Extraordinary leaders
Subtitle: Takubatsu no shidosha : World War II memoirs of an American naval officer and an Imperial Japanese naval officer
By: Joseph E. Jannotta, Jr
Publisher: AuthorHouse
Published: 2015
Place of publication: Bloomington, IN
Language: eng
Number of pages: 262
ISBN-13: 9781504950077; 9781504950084; 9781504950190
Subjects: Correspondence; Diaries; History; World War, 1939-1945; Campaigns; American Naval operations; Japanese Naval operations; American Personal narratives; Japanese Personal narratives; Sailors; Biography; Military campaigns; Naval Military operations; American; Japanese; United States. Navy; United States; Japan. Kaigun; Japan
Other titles: Takubatsu no shidosha; World War II memoirs of an American naval officer and an Imperial Japanese naval officer
Description: Extraordinary Leaders is an account of the author's uncle, Alfred Vernon Jannotta, Jr., who commanded a Landing Craft Infantry Large (LCI L) in multiple campaigns -- first in the Solomons and later in the Philippines where he earned a Navy Cross, a Silver Star, two Bronze Stars, and a Purple Heart. After the war, Uncle Vernon retired from naval service as a Rear Admiral. Juxtaposed with Uncle Vernon's wartime service, recounted through numerous letters to his wife, is the wartime experience of Ensign Kotarō Kawanishi who was posted to Bougainville in the Northern Solomons. Kawanishi's wartime service is based on diaries he wrote throughout the war. This work is different from most World War II memoirs because of the juxtaposition of the written accounts of two combatants, an American naval officer and a Japanese naval officer posted to fight for control of the Solomon Islands. In particular, the main body of the book focuses on what it was like, both offensively and defensively, to fight for the island of Bougainville. This is a first-hand account that lasted throughout the war, between 1942 and 1945, by two of the opposing officers who fought there. This is that rare account of combatants explaining in their own words what it was like to be sent to fight in the Pacific until one side defeated the other.
Notes: "Published by AuthorHouse 10/02/2015"--Title page verso.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 259-262).

In English.
Table of contents: title: Why this book?; title: Early years of Jannotta; title: Early years of Kawanishi; title: Sunday, December 7, 1941; title: Strategic overview; title: Admiral Yamamoto's death; title: Landing Craft Infantry Large (LCI L); title: Air war; title: Grandpa!; title: Allied task force forms and heads north; title: The battle for Bougainville; title: The new mission gets underway; title: Trekking up Bougainville; title: Homesick; title: Trekking in merciless sun and thirst; title: Liberty; title: Ramp-up : new and improved LCI Ls; title: Submarine resupply; title: A broken leg and convalescence; title: Sweet potato thief; title: Winning hearts and minds; title: "I shall return"; title: Rest and recuperation; title: Backtracking; title: "The last embers burned out"; title: Surrender and hope; title: POW 288045, Buka; title: Epilogue.