num_pages: 518
description: Bill McGee joined the U.S. Navy in 1942 on his 17th birthday. He was assigned to the Naval Armed Guard, the branch of the Navy that protected Merchant ships and their valuable cargo and crew from enemy attacks and sabotage. Within weeks, McGee was in the middle of two major enemy  an air attack at Guadalcanal and a torpedoing in the South Pacific. The author's "kid's cruise" (as they were called) ended in 1946 on the heavy cruiser USS Fall River and  OPERATION CROSSROADS, the atomic bomb tests at Bikini. Along the way, McGee experienced the ups and downs of Navy life -- boot camp in Idaho, Naval Armed Guard school on Treasure Island, life on a merchant ship, duty in the battle fleet, at least one girl in every port, and drills, drills and more drills.Drawing on his shipboard journal, plus three years of interviews with former shipmates, and exhaustive research with declassified documents in the National Archives, McGee has produced an engrossing book that has the inimitable mark of one that has "been there, done that." He tells an honest, factual story that takes the reader for a ride through the war zones on Liberty ships, Victory ships, and the heavy cruiser, USS Fall River.  Bluejacket Odyssey  is a firsthand account of a defining period in our nation's history.
language: English
title: Bluejacket Odyssey : Guadalcanal to Bikini, 1942-1946, Naval Armed Guard in the Pacific
titlecomplete: Bluejacket Odyssey : Guadalcanal to Bikini, 1942-1946, Naval Armed Guard in the Pacific
publisher: Glencannon Pr