Review: A very personal look at WWII
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 03 6, 2014
I normally avoid war books and I don't really know why I read this one.  Once I started I was caught up in this very readable account of a young sailor.  What made it special for me is that the author (writing in his old age) manages to make you feel the emotions of the teenager he was at the time.  I was amused at his astonishment at the huge pile of clothing he was issued at basic training.  Growing up one of ten children in a poor family he had never owned more than a change of clothing.  Now he had five uniforms, three pairs of boots, three hats, and  underwear for a week. He wondered how he was going to help the navy win the war while looking after all those clothes!  This is not a lighthearted look at war. The things that this kid saw were gut-wrenching and remind us that all wars, no matter how unavoidable, exact a terrible price.