"Iwo Jima was a massacre. I never expected anything like that. People were dying left and right…. No names should have been used on the flag raisings because we didn’t get up there by ourselves. It was the collective actions of a lot of people and there were a lot of Raiders and paratroopers up there with us."—Charles Lindberg, Flag Raiser
In his award-winning book BEYOND VALOR, Patrick O'Donnell revealed the true nature of the European Theater in World War II, as told by those who had survived. Now, with INTO THE RISING SUN, O'Donnell tells the story of the brutal Pacific war, based on over a thousand interviews spanning a decade.
The men who fought their way across the Pacific during World War II had to possess something more than just courage. They faced a cruel, fanatical enemy in the Japanese, who were willing to do anything for victory—making kamikaze flights and using human-guided torpedoes. Over the course of the war, marines, paratroopers, and Rangers spearheaded D-Day-sized beach assaults, encountered cannibalism, suffered friendly fire incidents, and endured torture as prisoners of war. Though they are truly heroes, they claim no glory for themselves. As one soldier put it, "When somebody gets decorated, it’s because a lot of other men died.”
By at last telling their stories, these men present a hard, unvarnished look at the war on the ground, a final gift from aging warriors who have already given so much. Only with these accounts can the true horror of the war in the Pacific be fully known. Together with detailed maps of each battle, INTO THE RISING SUN offers a complete, yet deeply personal, picture of the war in the Pacific, and a ground-level view of some of history’s most brutal combat. |
"From raids on remote Japanese outposts, to the desperate fighting on Guadalcanal and in Burma, to the hellish catacombs of Iwo Jima and Okinawa, O'Donnell has assembled chilling tales told by survivors of some of the most vicious fighting in the war…. Poignant, heartbreaking remembrances…This important work preserves these veterans' shocking and moving stories for generations to come. Highly recommended." -LIBRARY JOURNAL (March 1, 2002)"O'Donnell begins with a broad review of each of the battles on which he writes, and transitions quickly to his selection of personal oral histories by participants. These individual experiences are the heart of the book—they are moving, or perhaps for some disturbing. This is not a book for those with weak stomachs. The oral histories paint a reality of infantry combat little understood by those who have not experienced it. Characteristic of our 'great generation,' whose members returned from the war to take up normal lives and internalized the horrors they had experienced, there is little bragging or self-aggrandizement." -General Carl E. Mundy Jr., U.S. Marine Corps (Ret) reviewing for NAVAL MAGAZINE (June 2002) "For those who enjoy real-life war stories told from the perspective of the men who were there, INTO THE RISING SUN is hard to beat." -Amazon.com editorial review "Patrick O'Donnell may be the next Studs Terkel. Spending untold hours with proud and often laconic veterans, coaxing their stories with meticulous care, he has shown us the wet, dark, jungled truth of the Pacific War." -Hampton Sides, NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author of GHOST SOLDIERS "Recalling harrowing rescue missions, gun battles and the knee-deep swamp mud that forced soldiers to hold up their comrades' heads while they slept to keep them from drowning, veterans from the elite WWII units relive the Pacific theater…. [T]estimonies of horrifying violence and hair-raising close calls are sometimes described with emotion, other times in brutally honest deadpan." -PUBLISHERS WEEKLY (January 21, 2002) "These accounts, brief but rich with detail, are sure to resonate with veterans and loved ones...Stories in INTO THE RISING SUN boil down patriotism to one of its most basic and dramatic forms: A willingness to risk the unthinkable to protect one's comrades and pursue the enemy...O'Donnell's sense of the importance of preserving those accounts hit home dramatically in 2000, when he interviewed Andrew Amaty, 81, of New York, who talked for about five hours about his experiences in a parachute infantry regiment. 'He was a great storyteller. I felt like I was going back in time with the guy.' O'Donnell said. The following day, Amaty, a former dockworker, strained to lift a heavy suitcase, suffered a stroke and died." -SEATTLE TIMES "The individual histories are almost anecdotally brief, but O'Donnell fills in historical background and again shows that even the best infantryman's life is frequently dull, nasty, brutish, and short. Neither does he overlook the problems of warfare in the tropics and those of postwar life even for the veterans of a 'good war.' A superior addition to World War II oral archives." -BOOKLIST "…INTO THE RISING SUN is even better than his well-received and highly regarded first, BEYOND VALOR….
"With maps and photos and a vivid account of sickening detail about the lengths Japanese went to in order to stay alive, readers will get a clear picture of the fighting in the Pacific…. Many of the accounts are grisly, but add to the understanding of why veterans have been reluctant to talk about their experiences.
"O'Donnell persuaded many of the veterans to tell their stories for the first time.… It is fortunate he was able to preserve their memories for future generations.
"O'Donnell is the next Stephen Ambrose...when it comes to this kind of storytelling and preserving." -NATIONAL GUARD (July 2002) "The stories Mr. O'Donnell elicited from our World War II Pacific veterans were often tragic, but always inspiring." -General Richard B. Myers, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
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