Interesting book.......

[Chop]

One of the stupid things about our adversary in WWII Pac theatre, while normally one of the smartest nations on Earth, they had a bizarre obsession about building the absolute biggest battleships in the World, and as many as they could. They wasted a lot of their limited supplies and efforts on this task.

Fittingly, the Yamato, the biggest battleship of them all, was sunk by some of our airplanes.

 

[WorsterMan]

I believe that Ian Toll's - Pacific Crucible documented the above. Tensions ran so high among the crews of South Dakota and Washington - One Ship took a lot of damage and the other much less (don't remember which) that they could not take shore leave together.

Three books in the series if you are interested. If I recall, one of the books covers the sad tale of the Sullivan brothers on the Juno.

Yeah, I remember reading a book in Jr. High re: the 5 Sullivan brothers from Iowa. I later saw the black & white movie "The Fighting Sullivans" about them and the cruiser Jeneau that was sunk taking all 5 brothers. The Navy forbid brothers from serving on the same ship after that.

 

[utahorn]

For submarines in the Pacific, read Unrestricted Warfare by James DeRose. Note that a number of different books have the same title.

 

[WorsterMan]

Read Up Periscope when I was 9 or 10. Later saw the movie with James Garner.

 

[WorsterMan]

Mid - 60's, I was also a weekly fan of Quinn Martin's TV production: Twelve O'Clock High. About the incredibly brave 8th Air Force based in Britian bombing the Nazis in Europe.

^^^ Anyone else a fan?

The movie Twelve O'Clock High starred Dean Jagger and Gregory Peck. It was inspiring but sad.

In 1968 when visiting relatives in Memphis, I ask my Dad to take me to see The Memphis Bell B-17. At that time it was only 23 years after WW2. Nobody was thinking of preserving that kind of history. The plane was parked at the city airport or a National Guard armory. Sadly, it was weathered, tired, in bad shape and largely ignored.

As a kid I built 2 Revelle plastic models of the Memphis Bell. The first was novice work. 2nd was quality work and very authentic. Saw the movie Memphis Bell with Matthew Modine in the late 80's or whenever it was released. Later, fortunately the Memphis Bell was fully restored to her former glory!

Those 8th Air Force flyers were incredibly brave. Their survival on those missions over Europe had a high death rate / capture if shot down and you survived.

Sorry, got carried away there...

 

[utahorn]

The TV show Twelve O'clock High was running on Me TV Network for some time but I think they changed the programming. Growing up, I enjoyed that show.

While there was plenty of ariel footage from both sides, the movie actually had more action on the ground than the air focusing on the logistics and command structure of the fictional 918th Bomb Group.

Dean Jagger won an Academy Award for his portrayal of Major then Lt. Colonel Stovall.

One of the books on my reading list for this winter is Big Week by (again) James Holland.

 

[utahorn]

The last survivor of the Arizona named Potts died at 102 in April 2023.

Getting older and don't remember if I posted this: When Arizona takes the field, they ring the bell recovered from USS Arizona. This might be more On the Field stuff, but I think it's cool to remember the ship and its crew.

 

[WorsterMan]

^^^ very interesting and very good! Did not know that.

 

[Horn6721]

uta
I don't think you have ever posted it. But if you did it is worth reminding
What a nice tribute.