Joseph Lajzer as he appeared after over three and a half years of Japanese captivity, including the Bataan Death March and slave labor in Japan.

Have been interviewing a gentleman who was on the Clark Field Baseball Team in Philippines before war broke out. He was on the Bataan Death March, then helped build the airfield at Palawan as slave labor, then took a Hell Ship to Japan and spent a long time "digging coal for the Emperor" at Hiroshima Omine and saw the A-bomb fall thirty miles away that fateful August day. He is in the photo above. (Name withheld)

This youthful gentleman was my Western Civilization teacher in high school. He is Major Pete Benavage, United States Marine Corps (Ret.). As a young sergeant of Marines, Pete helped lead a platoon on Iwo Jima. This is a photo capture from a Japanese TV program about Iwo Jima entitled 'Island of Death'.

Pete Benavage, teacher and friend.

Marine Second Lt. Robert Crowton's "Old Breed" First Marine Division patch that he wore on Okinawa, where he won the Navy Cross for heroism.

Marine Lt. Bob Crowton's lovely wife, Marge, admires his Navy Cross, awarded at a hospital in San Diego after he had undergone surgery to shrapnel damage to his face. (Bob Crowton collection)

Bob's Purple Heart and the box for his Navy Cross.

Bob awarded his Navy Cross in San Diego, CA.

William Morrison, who as a young Marine guarded a gun emplacement at the base of Mt. Suribachi and saw the flag go up.

Navy Corpsman William 'Bill' Lynne, who served with the First Marines at Peleliu and Okinawa. The corpsmen fought alongside the Marines, and saved many lives in battle. (Bill Lynne photo)

The wounded Corpsman in this famous press photo is Bill Lynne. (Bill Lynne collection)

Greetings to my faithful readers, all 26 of you. :)

Sorry I have not written on the blog much lately. I've been very busy working on my next book, and since it is not about WWII airmen, this page hasn't gotten the attention it did before

Right now, I am deeply involved in researching a book about the Pacific War. Lately, I've been working on two chapters in depth. The first involves the men who were on the Bataan Death March and the ensuing years as POWs. The second involves men who were at Iwo. These are but two chapters but I tend to immerse in just a few at a time. I've already put a lot of time into Pacific aviators and into Okinawa, the USS Indianapolis, and Navy Corpsmen. I have also been interviewing several Pearl Harbor survivors. This on top of the fact that I work sixty to seventy hours a week in the highly lucrative field of teaching high school.

I am putting a small sampling of photos of some of the guys I'm writing about at the moment, and who will all appear in the book when it comes out next year.

Stay tuned. I will be back.

Julien Modica: Endorsement Removed

I no longer endorse Mr. Modica for any office. Sadly, he conned me personally when I went for a visit this summer. I do not trust him.

Robert Law Collection: Royal Canadian Navy World War Two

Robert Law, standing at right, with crewmates.

This collection of World War Two items belonged to a young Canadian sailor from Edmonton, Alberta Canada by the name of Robert Law, who was the father of a colleague of mine at work. The colleague went up to Canada this year for her mother's funeral and brought back and donated her dad's WWII items to me to share with everyone for historical purposes, so here they are.

Law served as an Officers' Steward on a Royal Canadian vessel that I assumed was named the H.M.C.S. Naden during the war. However, further reseach indicates that H.M.C.S. Naden was a training area in Esquimault, British Columbia. Therefore, I am assuming he must have served on one of the following ships: the H.M.C.S. Chaudiere (destroyer), the destroyer H.M.C.S. Gatineau, of the H.M.C.S. Chilliwack, a corvette. The blue manual was his guide to preparing and serving meals for the officers on board ship. The newspaper clipping is from the Daily Telegraph and Morning Post, London, and tells of the sinking of a German U-Boat by the group of ships with which the Naden was sailing. Dated June 1, 1944. The U-Boat was sunk by the H.M.C.S. St. Catharines and its escorts. Ships named as being involved in this action include the H.M.C.S. Gatineau, the corvette H.M.C.S. Chilliwack, the H.M.S. Icarus, the H.M.C.S. Chaudiere, the corvette H.M.S. Fennel, and the corvette H.M.S. Kenilworth Castle.

Also interesting is Law's large collection of pin-up photos, most from the MGM studios. This collection includes large 8 by 10s as well as numerous 5 by 7s of various movie starlets at the time of the war. I have never seen so many pinups in such good condition, and I photographed and posted all of them because they are of great historical interest to readers.

Enjoy this collection, and thanks to Barbara Sweetland for donating them to me to share with historians everywhere.