I'm reminded of a period in history I just wrote a book about: the six months between the attack on Pearl Harbor and the US victory at Midway. Most people, when they think of that time, think "unrelieved defeat and darkness." And yes, there was a lot of defeat and darkness, but every day of that time, people who would never before have b…
I'm reminded of a period in history I just wrote a book about: the six months between the attack on Pearl Harbor and the US victory at Midway. Most people, when they think of that time, think "unrelieved defeat and darkness." And yes, there was a lot of defeat and darkness, but every day of that time, people who would never before have believed themselves capable of what they did, did things that in the end changed things around. Even in defeat, their example was - as FDR said it to General Wainwright on receiving his message that he was forced to surrender in the Philippines - "the guarantee of victory." Which they were. But the whole thing depended on people just putting their heads down and pushing on, regardless of the way things looked, regardless of the news, regardless of the evidence of their own eyes. And in the end, they stopped the unstoppable force. When I re-read the book this past February to write an author's forward, I realized that two years ago I had tapped into today's zeitgeist - if we follow their example, we've got a good chance of achieving a similar result. So, as I used to have on my coffeecup in the Navy, on one side "Bastardi non attritari" and on the other "Illegitimi non carborundum." It's still good advice.
Ransom Rideout, I wrote that one down. Because the other day, the "Bastards" tried. I volunteered to do "text banking" for the Michigan Democratic party. The polls have been good for Biden in Michigan, however you would never know from my sample. The text was trying to determine if they were going to vote absentee. It appeared many of the names on my list were from the area. I recognized many of the names. Well, between a third to half were "stop", not surprising. However, a majority of remaining responses were f--k you, f--k off, and Trump 2020. Well, that took the wind out of my sails😢. Now my community is rather conservative, so I am trying not to let the Bastards grind me down. Maybe responses from the rest of the state reflects the polling. The minority of positive responses also gave me a glimmer of hope along with a "buck up" from a friend who is a veteran phone and text banker. She said responses like that are not uncommon in the beginning. Now, I was getting close to the grinder last night when I talked to a member of the Michigan Democratic party. He called to confirm I planned to text bank Tuesday night. I said I was, however I expressed my concern that my responses from the other night did not reflect the polls. He said we needed to find that one Democratic voter. My thought was we need to find a lot of Democratic voters. That said I am glad Biden is coming to Michigan this week 😊
Sharon, I did over 900 texts in that campaign in the last few days. Only got one F..k you, a number of Trump 2020, but not that many. Keep volunteering and thank you.
I have been writing get out the vote letters through votefwd.org. Dependent on the letters arriving during the right time window, which will be tricky this year, they expect these letters to make a 3% difference. That means that the 360 letters my 96 yr old mom and I have taken on so far, investing lots of time and over $150 postage, would get another 11 people to vote. Doesn't look like much. But if you look at the 5.36 million letters being written so far by all the people involved, that is potentially 160,800 additional votes in swing states - more than enough to have changed the result in 2016. Keep going. Judy Small sang it very well years ago, we need every voice in the crowd: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nvbYlmdYS0
God, as they say, takes care of those who take care of themselves. :-)
Amazingly enough, for a book that started life as a background chapter in a different book (Under The Southern Cross, coming next May), this book has gained unexpected recognition, getting an "a must read" starred review from Kirkus Reviews (which my publisher immediately plastered on the cover).
Zeitgeist of the time from my dad’s recollection after Pearl Harbor was a lot of men enlisting to “go over and kick the Japs’ butts before breakfast.” Seemed it took a lot longer, but we were also united back then.
"I Will Run Wild: the Pacific War from Pearl Harbor to Midway" is officially released on September 17, and is available for pre-order (at the "best seller" price, a good bargain) at Amazon now.
Thank you. I do hope most of those here will order the very nice book-book hardbound edition, since the author's royalties are better on those than on the e-books.
Oh now, don't worry. I'm happy for every sale. Writers are luddites by nature. And yeah, I've come to the realization its time to box up some more books. Too bad with the Covid that I can't take them over to the local library for their used book sales. :-)
I'll get your book Thomas, the hard bound version. I recently watched Midway (2019 version) and Grey Hound (2020). Out of curiously how closely does it hem to actual reality of what really happened ?
The movie "Midway" has very little to do with the actual battle in terms of what really happened. The real character of Dick Best (my good friend the last 10 years of his life) is the polar opposite of the "Joisey boy rebel" created for the movie. In fact, my book is the movie you wanted to see (as a former screenwriter, my books are frequently reviewed as "reading a good movie"). To put it bluntly, the movie is crap, and I told Roland Emmerich as much when I had a meeting with him and heard what story he wanted to tell.
Greyhound is an adaptation of the C.S. Forrester novel "The Good Shepherd" (Forester is the novelist who did all the Horatio Hornblower tales of the Napoleonic naval wars). As such, it does not relate to any specific convoy event, but it is a very accurate presentation of what life would be like as a destroyer escorting a convoy. The one drawback, to me, is that the computerized effects look like computerized effects. If you want to see a more realistic take on a destroyer vs U-boat battle, I strongly recommend "The Enemy Below" (1957), written by my screenwriting mentor, the late Wendell Mayes. Wendell served in the Navy in combat in WW2, and it shows in the underlying realism and verisimilitude (also done on a real destroyer at sea, not one tied up to a dock). Greyhound is probably as good as a movie on that topic can be nowadays, since none of those ships can go to sea anymore and have to be done with computers.
If you want to see a movie that accurately shows what a naval surface battle of WW2 was really like, I hihgly recommend "The Battle of the River Plate" (1952) (which you can now find on YouTube) the story of three British cruisers up against the German pocket battleship "Graf Spee." Real warships are used, no special effects. One of the ships was actually one of the combatants in the real battle. It stars an unrecognizable Peter Finch in his first film role as the German Captain, Ludendorf. It's highly accurate historically and technically (as were most British war movies of the 1950s).
I’m Naval Academy class of 1971 and Raymond Spruance was a friend of my father. I spent a wonderful day with the Admiral while on leave and he went through the genesis of the battle and it’s planning. He was a military genius but understated unlike Halsey and Nimitz. The movie made him look like an errand boy. Disgusting.
If you read my other two books on the Pacific War, "Pacific Thunder" and "Tidal Wave," you will find I am a fellow "Spruance Man." His ability to keep the Big Picture in mind and keep his ego under control, was why he won Midway, where Halsey would have dashed on west that night and run right into Yamamoto's ambush. "The Battle of Bull's Run," where Halsey dropped the ball at Leyte and exposed the invasion to potential destruction to go sink the Japanese carriers (that were a sacrifice) demonstrates the difference. I always liked the story about the kamikaze hitting Spruance's flagship at Okinawa and he couldn't be found. The Flag Lieutenant looked everywhere and found him manning a hose line to fight the fires on the boat deck, just another crew member. I would have loved to be you and to have met him. Nimitz was pretty understated too - he had to be to negotiate all the egos at PacFleet HQ.
I'm reminded of a period in history I just wrote a book about: the six months between the attack on Pearl Harbor and the US victory at Midway. Most people, when they think of that time, think "unrelieved defeat and darkness." And yes, there was a lot of defeat and darkness, but every day of that time, people who would never before have believed themselves capable of what they did, did things that in the end changed things around. Even in defeat, their example was - as FDR said it to General Wainwright on receiving his message that he was forced to surrender in the Philippines - "the guarantee of victory." Which they were. But the whole thing depended on people just putting their heads down and pushing on, regardless of the way things looked, regardless of the news, regardless of the evidence of their own eyes. And in the end, they stopped the unstoppable force. When I re-read the book this past February to write an author's forward, I realized that two years ago I had tapped into today's zeitgeist - if we follow their example, we've got a good chance of achieving a similar result. So, as I used to have on my coffeecup in the Navy, on one side "Bastardi non attritari" and on the other "Illegitimi non carborundum." It's still good advice.
Don't let the Bastards Grind You Down! My watch word...
Ransom Rideout, I wrote that one down. Because the other day, the "Bastards" tried. I volunteered to do "text banking" for the Michigan Democratic party. The polls have been good for Biden in Michigan, however you would never know from my sample. The text was trying to determine if they were going to vote absentee. It appeared many of the names on my list were from the area. I recognized many of the names. Well, between a third to half were "stop", not surprising. However, a majority of remaining responses were f--k you, f--k off, and Trump 2020. Well, that took the wind out of my sails😢. Now my community is rather conservative, so I am trying not to let the Bastards grind me down. Maybe responses from the rest of the state reflects the polling. The minority of positive responses also gave me a glimmer of hope along with a "buck up" from a friend who is a veteran phone and text banker. She said responses like that are not uncommon in the beginning. Now, I was getting close to the grinder last night when I talked to a member of the Michigan Democratic party. He called to confirm I planned to text bank Tuesday night. I said I was, however I expressed my concern that my responses from the other night did not reflect the polls. He said we needed to find that one Democratic voter. My thought was we need to find a lot of Democratic voters. That said I am glad Biden is coming to Michigan this week 😊
Sharon, I did over 900 texts in that campaign in the last few days. Only got one F..k you, a number of Trump 2020, but not that many. Keep volunteering and thank you.
Carole, Today was another bad day, but I don't care the a$$hole has to go
Sharon, I am sending you positive energy and warm support.
Carole, thanks so much it is appreciated ❤️ I am text banking later today. Let the games begin
I have been writing get out the vote letters through votefwd.org. Dependent on the letters arriving during the right time window, which will be tricky this year, they expect these letters to make a 3% difference. That means that the 360 letters my 96 yr old mom and I have taken on so far, investing lots of time and over $150 postage, would get another 11 people to vote. Doesn't look like much. But if you look at the 5.36 million letters being written so far by all the people involved, that is potentially 160,800 additional votes in swing states - more than enough to have changed the result in 2016. Keep going. Judy Small sang it very well years ago, we need every voice in the crowd: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nvbYlmdYS0
Good for you and your mom
Mine, too.
Gotta love authors who don't remember to advertise their books! (I'm guilty of this, too.) https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B084JP7242/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p1_i1
The cover didn't populate here. It's called I Will Run Wild: The Pacific War from Pearl Harbor to Midway. :)
God, as they say, takes care of those who take care of themselves. :-)
Amazingly enough, for a book that started life as a background chapter in a different book (Under The Southern Cross, coming next May), this book has gained unexpected recognition, getting an "a must read" starred review from Kirkus Reviews (which my publisher immediately plastered on the cover).
Zeitgeist of the time from my dad’s recollection after Pearl Harbor was a lot of men enlisting to “go over and kick the Japs’ butts before breakfast.” Seemed it took a lot longer, but we were also united back then.
Thomas M Cleaver, has your book been published yet. If not, when!
"I Will Run Wild: the Pacific War from Pearl Harbor to Midway" is officially released on September 17, and is available for pre-order (at the "best seller" price, a good bargain) at Amazon now.
Ah. Here you go. I'll stop teasing you! :)
I just pre-ordered the Kindle version. Looking forward to reading it.
Thank you. I do hope most of those here will order the very nice book-book hardbound edition, since the author's royalties are better on those than on the e-books.
Sorry, I am a Kindle person. I don't like books piled around the house.
Oh now, don't worry. I'm happy for every sale. Writers are luddites by nature. And yeah, I've come to the realization its time to box up some more books. Too bad with the Covid that I can't take them over to the local library for their used book sales. :-)
I'll get your book Thomas, the hard bound version. I recently watched Midway (2019 version) and Grey Hound (2020). Out of curiously how closely does it hem to actual reality of what really happened ?
The movie "Midway" has very little to do with the actual battle in terms of what really happened. The real character of Dick Best (my good friend the last 10 years of his life) is the polar opposite of the "Joisey boy rebel" created for the movie. In fact, my book is the movie you wanted to see (as a former screenwriter, my books are frequently reviewed as "reading a good movie"). To put it bluntly, the movie is crap, and I told Roland Emmerich as much when I had a meeting with him and heard what story he wanted to tell.
Greyhound is an adaptation of the C.S. Forrester novel "The Good Shepherd" (Forester is the novelist who did all the Horatio Hornblower tales of the Napoleonic naval wars). As such, it does not relate to any specific convoy event, but it is a very accurate presentation of what life would be like as a destroyer escorting a convoy. The one drawback, to me, is that the computerized effects look like computerized effects. If you want to see a more realistic take on a destroyer vs U-boat battle, I strongly recommend "The Enemy Below" (1957), written by my screenwriting mentor, the late Wendell Mayes. Wendell served in the Navy in combat in WW2, and it shows in the underlying realism and verisimilitude (also done on a real destroyer at sea, not one tied up to a dock). Greyhound is probably as good as a movie on that topic can be nowadays, since none of those ships can go to sea anymore and have to be done with computers.
If you want to see a movie that accurately shows what a naval surface battle of WW2 was really like, I hihgly recommend "The Battle of the River Plate" (1952) (which you can now find on YouTube) the story of three British cruisers up against the German pocket battleship "Graf Spee." Real warships are used, no special effects. One of the ships was actually one of the combatants in the real battle. It stars an unrecognizable Peter Finch in his first film role as the German Captain, Ludendorf. It's highly accurate historically and technically (as were most British war movies of the 1950s).
I’m Naval Academy class of 1971 and Raymond Spruance was a friend of my father. I spent a wonderful day with the Admiral while on leave and he went through the genesis of the battle and it’s planning. He was a military genius but understated unlike Halsey and Nimitz. The movie made him look like an errand boy. Disgusting.
If you read my other two books on the Pacific War, "Pacific Thunder" and "Tidal Wave," you will find I am a fellow "Spruance Man." His ability to keep the Big Picture in mind and keep his ego under control, was why he won Midway, where Halsey would have dashed on west that night and run right into Yamamoto's ambush. "The Battle of Bull's Run," where Halsey dropped the ball at Leyte and exposed the invasion to potential destruction to go sink the Japanese carriers (that were a sacrifice) demonstrates the difference. I always liked the story about the kamikaze hitting Spruance's flagship at Okinawa and he couldn't be found. The Flag Lieutenant looked everywhere and found him manning a hose line to fight the fires on the boat deck, just another crew member. I would have loved to be you and to have met him. Nimitz was pretty understated too - he had to be to negotiate all the egos at PacFleet HQ.