Evening star., 1944-04-09

oy a"fy DuO%o. Nt1ftSNN'~
Press.)
Flights to Glory
By John Purcell. Vanguard
Press.)
Bonzoi Noel!
By Capt. Garrett. Graham.
U. S. M. c. Vanguard PressJ
"Ten Escape From Tojo," q story
OF American fighters in Japanese
lprison camps, is . grim and terrible
tale which ought not only TO be read,
but to be remembered. It should be
Remembered when We come to make
peace with the sneak attackers Of
the Rising Sun, and for something
like . hundred years thereafter. So
called humanitarians who, as soon
as the treaty is signed, will begin to-
|deplore bitterness and recommend
|forgetfulness. should recall that
those are precisely the tactics which
We followed with Germany after
1918, and, II 1t be in them to do 80,
learn a lesson. If anything can
make this lesson plain, 1t is this
book.
Comdr. Mccoy and Col. Mellnik
were among the prisoners Of Bataan.
They were first incarcerated In .
prison camp and later put to labor
on . prison farm. In both places,
they were subjected to starvation,
deprived Of medical care and made
to witness the torture of their COM
rades. Men died like flies in these
lprisons, and, like flies, were left un-
buried, lying on the ground where
they had passed away. The stencil
Of the decaying corpses Of their
comrades was the air the survivors
breathed. The hideousness Of this
record is 4 thing beyond any ex-
|tenuation. It cannot be read too
widely. The two authors, one Is
happy to say, made their escape.
They knew they would be tortured
to death II captured, for they had
seen that fate meet certain Of their
comrades. But they also knew that
they would die Of starvation If they
remained. So they took the chance.
Let their record not be lost. !
This Is tt" is q collection of
stories from men of all services and
ranks, purporting to give in pano-
rama . picture Of the risks Of this,
the worlds biggest war. It tells Of
men caught on . torpedoed and
blazing tanker, Of men adrift in
small boat In the ice-filied North
Atlantic, Of commandos venturing
|20 miles behind the German lines
lin the African desert, OF crews
caught in burning tanks, Of infantry
stalking the Japs through the
Guadalcanal jungle and Of still more
typical situations. The stories are
not offered as instances Of heroism,
but Of routine duty and its conse-
Iquences. Gathered together In one
volume, they give an impressively
broad view Of what American young
men are doing. .,.....
One criticism, however, viii occur
to q reader. The stories are told In
the first person, and Harry Davis,
who wrote them from actual records,
has put into the tellers' mouths at
times expressions Of self-pity and
self praise which, one feels, the men
themselves certainly would have
omitted.
Flights to Glory" is q good deal
the same sort Of thing, but limited
to our air forces. It covers the
air war from Pearl Harbor and that
day Of unpreparedness on to the
present period Of steady and in
creasing bombardment Of the en-
emy at home, and does 50 in terms
Of individual exploits. The sagas
Of BuzS Wagner, Colin Kelly, Dom
aid wSighted sub, sank same"D
Mason, Jimmy Doolittle and other
immortals Of our time are retold
In It, and there Is much value in
having them gathered into q COL
lection. The ticklish first-person
method Of relation Is not used in
this volume, which is a decided
advantage when the material is all
of heroic quality.
"Banzai Noel!" is the work of
veteran Of World War I now an
active combatant of World War II.
It Is also the work of a seasoned
writer. Capt. Graham has been a
lnewspaperman and has several
books to his credit. He tells Of his
second period Of service to his coun-
try with hearty humor. That took
him to Guadalcanal, and among all
the strong and colorfu1 descriptions
OF that piece Of the war as yet given,
1t deserves a high place.
Any Of these books is q slice Of
the war. The four together are war
enough to keep you thinking for a
long time to come-one hopes.