You Only Blow Yourself Up Once: Confessions of a World War Two Bomb Disposaleer - Couverture souple

Durham, J. Frank

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 0595295436 ISBN 13 : 9780595295432

Synopsis

You Only Blow Yourself Up Once Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the U.S. Navy started a crash program, gathering information and educating personnel to deal with enemy bombs, land mines, and other explosive ordnance. Figuring lawyers make the best cannon fodder, recent law school graduate J. Frank Durham was among early volunteers for this dangerous and highly-classified work. Graduating with a perfect grade from the navy's new Bomb Disposal School, he was retained on staff to help the operation expand, then dispatched to Guadalcanal, where Americans were fighting the pivotal battle of World War Two. While learning how to handle explosive devices, Durham endured bombing, she...

A propos du livre

Présentation de l'éditeur :

Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the U.S. Navy started a crash program, gathering information and educating personnel to deal with enemy bombs, land mines, and other explosive ordnance. Figuring "lawyers make the best cannon fodder," recent law school graduate J. Frank Durham was among early volunteers for this dangerous and highly-classified work. Graduating with a perfect grade from the navy's new Bomb Disposal School, he was retained on staff to help the operation expand, then dispatched to Guadalcanal, where Americans were fighting the pivotal battle of World War Two. While learning how to handle explosive devices, Durham endured bombing, shelling, and an unexpected encounter with the enemy, but tales of suspense and danger are balanced by a humorous perspective on everyday life as an enlisted man. He describes "unofficial" enterprises, manufacturing souvenirs from brass shells in the captured Japanese ammo dump, and making moonshine from anything available, to sell to the troops. Eleanor Roosevelt's visit to the field hospital inspired a pithy comment about a painful loss from a wounded marine, and a classic riposte from the First Lady. Excerpts from captured Japanese diaries provide rare insight into the other side of the conflict.

Biographie de l'auteur :

J. Frank Durham volunteered for Bomb Disposal shortly after Pearl Harbor, and was commissioned as an officer on Guadalcanal. After the war, he started a family, flew small planes, worked the farm and became a civic leader in Greencastle, Indiana, where he maintains an active law practice and busy life.

À propos de cette édition

• Date d'édition: 1709
• ISBN 10: 0595295436
• ISBN 13: 9780595295432
• Reliure: Broché