Review: Like listening a war stories from your uncle
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 09 9, 2013
It's important to understand what this book is and isn't. The author states in the forward that this is the transcribed version of a tape-recorded conversation with a WWII veteran. It tells the story from the veteran's point of view, with a few asides and a lot of footnotes. The footnotes take up a full third of the text and are sourced from Wikipedia so the 70+ page book is closer to a 50 page book, minus the footnotes. The footnotes help if you don't have a large picture view on some of the major military leaders in the Pacific during WWII.Because this is a war vet telling his story, there is some jumping around, some sections that aren't fully explained, and some sections that aren't clear.Overall, this was an interesting story if you treat it for what it is - like you are listening to a war vet tell of his experiences. But it leaves a lot to be desired if you are looking for a book that gives the full background of the Royce Raid, the impact it had on the war, and other events going on around the same time.This isn't a long book, and it's probably most interesting to those who want to hear a story in the veteran's words, or to WWII buffs of the Pacific campaign.